Free Access Terms and Conditions
Access to all records included in the ‘free access’ (see below) will be free to access from 12pm ET on Thursday 30th April until 12pm ET on Friday 1st May.
To view these records you will need to register for free with Ancestry.ca with your name and email address. We will then send you a user name and password to access the records.
After the free access period ends, you will only be able to view the records in the featured collection using an Ancestry.ca paid membership.
The records available during the free access period are listed below – please click on the title of the collection to access the records and see what is included.
Records included in the Free Access:
Five Top Tips on getting started from Lesley Anderson:
- Go global: Begin with a global search, looking across all Ancestry databases at once.
- Get creative: Adopt creative search strategies to help you locate your ancestors. Learn how to misspell names, provide alternative spellings, or use diminutive names.
- Head to the census: Censuses are a great place to start your family history research. They can provide information on birth dates, religion, country of origin, income, employment, and more that can lead you to other records.
- Try on wild cards: Wild cards, a set of special symbols used in searches to represent uknown letters in a world, are a great method for dealing with multiple spellings of the same last name. Make sure to use * for 3 or more letters, and ? for a single character.
- Military might: Military records are a great source of information. Start with the special Canadian Military collections page to see what collections are available and relevant to your family history.
Lesley has worked with Ancestry for over 12 years as our Canadian spokesperson and has done numerous presentations for genealogy societies and conferences across Canada as well as TV and radio appearances.
She has been researching her family tree for over 50 years and her passion for genealogy has branched out to DNA genetic genealogy, teaching classes and researching for others. Recently she organized a group of 30 on a research and sightseeing trip to Ireland. She was the Director of Education for BIFHSGO (British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa) for many years and volunteered at the Ottawa Stake – LDS Family History Center where she got great joy out of helping genealogists with their research.
