Canada, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1865-1935

Passenger lists of ships arriving in various Canadian ports as well as some eastern U.S. ports from 1865–1935 are indexed this database. This collection, covering 2.2 million people who arrived in these ports, has never been indexed before.

Records in this database are for the following ports and years:

• Quebec Ports (May 1865–Jun 1908, Jun 1919–Jul 1921, Apr 1925–Nov 1935)
• Montreal, Quebec (Apr 1925–Nov 1935)
• Halifax, Nova Scotia (1881–Oct 1922, 1925–1935)
• North Sydney, Nova Scotia (Nov 1906, Aug 1908–Aug 1922, 1925–1935)
• Saint John, New Brunswick (1900–Sep 1922, 1925–1935)
• Vancouver, British Columbia (1905–Sep 1922, 1925–1935)
• Victoria, British Columbia and Pacific Ports (Apr 1905–Sep 1922, 1925–1935)
• Eastern U.S. Ports (Jul 1905–Feb 1919, 1925–1928)
• New York (1906–1921)

About the Records:

All passengers' names are included in these lists regardless of country of origin or nationality including returning Canadian citizens, immigrants, individuals in transit to the U.S., and visitors to Canada. Passenger lists comprised the official immigration records of Canada between the years covered by this collection, although the forms used and information recorded varied. Lists from later years usually contain more details depending on the form.

Information recorded may include:

• Name of passenger
• Age
• Gender
• Marital status
• Whether ever been in Canada before; if so, when, where, and how long
• Whether intend to permanently reside in Canada
• Whether able to read and write
• Birth country
• Race of people
• Destination
• Occupation
• Religious denomination
• Port of arrival
• Date of arrival
• Port of embarkation
• Ship name
• Shipping line

Special Notes:

Passengers from mainland Europe usually sailed to Great Britain, where they boarded trans-Atlantic ships at ports such as Liverpool, London, and Glasgow, and some Canadian immigrants arrived at American ports. Ships arriving on the West Coast carried passengers from Asia, Australia and Honolulu. Any immigrant destined for western Canada having landed in the U.S. could continue their journey by train from their port of arrival; however, none of the names of train passengers were recorded.

Lists for the port of Quebec include passengers who disembarked at Montreal between 1865 and 1921 because those ports were closed during the winter months when the St. Lawrence River was frozen.

Related Records:

From 1919–1924 individual manifest forms (Form 30A) were often used instead of passenger lists as the official immigration record. The use of Form 30A, also known as “Ocean Arrivals”, accounts for most of the gaps in years covered in this database. If you do not find an individual in this database, you may want to try searching the Canada, Ocean Arrivals (Form 30A), 1919-1924 database.