Archives see surge in Americans requesting family records to access Canadian citizenship

Ken Schmahl has lived in the United States all his lifespan, but his roots ar firmly in young Brunswick.

He remembers audience stories virtually the farm his grandmother grew up on in Johnville, 15 kilometres outside Florenceville-Bristol, and has spent time researching his family’s New Brunswick history.

So it was a joyous occasion when he received a phone call from his daughter last December.

“Hey dad, do you know what Canada just did?”

What Canada had just done was pass a new law which extended citizenship eligibility to scores of people whose ancestors were born in Canada, including Schmahl.

Soon after Schmahl reached out to the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick for help locating his grandmother’s birth record. He wasn’t the only American to do so.

The change in citizenship law has meant a surge of requests from Americans for birth records at the provincial archives.

“So the old slogan, 'be … in this place,' if they can prove that they were in this place through descent, then they are eligible to become Canadian citizens,” said Joanna Aiton Kerr, the provincial archivist.

Aiton Kerr said the calls started coming in December of last year and haven’t slowed down since.

Citizenship rules change leaves archivists busy

Provincial Archives staff are currently sifting through a backlog of over 1,000 requests, but it’s hard work, especially when they're getting an additional 400 citizenship related requests a month.

“It's certainly an increase in work, but the reason archives exist are to connect individuals who are seeking information with that information,” said Aiton Kerr.

“It's the job, so we will cope.”

The increase in requests from Americans looking for birth records can be seen in other provinces as well.

In 2024, the Nova Scotia Archives had received 262 “genealogical e-mail threads.” Through the first three months of this year, it’s already received 1,354.

Prince Edward Island’s Public Archives and Records Office has seen a 143 per cent increase in requests so far this year.

The Rooms in St. John's, home to Newfoundland and Labrador's archival records, has seen “a significant increase” in requests with the “majority of recent requests … coming from clients in the United States.”

It’s not just provincial archives that are seeing an increase in requests.

The Kings County Archives, Charlotte County Archives and Grand Manan Archives have all seen an increase.

Even genealogists are in high demand.

Daphne Wetmore, the president of the New Brunswick Genealogical Society, said requests have been “non-stop” and there’s been a massive increase in people joining the society to access member-only records. She’s also reporting an increase in her private genealogical work.

“I normally get maybe one or two requests every few months and it suddenly was up to three a day,” said Wetmore.

Many of the archive’s records are digitized, which makes things easier, but many are not, which can significantly increase the time needed to find records.

It also doesn’t help when some of the requests are less detailed than others.

“We get the types of requests … where someone says, ‘I think my great-grandparents lived in Saint John or in that area, probably in the early 1900s,’” said Aiton Kerr.

“That's gonna take more work. We need more information.”

New Brunswick wasn’t always so careful when it came to recording births.

Wetmore said birth registrations weren’t required until 1888, but the law wasn’t widely enforced until the 1920s.

“There's huge gaps in the birth registrations and a lot of these people are looking for a colour copy of a birth certificate from 1840,” said Wetmore.

“They just don't exist.”

The Provincial Archives has a goal of completing requests for documents within five weeks, but that standard was put in place before the massive increase in requests.

Aiton Kerr said eight weeks is now a more realistic expectation, but it may be faster if you’re willing to make the trip to Fredericton.

“We had somebody come from Vermont … it was faster,” said Kerr.

“This individual was in Maine for another reason. And so they’re like, ‘Oh well, it's only another four hours.’”

Schmahl lives in Scotts Valley, Calif., and works in the tech industry in Silicon Valley.

While his grandmother headed south from New Brunswick, first to Boston then to Los Angeles, Schmahl's plan is to head north.

His grandchildren live in Portland, Ore., so that may be a possibility, but a trip last summer to British Columbia has him thinking of moving even further north.

“I've been several places internationally, but that place just seemed to have a very peaceful vibe to it. I really, really enjoyed it,” said Schmahl.

“I thought, if I retired, wouldn't it be great if I could live up here. But [I] can't get citizenship, so, you know, it's not going to happen. Then my daughter called and said, ‘You can get citizenship.’ That changes everything.”

Both Schmahl and his daughter are now in the process of becoming Canadian citizens.

Schmahl has also started looking for jobs in Vancouver’s tech sector.

Not everyone is as much of a fan of the new Canadian citizenship laws.

Daniel Bernhard, the CEO for the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, said becoming a citizen is a “transformative and special moment for so many immigrants.”

“A citizenship ceremony is a really beautiful and moving and emotional testament to the joys of being part of the Canadian family," he said.

But Bernhard is concerned about what the new laws will mean for the value of Canadian citizenship in the future.

He said citizenship has both rights and responsibilities and he’s concerned the new law could mean more Canadian citizens with limited connection to the country who could use the citizenship as an insurance policy.

“This now kind of creates a sort of second less emotionally resonant, less patriotic, less committed citizen who will hold on to Canadian citizenship in some other home country … just in case,” said Bernhard.

Schmahl said he understands the concerns that Bernhard has and, at least for himself, he would endeavour to become an active member of Canadian society.

“I would have to become involved in the goings-on of Canada. It would have to be my new country,” said Schmahl.

“It is a very big thought to leave your old country behind and move to a new one. So it's not something that I would take lightly.”

Reporter

Jordan Gill is a reporter based in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

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