Here it is, so quickly January again: a time for reflecting on the past and for planning for the future.
As I look back on the last year in the field of Canadian history, a striking development was the release of the 1921 census. This event was anticipated for years by family history researchers and many other historians. After the legislated 92-year waiting period had expired, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) finally released the census to the public, two months late and among much hubbub.
What was the fuss all about? To understand, one must comprehend the census format. Census pages on their own are only useful if you already know where to look, since the census is organized on a geographical basis. That works great for finding my farmer relatives who remained on the homestead for generations. But looking for people who relocated between the dates when the censuses were taken, presents the need for a searchable index.
Other Canadian censuses have been released on the government website and were subsequently indexed independently by enthusiastic volunteers. Check out Automated Genealogy for indexes to the 1851, 1901, and 1911 censuses. But, for the 1921 census, LAC made a deal with Ancestry.ca – a corporate interest – instead of just posting the raw census pages on the government site. Researchers must now provide an e-mail address to Ancestry.ca in order to register to see the scanned pages. Although this is advertised as being available for free, I do remember my dad telling me, ‘There is no such thing as a Free Lunch.’ One wonders how that data will be used by the company.
To use the indexes for ‘advanced searches’ of the census, there are two options. For free access, one must either go in person to LAC (Ottawa) or a library that has the Ancestry.ca Library Edition. If one wants the convenience of doing such searches from home, then one must pay Ancestry.ca for the privilege. That leaves many in rural areas at the mercy of Big Business. The Sundre Library and all others in the Parkland System do not have an Ancestry membership, which is undoubtedly prohibitively expensive. Therefore, the choice for the rural researcher is travel to an urban library or pay up, or … patience.
All is not lost, because LAC will make the images available for free on their government site eventually – three years after the date they were made available on the Ancestry website (29 October 2013). So, this is the point where we plan for the future (October 2016), while realizing that some things never change: Government and Big Business continue to work together. Perhaps we can put a positive spin on the situation with the thought that ‘Good Things Come To Those Who Wait’. So, in the meantime, check out the wonderful resources that are available on-line at the Parkland Regional Library at http://www.prl.ab.ca/elibrary/genealogy.
This article was originally printed in the Bergen News and is being reprinted with permission.