Census of 1851 (Canada East, Canada West,
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia)

View of Québec from Lévis Source

By 1851, the pattern of decennial census taking had been established. However, not until Confederation in 1867 did the taking of the census become a constitutional requirement. The 1851 Census offers a rich source of information about Canada East (Quebec), Canada West (Ontario), New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the middle of the 19th century. Much of the actual census-taking did not occur until 1852 since the planning was not completed in time and so, it is also sometimes referred to as the Census of 1852

This tool allows researchers to search by geographic location only. As this is not a nominally-indexed database, it is not searchable by family name. The Programme de recherche en démographie historique has undertaken a project where this census data is being transcribed by volunteers to create a nominal index. See "The 1852 Canadian Census" on the web page [http://www.prdh.umontreal.ca/1881/en/1881.html] for more information. Published indexes exist for some places. Search the Library catalogue [http://search-recherche.collectionscanada.ca/amicus/search.jsp?Language=eng] using the Title Keyword function, with the keywords census and the place name (e.g. town, township, county or province).

The digital images within this database are copies of the original microfilm records held by Library and Archives Canada. 1851 Census images for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are presented with the support of the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick [http://archives.gnb.ca/Archives/Default.aspx?L=EN] and Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management [www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm]. Please note, parts of the 1851 census did not survive and therefore no digital images exist.

The information found on these images can be used to prepare family histories, the history of towns and villages, research immigration trends and a great deal more. See what you can discover!