This document is based on knowledge gained by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal (JGS-M) over 25 years of working with Quebec Jewish birth, marriage and death records and more recently with the new Citizenship-by-Descent process. It is as accurate as possible but should not be considered authoritative.

Introduction

Until 1994, all Quebec births were supposed to be registered by religious institutions, or, beginning in the late 1800s, at the local City Hall. The religious records were supposed to record baptisms and/or births, marriages and burials. City Hall records were only births.

Registers were kept in duplicate, with one submitted annually to the Superior Court, and the other kept by the church/synagogue.

With very few exceptions, the synagogue copies from the early to mid-20th century are lost. Of the Jewish records submitted to the Superior Court, a handful are missing, but most still exist (although some are rather deteriorated). The missing ones were either never submitted or somehow were lost or destroyed. There were several fires that are rumoured to have destroyed records, but based on what is missing, it is unclear if that really happened.

In 1994, all records were transferred to the newly created civil records office – in French, the Directeur de l'état civil, often referred to as DEC.

DEC is, in theory, responsible for Acts of birth, marriage, and death for the last 100 years. Records older than that are transferred to the Quebec Archives, part of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ). [Bibliothèque=Library]. In practice, things lag and as of September 2026, records up to 1922 have been transferred.

If a birth is registered late, the current practice is to petition the Superior Court to order the registration. Once the Superior Court orders the registration, the birth record is entered into the register for the year of birth. Generally, it was inserted into the City Hall civic register, but some were inserted into synagogue (and presumably church) registers. However, up until the late 1930s, it was also common practice to simply go to a rabbi and once convinced of the birth, he would enter it into his current year register. So a 1910 birth could be in a register from 1930.

Births

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, there were many Jewish births that were not properly registered. Many were registered late. Of the records that the JGS-M holds, over 1/3 of the births were registered at least 1 year after birth. Over 1/4 at least 10 years after birth. The oldest was registered 77 years after birth. However, many were never registered. Montreal was a “stopping-off-point” en route to the US, with families staying just a few years. Those who left rarely came back to register a birth – birth certificates were simply not that important in many cases.

Another verification of the unregistered births problem is the gender gap. Close to 60% of the births we have records for are male, yet we know that statistically, the number of male and female births were roughly equal. Boys were circumcised and therefore seen by someone who MAY have been authorized to register births. So the chances of a girl’s birth being unregistered was larger than for a boy, but we also know based on the statistics on late registrations and the births that are missing altogether that the problem is not limited to girls.

Bottom line: There were a lot of births, both male and female, in the late 1800s and the first third of the 20th century that were never registered.

Marriages

Marriage records are reasonably complete, although some are missing due to the few lost registers. Marriages after 1925 also have a companion document described at https://jgs-montreal.org/StatReturnTable.html.

Deaths

For reasons that are unknown, most burials were not recorded in the annual registers, despite the law requiring it. However, JGS-M has indexed and photographed most Jewish Cemeteries in Montreal - https://jgs-montreal.org/projects.html#cemeteries.

Record Searches

The JGS-M will do searches for records. With our extensive record index and flexible searching criteria, we can often find otherwise lost records. There is no charge for simple searches but we do charge a small fee for copies of records. Write to vital@jgs-montreal.org.

Citizenship-by-Descent

Until late 2025, a person could claim Canadian citizenship if a parent was born here. Based on a Canadian Supreme Court Decision and the resultant Bill C-3, there is no longer any limit on how far back your Canadian ancestor could be - if you can prove it to the satisfaction of the Canadian department responsible – Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

Since this program is relatively new and the rules are still in flux, it is difficult to know exactly how to handle atypical situations. What constitutes “proof” is unclear, and apparently IRCC assessors may have some discretion in the decisions.

No Birth Record!
As noted above, for many Jewish births, there is no official birth record. IRCC acknowledges that this may happen and says:


Providing letters from the DEC and/or BAnQ that they do not have the record may help. Such a letter from the BAnQ may not be available, since they can only search if you tell them where to look, and without a record, you cannot do that. Providing circumstantial evidence, such as records that provide the location and date of birth, may help, particularly if they are from Canadian sources.

Proof that the family was present here at the time of birth may also help. Examples can include census records and entries from city directories.

An attestation from an experienced genealogist familiar with Montreal Jewish records may help to explain this unique situation of missing Jewish birth records.

Consulting a competent immigration attorney is probably a wise investment.

Certified Records

Orders for certified records from DEC can use the PRF form at https://www.etatcivil.gouv.qc.ca/en/certificate-copy/Certificate-Copy.html. Note that they offer both a Birth Certificate and a Copy of the Act of Birth. The differences are described in the form.

Orders for certified records from BAnQ can be placed using the online form at https://www.banq.qc.ca/vital-records/. Note that the fee for a certified record for non-Quebec residents is Cdn$350.

IRCC has said that they will only accept Quebec birth records issued by the DEC. So records within the 100-year limit but issued prior to the existence of DEC (1994) are no longer valid and a new record must be requested. Based on reports, IRCC will sometimes accept a BAnQ-certified birth record and sometimes request a DEC record. To get a DEC record for such a birth, you must submit to DEC a copy of the BAnQ-issued record as well as your proof-of-payment to BAnQ.

There is a potential issue with ordering records for births that are before the DEC/BAnQ cutoff but were registered after the cutoff (such as a 1910 birth registered in 1935 and recorded in a 1935 register. DEC, in the past, has rejected such orders on the grounds that the birth was past their cutoff, ignoring the fact that it was recorded in a register they still hold. It is not known whether this problem has been resolved, so such orders should make it VERY clear that the birth was recorded in a register still in DEC's possession and NOT sent to the BAnQ.