Without any fanfare, a website that often appeared in lists of top Canadian genealogy websites has gone to cyber heaven. The bilingual website, Voici ma famille – That’s My Family, is no more. A note posted on the website’s home page announced that it would close July 14, 2014. And it did.
Screen capture of the last day Voici Ma Famille – That’s My Family was live, July 14, 2014.
Voici Ma Famille – That’s My Family was a sort of Google for Canadian genealogy resources. It was launched and maintained for several years by Library and Archives Canada and the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, and it provided databases hosted by federal, provincial, and territorial archives and libraries.
In a very prompt reply to an email message I sent to the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, Hélène Cadieux, who is responsible for services to patrons and partners, explained to me why the website was shut down. She wrote that traffic to the site had been dropping during the past few years. For that reason, the participating organizations decided to stop supporting the joint site and to instead make their own data available on their own websites.
Admittedly, it had been a while since I last visited Voici ma famille – That’s My Family, and it appears I was not alone. Soon after Family Tree Magazine published its list of 101 Best Genealogy Websites of 2014 in July, there had been a flurry of discussion on Facebook and Twitter among Canadian genealogists who questioned the tiny selection of Canadian sites (only four) and suggested which websites should have been included. This resulted in some bloggers producing their own list of best Canadian websites, and one of two of them may have included Voici ma famille – That’s My Family.
Two years ago, Voici ma famille – That’s My Family appeared in Family Tree Magazine‘s 101 Best Genealogy Websites of 2012 along with five other Canadian websites. As for not including this now defunct website this year, I guess they were more on the ball than some of us north of the border who still thought it was active.
As for the 101 Best Genealogy Websites of 2013, there were no Canadian websites on the list. To see this year’s list, read 101 Best Genealogy Websites of 2014. To see lists of top Canadian genealogy websites, read This week’s crème de la crème — August 2, 2014.
You got a better response from BAnQ than I did from LAC, that said “as far as we know” the partnership was not renewed and the search engine is no longer available. LAC was merely “overseeing” the project, supported by the Council of Provincial and Territorial Archivists of Canada (is that the group that our federal government disbanded?). All sad.
I received a very informative reply from one of the senior people at BAnQ within an hour. I was very impressed with how responsive they are.
I was surprised to read that Voici ma famille has shut down; I didn’t know it planned to. I used the site now and then over the years, but it never really became a favorite of mine.