Researchers interested in browsing the newly released 1931 Census of Canada would do well to heed the words in a tweet posted by Ontario Ancestors’ Halton-Peel Branch.
The branch wrote, “Looks like @LibraryArchives’ 1931 Canada census release is as popular as a #TaylorSwift concert! Pack your patience – it’ll be accessible soon & enjoy!”
To say the least, yesterday was a hugely anticipated day for family historians. That’s when Library and Archives Canada (LAC) released the digitized 1931 Census of Canada, 92 years after it was conducted.
Yesterday was the first time LAC had provided online access to census content on the first day permitted by law.
As expected, LAC’s servers were overwhelmed with high traffic as researchers in Canada and around the world tried to browse some of the more than 230,000 pages in the census. With so many people trying to access the census, LAC’s website was extremely slow. When attempting to browse a sub-district, often only a blank screen appeared.
Because the census hasn’t been indexed yet, we can only browse by province, district and sub-district. We can’t search by name.
While there are no subdivision maps available for the 1931 census, LAC does have federal electoral district maps from 1924 which often align with the 1931 districts to help researchers determine which districts to browse. LAC warns that the images of the electoral maps are large and can take a while to upload. (I exhausted my patience early yesterday, but was finally able to open the maps by dinner hour.)
To be indexed this fall
The next phase in the release of the census involves transcribing it.
As soon as the fall of 2023, all users — regardless of their level of genealogical or research expertise — will be able to search the census by name or place using Census Search on LAC’s website. To accomplish this work in record time, LAC has been working and will continue to work collaboratively with its partners Ancestry and FamilySearch International.
As for my research, I plan to resist looking at the census until it’s indexed. Yesterday’s lengthy delays tried my patience.
Or maybe I’ll give it another try in a day or two….
