Note: This blog post was revised after publication. It is about the Diocese of Toronto’s archives, not the archives of the entire Anglican Church of Canada as indicated in the first published version.
The Anglican Diocese of Toronto has asked their congregations to transfer their parish registers to the diocese’s archives if they are full and no longer in use, contain records older than 30 years, or are fragile so that they can be cared for “in ideal conditions and kept safe from fire.”
The archives is the repository for Synod records and parish records. There are more than 1,900 parish registers in the archives, with records dating back to 1797.
This diocese covers a large area in Ontario, from Brighton to Mississauga, including Toronto, and north to Haliburton.
In the September 2025 issue of The Anglican, the archives said that “having the registers at the Archives allows our team to provide a copy of a baptism or marriage record to an individual who may need it for legal purposes or for their own family records. “
A single repository also helps individuals who may be unsure which church they were baptised at, saving them the time and frustration of trying to connect to several congregations to conduct searches.
Unfortunately, there is no mention in the article about plans to digitize the records.
The article about the archives can be read online.
