Why we are excited about the 1931 Census

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By Sara Chatfield

Welcome to Library and Archives Canada’s blog series on the 1931 Census! This was the seventh census in Canadian history. The release of the 1931 Census records is an excellent opportunity to learn more about ourselves as a country. The lives of over 10 million people who were living in Canada in 1931 will be unveiled very soon. By law, personal information in a census cannot be made public until 92 years after the census was completed. We have been waiting a long time for this, and the date of the release is fast approaching.

A typed page with the words “Dominion Bureau of Statistics” and “Canada” written at the top, a crest, and a stamp with an x over it.

The cover page of the official publication of the Seventh Census of Canada, 1931 (OCLC 796971519)

There are quite a few steps that must be completed to provide the 234,678 images of the 1931 Census online. These are briefly mentioned in Preparing the 1931 Census. This blog series will fill in some of the blanks and help in bringing the census to life. It will answer questions about how the census was compiled, the questions that were asked, how we are making it available, and other topics that will widen our collective appreciation of just how important censuses are to present and future generations.

Census returns are extremely valuable research tools for genealogists, historians, scholars and all Canadians who want to explore the past. The original purpose of the census was to help determine parliamentary representation based on population. But censuses are so much more than that! These documents provide information about the makeup of Canada, the history of Canadian families and societal changes that were happening at the time.

A census entry for a household is a snapshot into Canadians’ lives in that era. Each page tells two stories. First, it tells the story of a family: their names, ages, religion and other elements of their identity. Second, the entry gives the context of their story within Canada: their neighbours, home, occupation, employment status and community. The 1931 Census delves into not only where people lived, but also how: in homes with extended families, within their immigrant communities, in rooming houses, and in institutions.

A map of Canada showing different-sized black dots.

A map from the administrative report of the Seventh Census of Canada, 1931 (OCLC 1007482727)

Even if you have not been bitten by the genealogy bug, the 1931 Census can still be of interest. You can learn more about your city or province, such as the industries or patterns of employment in given areas. Census returns can even help researchers to find more information about particular communities. They can give us hints about who lived at an address and when, and provide some information about their circumstances, including whether they spoke English or French, could read and write, or went to school. The 1931 Census also asked a new question: “Has this family a radio?” This will be fascinating to those who are interested in the emergence of telecommunications in Canada. It is also a measure of how quickly and broadly information could be disseminated. You can witness the early days of a new form of popular culture on the rise. Exciting, right?

We suspect that there will be many prominent Canadians in this census. But we will not know for sure until we have the completed index. Later this year, when the index is released, you will be able to search by name for people such as labour union activist and citizenship judge Stanley Grizzle, Kanien’kehá:ka activist Mary Two-Axe Earley, actors William Shatner and Gordon Pinsent, artist Pauline Julien, singer La Bolduc, painter Kazuo Nakamura, and Black activist Viola Desmond. You may be able to learn more about their early lives!

Join us in our journey to learn what Canadian households looked like on Monday, June 1, 1931!

And stay tuned for upcoming blog posts about this significant census release.

Sara Chatfield is a project manager in the Client Services division at Library and Archives Canada.

31 thoughts on “Why we are excited about the 1931 Census”

  2. Pingback: The 1931 Canadian Census Is Coming - Hound on the Hunt

  3. Pingback: This week's crème de la crème - May 13, 2023 - Genealogy à la carteGenealogy à la carte

  4. I am excited about any census! They give you so much information. I have been looking for anything on Cornelius Hasbrouck (1755-?1819) fled Newburgh in the US post about 1799. Last seen in the Town of Sandwich Upper 🇨🇦 1818.

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  6. Should be fascinating and yet another instrument from the past that will inform the present and may predict the future… thanks!

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  10. Pingback: The 1931 census of Canada debuts June 1st. | Genealogy by Paula

  11. Looking forward to the release of the 1931 Census records. Today’s continued release of Canada’s Census records makes our 8 year (1997 – 2005) battle to see Statistics Canada release Post-1901 Census Records to the National Archives for access after 92 years all worth while. Very grateful for the support of then National Archivist, Ian E. Wilson, in our efforts

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  13. Pingback: Prep work for the 1931 Canada census – writing my past

  14. Thanks to the people who spent any hours doing this work carefully so others like me can enjoy and continue our valuable research.

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  15. Hi, I’ve downloaded the parish where my great-grandparents lived and was wondering if there were also other ‘schedules’ like some previous years, I’m especially interested to know if there was an agricultural census for 1931? Thanks!

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  16. So disappointing it isn’t ready when they said it would be. Ten years of prep and they’re only partly done. Working on step 8 of 10. And not integrated into the census search webpage at all. Typical government. Even the things they say are finished and available produce “server busy” or “unable to show image” messages. 10 years and not ready! It’s not like it for government websites to be slow, overloaded, and not ready (sarcasm)

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  17. Thank you. So far have found a number of ancestors browsing though town records checking names and addresses. This takes some time so I won’t do those in Parkdale (Toronto), too many records. Meantime I’ve submitted corrections to other census years where the handwriting is misinterpreted or spellings are incorrect.
    Waiting for your collaboration with Ancestry and Family Search for full indexing.

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  18. I have found one set of ancestors but I cannot find the census for the county of Sudbury. I am looking for Gogama in particular.

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  19. I was excited to see this census available to the public. But when I say the record for my mothers family I was very discouraged. First of all the family name was not included in the record; just my grandfather’s first and middle name – Irving James. This was obviously an error by the person who recorded the data.

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