Church archivists swamped with requests for docs
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There’s a rule in nature that you can’t only do one thing. If you dam a river to make hydroelectricity, you will impede the fish trying to swim upriver to spawn. If you drain wetlands, flooding usually increases elsewhere. If you remove trees from steep slopes, erosion results.
In December, last year, Canada experienced the truth of that rule in another way. That’s when Parliament passed Bill C-3 to extend citizenship to those born outside of Canada.
The new rules retroactively restore Canadian citizenship to someone who was born outside of Canada before December 15, 2025 and who can prove that an ancestor, such as grandparent or great-grandparent, was a Canadian citizen on or after January 1, 1947.
Called the Act to Amend the Citizenship Act, the bill was designed to fix a problem that arose after an Ontario court ruled the “first-generation limit” on citizenship was unconstitutional.
By fixing one problem, Parliament created another one — for archives across Canada. Without warning, they started receiving a deluge of requests from Americans looking for baptismal certificates from relatives many generations removed.
The problem is especially acute for archives belonging to religious groups, which tend to have few staff and resources.
“We’re drowning in requests,” said Debra Majer, archivist for the Roman Catholic Diocese of London.
Before the legislative change, her archive would get around 100 requests for baptismal certificates and other genealogical records each year — none of them from Americans.
By the end of March, she had already received over 200 requests from people in the U.S. seeking proof of Canadian ancestry. “We are swamped,” Majer said.
When Parliament made the change to the Act, they weren’t thinking about the downriver implications for archives, she said. “We’ve had to hire another person to handle the influx. We’re getting as many as five requests a day, including on weekends.”
Why are Americans suddenly interested in finding proof of a connection to Canada?
“They talk about Trump, the current political situation, and the upcoming draft,” she said of how some parents want to avoid having their sons who are between 18 to 26 years-old automatically registered by the Selective Service in December, this year.
In addition to her work in the London archives, Majer is Chair of the Canadian Catholic Archives Group. “We are talking to each other about this,” she said, adding the increased workload is affecting Catholic archives across the country.
Claire Wilton is the archivist for the Anglican Diocese of Toronto. In 2025, she received 74 total requests for records. By the end of March, this year, there were 88, primarily from Americans wanting to apply for Canadian citizenship due to Bill C-3.
With only two staff. “it’s quite a struggle to keep up,” Wilton said, noting they get as many as 10 requests some days.
As at other archives, “there was no warning,” she said. “It’s been crazy.”
Her archive charges $30 per hour of research to find an old record, and $25 for a copy of the certificate. Last year, they made $1,200 that way. Already this year over $3,000 has come in.
“It’s crazy. I hope it slows down soon,” Wilton said.
Tyyne Petrowski directs the archives for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Winnipeg. Due to Parliament’s decision, she’s received “a huge uptick” in the number of requests from Americans, she said, noting that up to half of the requests they receive are from Americans.
With only her on staff part-time, it’s been a significant increase in the workload. What doesn’t help is that many people often don’t have good information about their ancestors.
“They don’t know what parish they were part of or when they were born,” Petrowski said, adding the archive charges $25 for each copy of a record. “It’s a lot more work for me.”
These requests “are the biggest demand on my time,” she said, adding “I had to change my voicemail to ask people to send emails instead when possible … trying to catch people with return calls has gotten overwhelming.”
Jo McCutcheon is the executive director of the Canadian Council of Archives. “Some archives are getting slammed,” she said, adding that when Parliament passed the Bill they had “zero consideration for the impact on archivists.”
Archives already don’t get a lot of funding, McCutcheon noted. “This is putting extra pressure on staff who are already working under constrained circumstances.”
In 2025, the 13 members of the council reported that archives in their provinces and territories handled 1,924 requests for records. In the first two months of this year, they had received over 1,000.
The United Church archives alone had 274 requests for records by the end of February. Last year, they had a total of 660.
“Nobody in Parliament was thinking about the downriver implications for us,” McCutcheon said. “And the situation is only getting more critical.”
Jdl562000@yahoo.com
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John Longhurst has been writing for Winnipeg's faith pages since 2003. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
The Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba through our Religion in the News project. This reporting continues because readers like you step forward to fund it.
Donate now to support our reporting on religion.
Your donation is eligible for a charitable tax receipt.
BECOME A FAITH JOURNALISM SUPPORTER
John Longhurst has been writing for Winnipeg's faith pages since 2003. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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The Free Press acknowledges the financial support it receives from members of the city’s faith community, which makes our coverage of religion possible.
