Government of Ontario

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Microfilm Interloan Service

Legacy Vital Statistics Now on Family Search Website

Interlibrary Loan
(Southern Ontario Library Serivce and Northern Ontario Library Service)

Great News for library patrons, genealogists and researchers!

The Archives of Ontario successfully signed a licencing agreement with Family Search International (FSI) to make available online several years of historical Ontario vital statistics records previously available only on microfilm. Starting May 30, 2015, the following records will be available online through the FSI website for free :

Family Search logo

Family Search Website Logo


Alan Sullivan and family

Alan Sullivan and family [October, 1915]
M.O. Hammond fonds
Reference Code: F 1075-16
Archives of Ontario, I0014588


Digitization of Vital Statistics – Customer FAQ’s

The Archives of Ontario successfully signed a licencing agreement with Family Search International (FSI) to make available several years of legacy Ontario vital statistics records previously available only on microfilm. Starting May 30, 2015, the following records will be available online, through the FSI website for free:

Digital records can be accessed on the Family Search website.


What are Legacy Vital Statistics (VS) records?

Legacy VS records consist of birth, death and marriage indexes and registrations, previously microfilmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU) between 1998 and 2003. GSU is now known as Family Search International (FSI).These records are currently available in microfilm in the Archives reading room and through ILL.

Will all the GSU microfilms be available in digitized format on the FSI website?

No, only the following vital statistics are available at this time:

Why are birth records after 1910 available on microfilm in the Archives Reading Room but not available online? When will these records will be available online?

As per the new threshold, birth records will not be released to the public till they reach 105 years. Note that, prior to these threshold changes, 1911 and 1912 birth records were transferred to the Archives. Even though these records are less than 105 years old, they are available on microfilm in Archives reading room and via inter library loan. The 1911 and 1912 birth records will be released online on FSI website on Jan 1, 2016 and Jan 1, 2017 respectively.

When will the pre-1869 marriage records be released?

The estimated release date for these records is 2016. More information will be made available prior to the release.

What will happen to VS records in InterLibrary Loan (ILL)?

Clients can still request microfilms that are currently available through ILL. Once the records are available online, no new reels of VS microfilm will be created.