Canadian citizenship documents by province and territory

1. Province or territory where the event occurred.
2. Birth, marriage, death, adoption, or legal name-change record needed.
3. Year of the event and whether it has transferred to an archive.
4. Applicant's legal entitlement or relationship to request the record.
5. Certificate product needed—especially whether parentage must appear.

• Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the Atlantic provinces operate separate vital-statistics systems.
• Territories maintain their own registries and eligibility rules.
• Quebec civil-status terminology and historical church or archive sources require particular care.
• Older records may be with provincial archives rather than the active civil registry.
• Access to a deceased ancestor's record can require death evidence, relationship proof, authorization, or a statutory declaration.

IRCC wants each Canadian birth certificate issued by the original provincial or territorial authority. These are the registries, what they call the version that names the parents, and the rules that most often catch descendants out.

• Ontario: ServiceOntario, online, by mail, or in person at its Toronto or Ottawa office. It issues a birth certificate, a birth certificate with parental information, and a certified copy of birth registration.
• Ontario, for someone who has died: only the certified copy of birth registration, and only to next of kin (parents, spouse, children, siblings), an executor or an estate trustee. Grandchildren are extended next of kin and may apply only when all next of kin have died.
• Quebec, last 100 years: the Directeur de l'état civil du Québec. It issues a certificate or a copy of an act only to a person named in the act, or to someone who establishes their interest with a reason and an official document such as a will or power of attorney.
• Quebec, 1621 to 100 years ago: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ), through its online request form only. It issues a copy of a baptism act, not a birth act.
• British Columbia: the Vital Statistics Agency, online, at a Service BC counter or by mail. Under BC's Vital Statistics Act, someone other than the person or their parent can order with the eligible person's written permission, or by satisfying the registrar general that the request is made in good faith.
• Alberta: apply through a registry agent, AMA or Registry Connect, which send the application to Vital Statistics. Ask for the birth certificate with personal information and parentage. Registrations of birth 120 years old or more, or where the person has been dead 50 years or more, are historical records ordered from the Provincial Archives of Alberta, and anyone may apply.
• Saskatchewan: eHealth Saskatchewan. Ask for the long form birth certificate, which includes the parents' full names.
• Manitoba: the Vital Statistics Branch. Privacy law governs who can access its records.
• New Brunswick: Service New Brunswick.
• Nova Scotia: Vital Statistics, Government of Nova Scotia.
• Newfoundland and Labrador: the Vital Statistics Division of Government Services.
• Prince Edward Island, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut: each keeps its own registry. Order from that government's vital statistics office.

IRCC doesn't accept Quebec birth or marriage certificates issued before 1 January 1994. The rule looks at when the paper was issued, not when the birth happened: a 1950 birth on a certificate issued recently is fine, and an old certificate in a family drawer is not.

Before 1994, Quebec births were recorded only in parish and municipal registers. That's why BAnQ, which holds the records from 1621 to 100 years ago, issues a copy of the baptism act rather than a birth act. Records from the last 100 years come from the Directeur de l'état civil.

A decorative, wallet-size, or short-form certificate may confirm that a birth occurred while omitting the parents. If the citizenship application depends on a parent-child link, confirm that the requested product contains parentage.

Read the province's current eligibility and identity rules before paying. The label 'long form' is not perfectly consistent across jurisdictions, so rely on the listed data fields rather than the nickname.

When the event is old, determine whether the active registry still issues the certificate or whether the record has transferred to an archive. Archive images can locate an event, but IRCC may still require an official or certified version.

Search spelling variants, French and English names, former place names, delayed registrations, and nearby registration districts. Preserve negative search results and official correspondence.

• No apostille or authentication on a Canadian certificate going to IRCC.
• No notarised copy: IRCC wants a clear colour copy of the certificate the registry issued.
• No translation of a certificate in English or French, including a French-language Quebec record.
• No decorative or wallet-size version: order the one that shows the parents.

This is general information, not legal advice. Canadian citizenship law and IRCC forms can change; use the current official instructions for the application you file.