Ontario Naturalization and Citizenship

Online Records

 * Library and Archives Canada's Upper Canada and Canada West Naturalization Records 1828-1850
 * Library and Archives Canada Naturalization 1915-1939
 * Library and Archives Canada Naturalization 1939-1951

British Immigrants
Until 1947, British immigrants from England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland automatically became citizens of Canada. They did not need naturalization. Non-British immigrants, however, were required to make oaths of allegiance before receiving land grants. The oaths and petitions for citizenship for 1817-1846 are in files at the Provincial Archives.

Before 1828
All individuals wishing to obtain land from the Crown were required to swear an oath of allegiance before a Magistrate or Justice of the Peace. These oaths can usually be found with the Crown land petitions or among the Township papers. See Research Guide 215, A Guide to Early Land Settlement Records, ca.1790 to ca.1850 for information about these records.

1828-1850
Ontario did not have a naturalization process until 1828. The Act to Secure and Confer Upon Certain Inhabitants of this Province (Upper Canada) the Civil and Political Rights of Natural Born British Subjects (1828) mandated that a naturalization register be kept for each county in Upper Canada; this practice continued until 1850. The surviving naturalization registers are available on self-service microfilm reels C15692 and C-15693 in the Reading Room of the Archives of Ontario. Click here to access a searchable database of these registers on Library and Archives Canada’s Canadian Genealogy Centre website.

Records created after 1917 are more detailed than earlier records and are found at:


 * Department of Citizenship and Immigration Public Rights Administration 300 Slate Street, 3rd floor, Section D Ottawa, ON K1A 1L1 CANADA

Telephone: 888-242-2100 (In Canada only; outside of Canada, write to the above address.)

This index lists about 3,000 names:


 * McKenzie, Donald A. Upper Canada Naturalization Records 1828-1850. Toronto, Ontario: Ontario Genealogical Society, 1991. (Family History Library .)

Later naturalization records were maintained on a national basis by the office of the Secretary of State. See Canada Emigration and Immigration for a detailed discussion on this topic.