If your Canadian ancestor was born in Ontario before 1920, you cannot order their birth certificate from ServiceOntario. Those records live at the Archives of Ontario, which holds civil birth registrations from July 1869 onward. The Archives issues certified colour reproductions of the original register page, and IRCC accepts these for a CIT 0001 citizenship by descent application. The fee is currently around $15 to $25 per record, and turnaround is several weeks if you have the registration number, longer if the Archives needs to search for it.
How to Order Ontario Birth Records Before 1920
The Archives of Ontario is the only authority that issues certified copies of Ontario birth registrations older than 100 years. ServiceOntario handles records from roughly 1920 forward; the Archives handles everything before. The cutoff shifts each year because Ontario uses a rolling 100-year privacy threshold.
- Search the indexed records first. Ancestry has Ontario births indexed 1832 to 1916, FamilySearch has 1869 to 1912. Both give you the registration number, parents' names, township, and exact date.
- Email your order to archives@ontario.ca with the registration number, full name, date of birth, parents' names, and place of birth.
- Pay the certified copy fee per record. Check archives.gov.on.ca for the current rate.
What if the Record Was Never Registered?
Ontario civil registration began July 1, 1869. Before that, almost no civil birth records exist. The provincial registrar-general estimated that in 1870, only one-third of Ontario births were registered. The 1875 to 1895 period was about two-thirds complete, and even 1896 to 1919 peaked around 85 percent in the best years.
If your ancestor was born before 1869 or simply never registered, IRCC accepts substitute evidence:
- Church baptismal records (Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist registers, often held by the denomination's provincial archives)
- Canadian census records: 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911, 1921, available from Library and Archives Canada
- Pre-Confederation marriage bonds and surrogate court records at the Archives of Ontario
Example: Sarah from Vermont needed to prove her great-grandfather James was born in Middlesex County in 1872. He never appeared in the Archives index. She ordered the 1881 Canadian census from Library and Archives Canada, which listed James as a nine-year-old in London Township with his parents. Paired with her grandfather's 1909 Ontario birth certificate, that was enough to establish the bloodline for her CIT 0001 file.
What an Old Ontario Birth Register Entry Looks Like
Pre-1920 births are recorded in bound registers, one volume per county per year. A standard entry shows the registration number, date and place of birth, child's name, sex, mother's full name with maiden name, father's full name and occupation, and the name of the registrar. Entries from the 1870s and 1880s are handwritten in cursive that takes practice to read. Middlesex, York, and other large counties used pre-printed forms with handwritten fields.
The certified copy the Archives mails you is a colour photographic reproduction of the original page, signed and sealed by the Archivist of Ontario. IRCC accepts this format directly. Hospital cards, unofficial transcripts, and Ancestry screenshots are not accepted.
Long-Form vs Short-Form Birth Certificates
For a CIT 0001 application, IRCC requires the long-form birth certificate (sometimes called Statement of Live Birth or Book Copy) that names both parents. Archives of Ontario certified copies are full register entries and always show parental information, so they satisfy the long-form requirement automatically. For births after 1920, you must specifically request the long-form when ordering from ServiceOntario. The wallet-sized short-form does not list parents and IRCC will reject it for descent claims.
Ordering Modern Ontario Birth Certificates (Post-1920)
If your ancestor was born after the Archives cutoff, order from ServiceOntario:
- Online regular: about $35 for the long-form, 15 business days
- Online premium (rush): about $45 for the long-form, 5 business days plus courier
- Mail: 6 to 8 weeks
For grandparents born in the 1930s or 1940s, regular online service is usually fast enough. If you are racing a deadline, the $10 upgrade to premium is worth it.
What to Do Next
Order the long-form Ontario birth certificate for your Canadian-born ancestor first. If multiple ancestors in your bloodline were born in Ontario, order them in parallel; they take weeks to arrive and they are the foundation of the entire CIT 0001 file. Every other document hangs off the parent-child link these records establish.
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