There have been several moments in the history of American-Canadian relations when significant numbers of Americans have fled northward to Canada.
The most notable example, of course, is the United Empire Loyalists, who came in large numbers to what is now Canada after the American Revolution because they wished to remain loyal to the British Crown. Later, many enslaved Blacks found freedom and dignity by following the North Star to Canada.
More recently, Canada opened its arms to a wave of American draft dodgers during the Vietnam War, many of whom, like earlier waves of American refugees, made happy and productive lives for themselves in the Great White North.
Today a new surge of Americans, many of them deeply disenchanted with Trumpian America, are hoping to uproot themselves and find a new home, or at least a safe haven, in Canada. Interest has apparently soared since the Canadian Parliament amended its citizenship law last year, allowing many people with a provable Canadian ancestor to reclaim or confirm their Canadian citizenship.
No one knows exactly how many Americans are now looking northward, hoping to make a getaway to what they, rightly or wrongly, consider a saner land. But while the number is hard to quantify, so too is the flood of requests now pouring into the Archives of Ontario from Americans seeking certified copies of birth records for Canadian-born ancestors.
According to an archives official, the Archives is now receiving “hundreds” of such requests not every week, but every day.
“At least two hundred every day,” she said.
In other words, what used to be a meagre trickle, if that, has now become a mighty Mississippi.
The Archives used to advise clients that the wait time for certified copies of documents was ten to fourteen days. Now there is no telling how long people will have to wait. The Archives is currently advising requesters to expect six to ten weeks, plus additional time for invoicing and shipping. Even that may prove optimistic without a sharp increase in staff dedicated to this singular task.
For would-be immigrants from the sunny south, the message is plain: if you need an official Ontario birth record for an ancestor, order it sooner rather than later — because the line at the archives now stretches all the way across the border. ♦
