One of the main goals for genealogists is finding birth, marriage, and death (BMD) information about their ancestors.
Over the past few decades, thanks to volunteers, librarians and archivists (as well as the largest of them all - FamilySearch), a great number of indexes to birth, marriage, and death collections have been provided for free online. These searchable indexes provide specific BMD information, and often scanned images of the actual birth, marriage, and death certificates themselves. These free online collections have hundreds of millions of records in them in total.
There are a great number of online and offline collections that may include birth, marriage, and death information that are not included in the lists below. For example, newspapers, draft registration files, naturalization records, etc. have BMD info. To find out which types of other records may include BMD information, please see:
- 27 Ways to Find Ancestor Birth Information
- 22 Ways to Find Ancestors Marriage Information
- 21 Ways to Find Ancestors Death Information
The lists below are specific birth, marriage, and death indexes and record collections that are available for free online.
Note 1: Some of the links listed below take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. In many cases there is a link to the digital collection in the middle of the page, but also near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections' images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital. Please also note that I have listed below only BMD databases that are accessible digitally from your computer (or tablet/phone). Important: Make sure that you are logged in to the FamilySearch site. For some reason, if you are not logged in an otherwise browsable collection will show up with the camera icon with a key; if logged in, it will show up as the camera icon, ensuring that you can access the collection online remotely.
Note 2: There are obituary record indexes included, but are only listed if the index contains the death date, not just the date of publication of the obituary.
(Updated December, 2020; recently added links are in BOLD)
General Canada
- Canada Births and Baptisms, 1661-1959
- Canada Deaths and Burials, 1664-1955
- Canada Marriages, 1661-1949
- Canada Miscellaneous Marriages
British Columbia
- BC Archives - Births, Marriages, and Deaths
- BC Newspapers Birth, Marriage, and Death Extracts, 1861 to 1875
- British Columbia Birth Registrations, 1854-1903
- British Columbia Death Registrations, 1872-1986; 1992-1993
- British Columbia Deaths and Obituaries (Links to obituary collections from over 100 BC newspapers)
- British Columbia Marriage Registrations, 1859-1932; 1937-1938
- British Columbia, Death Registrations, 1992
- British Columbia, Marriage Registrations, 1937
- British Columbia, Birth Registrations, 1872-1903 (for Birth years, 1854-1903); Delayed Birth Registrations for Birth years, 1869-1903;, Delayed Birth Registrations for Birth years, 1859-1903; Delayed Registrations of Indian Births, 1868-1903
- British Columbia, Marriage Registrations, 1872-1936; Index, 1872-1921, Original Indexes for Brides, 1872-1942, and Grooms, 1872-1939; Indian Marriages, 1917-1936
- Campbell River Death and Obituary Index 1987-
- Canadian Deaths and Obits - British Columbia (scroll to top)
- Comox Valley Births, Marriages, and Deaths
- Kamloops Funeral Records, Index 1888-1974
- Kamloops, Newspaper Surname and Subject Card Index, 1880-1970
- Kelowna & District Genealogical Society Death and Obituary Index
- Marriages Index
- Mennonite Brethren Herald Death and Obituary Index -1961-2010
- Parksville – Qualicum Beach Marriages 1948 – 1994
- Parksville/Qualicum Deaths and Obituaries 1948 to 1994
- Pre-confederation Marriage records 1859-1872
- Vancouver Island Marriages
- Vancouver, Emmanuel Baptist Church, Church Records, 1911-1969
- Victoria Death Notices Index 1901-1939
- Victoria Marriage Notices Index 1901-1939
- Victoria Newspaper Events Index
- Victoria Newspaper Index, 1858-1936
- Victoria Times Birth, Marriage and Death Notices, 1901-1939
- Victoria, Church of England in Canada. Christ Church Cathedral, Birth, Marriage, and Death Information clipped from the Victoria times newspaper, 1901-1939]
- Victoria, Church of England in Canada. Christ Church Cathedral, Parish Registers, 1836-1905
- Yukon News Death Extracts for BC
Check out the links for other provinces on the BMD Records page.
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
For other Free British Columbia Links, click on the category of interest:
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