A new source of genealogical information about Jewish immigrants to Canada from the 1930s to the 1950s has recently come online.

Canadian Jewish historians have dubbed the period as the “None Is Too Many” era because of the restrictive policies against Jews then in effect. However, families of thousands of would-be Jewish immigrants apparently circumvented the restrictions through appeals to the Privy Council, an officiating body consisting of members of the federal cabinet and heads of various government departments.

For example, Chil Lustgarten was a 28-year-old single salesman, a “citizen and resident of Poland of Hebrew race” who, in 1934, wasn’t permitted to enter Canada. But his prospects changed for the better after a sister in Canada appealed to the Privy Council on his behalf.

The appeal, which had the support of a member of Parliament, detailed the sister’s good employment and savings record, and named and outlined the extensive business interests of a cousin who was prepared to give Lustgarten an interest in his business. According to the order-in-council papers, the appeal was approved, and Lustgarten was given five months to come to Canada. Presumably, he did so.  

Until recently, such federal order-in-council files were unindexed and accessible only to researchers prepared to slog through boxes in person at Library and Archives Canada (LAC) in Ottawa. The files are now much more easily accessible, thanks to a former LAC reference clerk and her sister.

While working at LAC several years ago, Joanna Crandell discovered that some 850 orders-in-council lists related to immigrants such as Lustgarten were indexed under the subject heading “Immigration.” Crandell examined the immigrant-related orders-in-council and “was overwhelmed at the amount of genealogical information they contained.” She and her sister worked for three years to photograph and index the entries from 1930 to 1952. They plan to extend the index to 1954.

Recently posted online at www.orderincouncillists.com, the alphabetical index contains the names of about 25,000 immigrants, including some 5,000 Jews from 30 countries. The names of about 15,000 sponsoring Canadians are also included.

“Although the lists start in 1930, the information about the sponsors can give details of immigrants who arrived in Canada much earlier,” Crandell said. “In some cases the sponsors are an elderly couple who have been in Canada for many years and are bringing in a relative to help with the family farm or business.”

Jews comprise the largest single ethnic group in the files, followed by almost 4,000 Chinese immigrants, who start to appear on the lists in 1948. About 2,500 of the Jewish immigrants came from Poland, about 1,000 from Germany, the others from Austria, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Russia and other countries.

“The Jewish immigrants were unique in several respects,” Crandell said. “First, they are the only group in which women frequently sponsored their husbands – I have not seen that in any other entries. Second, some Jewish men misrepresented themselves as single and later applied to sponsor wives and children they had left behind. Given how the immigration system was so weighted against them, it’s not surprising that they did this.”

The orders-in-council lists are a newly available and potentially valuable source of information on Jewish immigrants to Canada, particularly in the periods both before and after the Holocaust. Researchers should consult the alphabetical index pages at www. orderincouncillists.com. Those who find a name of interest may write to Crandell requesting copies of the photographed pages for a cost of $20 per name. 

 Bill Gladstone is a Toronto-area writer and genealogist. His website is www.billgladstone.ca.