Alberta Ancestors: Issues of University of Alberta's " The Gateway" Online

 Was your ancestor connected to the University of Alberta? Then you absolutely should be looking at the campus publication The Gateway. Still in publication, it was founded in 1910. Best of all, all issues have been digitized and are available online for free!

The publication focuses on issues relevant to students. According to their website, their objective is

• To sponsor advancement of education of University of Alberta students through the various practices of journalism and the publication of the Gateway.
• To provide a fair, reliable, and clear source of information, focused mainly, but not exclusively, on issues which directly affect students, whether they are local, national, or international.

The University of Alberta have digitized every available issue from 1910 to present day. You can find them online at two sites.

Peel's Prairie Provinces

This must see website for Western Canada research has all available issues from 1910 to 2008. These are available in PDF form. You can access the main browse page here

http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/newspapers/GAT/

Keyword searching can be done either on the main page to search all issues, or you can keyword search inside a particular issue. Just click on a year, and then a particular issue. The initial pages shown are quite small. However, if you click on the page image, it will reload to a much more readable size. Once you're into the larger size, there is an option to print. 

http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/newspapers/GAT/1910/11/21/6/Ar00600.html

Internet Archive

If you're looking for digitized items, you should always look to see if it's been uploaded to Internet Archive. A search on their site revealed they have over 3500 issues uploaded. They run from 1910 right up to 2020! The link from my search to access all issues is here.

https://archive.org/search.php?query=gateway%20alberta&and[]=mediatype%3A%22texts%22&and[]=subject%3A%22gateway%22

Just click on an issue and you can explore page by page. You can zoom in and out quite easily. Right click on an image to save the whole page and then print. Saving the image allows you to crop on a specific article if needed. Keyword searching can be done in a particular issue.

What's Inside 

So what information can you find? The issues contained news pertaining to the university, and university life. It also included articles on a local, national, and international scale. Pictures are included as well. Even if your ancestor didn't make the publication by name, you'll still get an insight into their academic life. 

Here's a short blurb about a new Science Professor, Dr. Ernest Sheldon, from 1910

Here's and article from 1934 about an upcoming night of boxing matches between the University's Varsity team and Camrose Normal.

Here's some letters to the editor from an issue in 1924

Here's the recipients of academic awards in 1943

Here's some members of the Archery Club in 1956

Here are some ads from 1969 aimed at recruiting upcoming graduates

Here is some club notices and classified ads from 1977

If your ancestor had a business that catered to the needs of students and faculty, then be sure to look at the ads throughout each issue. You might find an ad they placed. For the final example, here are some ads from 1918

I lost a couple of hours looking through the issues just for this post. Set aside some time when you research your ancestor. I can guarantee you'll get sidetracked.

Alberta Ancestors: Digital Directories on Canadiana

I can't stress enough how important it is to have Canadiana bookmarked on your internet browser. This fantastic free resource has a massive amount of digitized material relating to Canada. While looking for inspiration for my blog post this week, I used the following search term in the main search box:

"Alberta" AND "directory"


When you think "directory", the first thought is City/County directories. These are a great resource, but I wanted to find more "out of the box" results. As usual, Canadiana did not disappoint with unusual material.

Directory of poultry breeders of Alberta, 1918
If your ancestor was in the poultry industry, then this one's for you. Like a regular directory, it has listings with addresses of anyone involved in the industry. It also has advertisements like these ones:

Here's the recent winners of trophies from the Alberta Provincial Poultry Association

Calgary, Alberta, Canada, her industries and resources
This is great resource if your ancestor owned a business in Calgary. Along with the usual advertisements, there are also short sketches of the businesses and owners. Here's one about the local laundry owner, John Dean

Some are longer entries, giving some great details. Look at this lengthy one for George Murdoch

Opportunities in Alberta, 1916
This is one of a series of publications. Their purpose was to entice people to come and settle in the province. They gave overviews of the province as a whole in terms of land and employment opportunities. They also gave details about districts and towns. If you were wanting information on what your ancestor's community was like, these are a good resource. Here's the snippet on what the community of McLeod, Alberta

Henderson's northwest brand book (1889)
If your ancestor was a rancher, you might want to look at this. Each ranch listed describes their brand and where on the animal it is located. Some even have a visual to help

Even better, at the back of the book is a reverse index, showing the brands. You could then go to the page reference and find the ranch it belongs to.


Digest Western law reporter, vols. 1 to 24, Territories law reports vols. 1 to 7 : and the official reports for the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, concurrent with the W.L.R., together with a collection of other cases of special interest to Western Canada / compiled by Thomas T. Rolph and Walter E. Lear
This is an interesting one! If your ancestor was involved in a legal case before 1915, you'll want to look at this. The front of the book lists court cases alphabetically. Look for your case name, and then use the column numbers listed to find the case details

These are just a few examples. While you're at it, also check these links that popped up in the results

• The new West
• The Western Conveyancer
• The Canadian mining manual and companies directory / compiled from the most authentic sources by B.T.A. Bell. : Fourth Year (1894)
• The Grain growers' guide (Available issues: 466)

Alberta Ancestors: The Wainwright Public Library Newspaper Archives

Many public libraries across the country are in the process of digitizing newspapers. Not all of them offer access to non library card holders though. One exception is the Wrainwright Public Library. Wainwright, Alberta is located about 200 km southeast of Edmonton.

Google Image

The Wainright Public Library partnered with Wainwright Main Street Project, Battle River Historical Society (Wainwright Museum) and Buffalo National Park Interpretive Centre to digitize 110 years of the Wainright Star Chronicle. It is free to use for everyone, and they have done a good job of having nice clear images. On the main portal entry page, it lets you know the system requirements to be able to use the database. If you click on First -Time User Click Here, it gives you help on making sure your computer is set up properly

http://libraries.arcasearchdev.com/ca/wc/?paper=___

When you enter the portal, a new window will open. Another screen will also pop up that gives you excellent instructions on how to use the site. If it doesn't make sure you allow pop ups, then exit and re-enter the site and it should work. If you're still having problems, click here. This will bring them up for you.

So, enter your search term in the search bar. Out of curiosity, I used "spanish flu". Genealogists and Family Historians can't help but see the comparisons to our current circumstances 100 years later. I got 15 results. I also tried "spanish influenza", and got a further 25 hits.

Select the issue you want on the right, and click on it.This will put the particular page in full screen as a PDF. Now, the downside is that highlighted text won't show. You'll have to skim the page to find where your search term is. But, let's face it. Who doesn't end up looking at the whole page anyway? Besides, it's not like research time is short these days. Because of being in PDF, you can download the page, or print it. You can also zoom in and out. I would suggest if you don't want a full page to take screen shots. 

To go back to your results, just click on the Show Form button just below the search bar. This will take you back to your results page.

Because this is a newspaper that covers a less populated area, you're going to get more personal stories than you would in a large urban newspaper. For instance, in the screenshot above is the annual report of the Edgerton and District Church of England. Edward Haddocks just completed his first year as the minister, and he gave a report on how it went for him.

Here's some tidbits from a column they ran in 1938 that highlighted local residents' comings and goings from past issues. The ones listed here are from 1928.

Here's a third, that appeared on the same page as an influenza article in 1918. This one tells about how the local curling club is getting ready for a new season.

The Wainwright Public Library is allowing people to sponsor a publication year for $50. The sponsor would receive a receipt for tax purposes. If you are interested, they have contact information on their page here. It also lists what years have already been taken, and their sponsors.

Alberta Ancestors: Early Alberta Newspapers Online

One of the downsides of Canadian research is the lack of a central repository for newspapers. If you have ancestors in Alberta in the early 1900's, you'll want to look at the University of Calgary's collection of early Alberta newspapers.

The website has a total collection of over 600 microfilms of various newspapers around the province:

• the calgary herald (57)
• the calgary daily herald (55)
• the morning albertan (51)
• edmonton bulletin (45)
• the nanton news (22)
• the camrose canadian (19)
• the olds gazette (18)
• the gazette (17)
• the morning bulletin (17)
• crag and canyon (15)
• the olds gazette and mountain view news (14)
• lethbridge herald (13)
• medicine hat news (13)
• the strathmore and bow valley standard (8)
• the albertan (6)
• the high river times (6)
• the lethbridge daily herald (6)
• lethbridge news (5)
• red deer advocate (5)
• strathmore standard (5)
• the daily herald (5)
• the macleod gazette (5)
• the plaindealer (5)
• edmonton daily bulletin (4)
• lethbridge daily herald (4)
• plaindealer (4)
• northern tribune (3)
• strathcona plaindealer (3)
• the delburne progress (3)
• the sylvan lake news (3)
• vegreville observer (3)
• claresholm review (2)
• edmonton journal (2)
• innisfail free lance (2)
• lloydminster times (2)
• stavely standard (2)
• the sedgewick sentinel (2)
• claresholm local press (1)
• herald tribune (1)
• medicine hat times (1)
• medicine hat weekly news (1)
• rocky mountain house paper (1)
• strathcona plaindealer special school edition (1)
• sylvan lake news (1)
• the bawlf banner (1)
• the bawlf sun (1)
• the claresholm local press (1)
• the guide (1)
• the pincher creek echo (1)
• the stavely advertiser (1)
• the sylvan lake world (1)

The years run the gamut from about 1908 to the early 1920s. However, I also found a couple of sets that had dates from the 1990s as well. Each microfilm holds multiple issues.

https://cdm22007.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/search/collection/p22007coll2!p22007coll18!p22007coll19!p22007coll24/order/title/ad/asc

There is an option to sort the issues by:

• Title Ascending
• Title Descending
• Date Ascending
• Date Descending
• Description Ascending
• Description Descending

It doesn't work perfectly, but it more or less sorts the way you want it to. On the left side bar, you can also filter by newspaper and/or date. To access a particular microfilm, just click on the one you want. I chose the Calgary Herald 1915-07-02 - 1915-08-28.

https://cdm22007.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p22007coll2/id/75286/rec/15

To be able to zoom in and out, just click on the little red box with the arrows in the right corner of the image. You'll then be able to zoom in and out. As well, you can make it a full screen image, rotate left, or rotate right.

Use the search bar to the right of the image to search for surnames or key words. But take some time to browse the issues as well, because you never know what you might find.The search engine may not always pick up your search words. 

So what kind of information can you find? Most beginners in newspaper research only look at the Births, Marriages and Deaths section. But you can find a lot more if you look at the other pages as well. For example, here's an interesting article about a boy who lied about his age to enter WWI in 1915 in Calgary Herald.

Here's another one, detailing a court case. It is from The Albertan in 1902:

And here's one from The Edmonton Bulletin in 1925. Some farmers were fined for making moonshine:

To go to the next image on the microfilm, you can click on the image in the right sidebar. You can alternately use the red bars on the right and left to go back and forth through the images. If you are in the zoom screen, there are right and left arrows at the top of the screen to go back and forth. They are a little hard to see, but just take your cursor and hover on the top right corner, and they will become highlighted.

Unfortunately, I could see no way to download images. You could however take a screen shot and save it as a JPEG or PNG image to your computer. There are several screen shot programs out there if you don't have one. 

For your source citation, scroll to the bottom of the page to Object Description to get the information you need.

Metis Ancestors: Resources from the Glenbow Museum

If you have Metis ancestors, then you know finding resources for them can be difficult. One of the sites you should be book marking is the online collection at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. This online collection contains genealogies with source citations.

Metis in Canada are the descendants of marriages between Indigineous and non Indigenous people. For the most part, the marriages were between Indigenous women and the European men employed in the fur trade. The Glenbow's collection deals with Metis in what is now Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Some parts of the Northwest Territories, Ontario and British Columbia are also covered.

https://www.glenbow.org/collections/archives/genealogy/

 In their online collection are several resources. They do warn that the researcher will need to trace the family line back pre 1900 for their collection to be helpful for research. They have included on the site a PDF of a pedigree chart to help in research.

Not everything is digitized. However, these are still important because they give the important file numbers you need. This way you can provide the exact file numbers to staff when you visit in person. Even if you hire a researcher to do the visit for you, giving them this number will save a lot of valuable research time.


Charles Denney fonds and Métis genealogy files
This collection comprises of genealogical files for Prairie Metis as well as those families connected to the Red River Settlement. The collection was compiled between 1967 and 1985. Among the collection is charts, photographs, and correspondence. It also contains indexes and microfilms of census and parish records. There are genealogies of approximately 1200 family lines in the collection. The majority of it has not been digitized, but there are a few. It is divided into 9 subsections:

• Series 1 Scanned Document Family history files : alphabetical list. — 1967-1985
• Series 1-A Family history files : microfilm copies. - Microfilmed 1990 (originally created 1967-1985)
• Series 2 Denney's indexes to family history files. — 1967-1985
• Series 3 Scanned Document Collected reference materials. — 1956-1990 (originally created 1709-1985)
• Series 4 Denney family personal papers. — 1906-2001
• Series 5 Scanned Document Photographs. — [ca. 1855]-2000
• Series 6 Elsie Denney's family genealogy. — [ca. 1900-1996]
• Series 7 Miscellaneous writing. — 1924-2000, predominant 1972-2000
• Series 8 Subject files. — [ca. 1910]-2002
• Series 9 Priscilla Gilmour's papers. — 1927-1945, predominant 1942-1945

Now, if your file of interest is digitized, you will see this:

Just click on the "View now" to see the digitized documents in the file. They are digitized as a PDF, so can be downloaded to your computer. Onsite, the collection has restricted access for conservation reasons. They have microfilms available.



Pat McCloy Genealogical Collection
This collection, compiled from the 1970s to 1996, has a wealth of information. Along with index cards, there is also primary source material. It has wills, certificates, correspondence, newspaper clippings, obituaries, and photographs. There are 8 subsections:

• Series 1 Genealogical research files. - [ca. 1970s-1996]
• Series 2 Alphabetical files. - n.d.
• Series 3 Miscellaneous genealogical files. - n.d.
• Series 4 Thomas Rennie "Pat" McCloy personal papers. - [1900-1970s]
• Series 5 McKay genealogical index cards. - Compiled [ca. 1970s-1996]
• Series 6 Genealogical index cards. - Compiled [ca. 1970s-1996]
• Series 7 Research notes index cards. - Compiled [ca. 1970s-1996]
• Series 8 Scanned Document Photographs. - [ca. 1870s]-1941

Only Series 8, Scanned Document Photographs. - [ca. 1870s]-1941, has digitized images. The 9 images contained people and places in the Prairies and British Columbia. Onsite, there are no restrictions on access.




Warren Sinclair's Metis Genealogy collection
This collection contains 450 Metis biographies and 910 descendancy charts. The collection also includes indexes for both the biographies and charts. As a side note, this collection is also available at the HBC Archives in Winnipeg. The collection appears to be fully digitized, and is divided into two subsections:

• Series 1 Scanned Document Tables of contents, biographies, and indices. - 1997-1999
• Series 2 Scanned Document Descendancy tables. - 1997-1999

Both the biographies and charts have extensive source citations. A real bonus for us, since we can go straight to the horse's mouth so to speak, to verify. If you've never used a descendancy chart before, they are titled with the earliest known ancestor couple, and work down the successive generations that were born pre 1900. Onsite, there are no restrictions on access.



Geoff Burtonshaw's Metis Genealogy Research collection
This is a collection of photocopied material from Library and Archives Canada, churches, and libraries. It also includes correspondence, researcher lists, and the personal memoirs of Geoff Burtonshaw. Not all of the collection is digitized. It is divided into 6 subsections:

• Series 1 Scanned Document Geoff Burtonshaw's writings. -- [ca. 1990s]
• Series 2 Scanned Document Metis genealogy reference files. -- [ca. 1981-2009]
• Series 3 Alphabetical files of Metis researchers. -- [ca. 1981-2009]
• Series 4 Terry Punch correspondence. -- 1989-2003
• Series 5 Personal papers. -- 1881-1980s
• Series 6 Photographs (unprocessed). -- [ca. 1940s-2000s

Those familiar with Maritime research will recognize Terry Punch's name. Very little of the collection has been digitized. Onsite, there are no restrictions to access.

The Glenbow Library Newspaper Clippings files

This last online collection does not have digitized images. It's function is more of a finding aid to prepare for an onsite visit. You can either search or browse by:

• Keywords or Phrases
• People
• Place
• Subject

They have included some instructions to maximize your searches on the collection's main page.

http://ww2.glenbow.org/search/libraryNewspaperSearch.aspx

The results page will tell you what collections to ask to look at when you visit. For instance, when I typed in "Ferguson" as a surname, I received results that looked like this:

http://ww2.glenbow.org/search/libraryNewspaperResults.aspx

The Archives notes on the main page that this section is a work in progress. They will continue to add search terms as the collection gets examined over time. In other words, keep checking back to see what new items turn up.

A Final Note

The Library and Archives reading room at the Glenbow Museum is now closed. They have been moving their collection over to the Glenbow Western Research Centre. The Centre is located on the second floor of the Taylor Family Digital Library on the University of Calgary’s main campus. They have requested that any research inquiries for material access be directed to archives@ucalgary.ca.

52 Ancestors: Week 34 - Finding Coroner's Reports

Week 33's theme for the 52 ancestors series of posts is "tragedy". When you have an ancestor who died in unusual circumstances, there might have been a coroner's, or chief medical examiner's, inquest. These inquests looked into these kinds of deaths. Because the coroner could interview people and look at evidence that would not qualify in a criminal court, one could find a wealth of information in them. These are the responsibility of provincial governments. As such, each province does things a little differently.

So how to find out if your ancestor's death warranted an inquest? Well the first thing you'll want to look at is historical newspapers. Because of the circumstances in which inquests were held, newspapers would almost certainly have reported on it. Even if the death itself didn't make the news, the fact that a coroner would be looking into it would ensure that it made the news. Depending on the circumstances, you might even find articles on the proceedings themselves.

The majority of Provinces today have a Coroner's Office. Alberta, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Manitoba have Offices of the Chief Medical Examiner. These provinces have modeled their death investigation systems after the US, while Coroner provinces have modeled their systems after the UK model. There are slight differences in how they do things, but the main elements are the same. Statistics Canada has been compiling a national database and has some background here. You can also see their findings investigating deaths from 2006-2008 here. It gives a general view of the types of deaths investigated. Even though it does not discuss individual cases, it is interesting reading.

In both systems, the inquests and their findings were open to the public at the time they happened. However, now the average time restriction for access by the public is 100 years. Until that time, records are held by either the Coroner's Office, or the Attorney General. If the death you are looking at it is less than 100 years ago, your first course of action should be to contact the Coroner/ Chief Medical Officer's office. They would be able to let you know whether it is open access. If it is not, then they should also be able to direct you in whether you qualify for access to restricted records, and how to request access.  What I'm going to focus on is where to access open records.

Provincial Archives of New Brunswick

Provincial Archives
The majority of Provincial Government records are deposited at Provincial Archives once they become open to the public. I did some searching on their websites, and these types of records will require an on site visit. Or, you can hire a researcher if that's not possible for you.

• The Rooms in Newfoundland has a few records as part of their Supreme Court Fonds
• The Public Archives and Record Office  of Prince Edward Island have them as part of the Attorney general Fonds
• The Nova Scotia Archives has inquest records among their County Court Fonds. Not all districts have surviving records.
• I checked the County Guides at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, but I cold not find specific mention of Coroner's Inquest records. My suggestion would be to contact the Archives directly.
• BAnQ in Quebec holds historic coroner's inquest reports. They have several different fonds and files in their online search. Because there are BAnQ Archives across the province, you will want to pay special attention to which location the record is kept at.
• As usual, the Archives of Ontario has a comprehensive research guide for coroner's reports. Here is their PDF guide Criminal Justice Records at the Archives of Ontario. Scroll down to the Coroner's Reports section.
• The Archives of Manitoba hold records covering 1870-1916
• The Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan's search capabilites are transitioning to new software. Because of that, I could not definitely say they have coroner's reports. 
• The Provincial Archives of Alberta has coroner's inquests in several collections.
• Coroner Reports are part of the Ministry of Attorney General fonds at the BC Archives.

Local County, Municipal and University Archives

If you can't find what you're looking for at the Provincial level, try looking at more location specific archives. For whatever reason, these smaller archives may have obtained the records. You may also find collections relating to coroners themselves. For instance:

• The Nanaimo Community Archives have two personal collections relating to two community coroners. The collections include newspaper clippings and personal correspondence.
• Trent University Archives have a collection called United Counties of Northumberland and Durham. Court Records fonds. -- 1803-1955. Among the records are coroner's inquests.
• At the end of World War I, there was a riot in Wales over camp conditions and how long it was taking to get Canadian troops back to Canada. The University of Calgary has the William Lyle Haney fonds, a soldier who was killed in the riots. Included among the collections are the inquest reports.

Canada Gazette and Provincial Gazettes

In the past, I wrote a blog post about what a great resource the Canada Gazette is. Though a federal publication, I did find some interesting results looking for "coroner's inquest". Here's a page thathas a proclamation saying that a Mr. William E Brainerd has a warrant out for his arrest due to the findings in the shooting death of his mother:

Also check Provincial Government gazettes. Historical issues can be found in provincial archives.

Canadiana

A search on Canadiana using the words "coroner inquest" resulted in over 7,000 results. Look at this gem titled Authentic report of the proceedings of a coroner's inquest held upon the body of Job Broom

Some Final Tips

• Make sure you contact the Archives before you visit. Sometimes records are stored off site, and require some notice to have them ready for you.
• Don't limit your search to government record collections. As I showed in the examples above, information can be found in family fond collections.
• On that note, take some time to research who the Coroner/Chief Medical Examiner was in your ancestor's place and time period. By searching their name, you might find additional record sets. 
• Now for the downside: a lot of these records did not survive. So, just because you found mention of an inquest in the newspaper does not mean that you will have a record of the proceedings. But the information you might glean from these records make it worth the search.

52 Ancestors: Week 9 - The Canadian Court System and where to find records

Week 9 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks has the prompt "At the Courthouse". If you're new to Canadian research, it is important to know a little about the Canadian Court System to find the records you need.

There are two main court systems that genealogists concern themselves with. The Provincial/ Territorial Courts, and the Provincial Supreme Court (or Court of the Queen's Bench). The majority of records that genealogists look for will be in one of these two options. Of course, as with anything else, each province does things a little differently. So who covers what?

Newfoundland and Labrador

The Newfoundland Provincial Court handles the following:

• Youth crimes
• Civil Court cases up to $25,000
• Criminal cases except Indictable Offenses (also known as Felonies in the American Court system)
• Inquiries of accidental or mysterious deaths or fires
• Family law  (Adoption, Child Support, Paternity, Marriages not performed in a church, for example)
• Provincial Offenses

The Supreme Court of Newfoundland handles the following:

• Civil Court cases over $25,000
• Wills and Estates
• Divorce
• Guardianship of minors' personal affairs and finances
• Appeals of decisions from the Provincial Courts
• Criminal Cases of Indictable Offenses

Take note that in some areas of Newfoundland, there is no Family Court at the Provincial Court. In these cases, one would look to the Supreme Court for the records pertaining to Family law.

Prince Edward Island

The Provincial Court of Prince Edward Island handles minor criminal cases, Youth Law, and provincial offences

The Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island handles the following:

• Wills and Estates
• All Family Law
• Small Claims Court
• More serious criminal cases
• Appeals from tribunals and the Provincial Court

The Prince Edward Island Court of Appeal handles the appeals from the other two courts.

Nova Scotia

The Provincial Court of Nova Scotia has jurisdiction of the following:

• All criminal cases except Murder
• Inquiries into suspicious deaths
• Youth Justice Act
• Family Court  matters outside the municipalities of Cape Breton and Halifax
• Small Claims Court handles civil cases under $25,000
• Provincial Offenses

The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia presides over:

• Murder cases
• Family law in the municipal districts of Cape Breton and Halifax
• Appeals from the lower Courts
• Divorce
• Bankruptcy
• Civil cases over $25,000

Wills and Estates are handles through the Probate Court of Nova Scotia.

Nova Scotia Court of Appeal is where final appeals from the Supreme Court are held.

New Brunswick

The Provincial Court of New Brunswick handles:

• Youth Criminal Justice
• Criminal matters except murder
• Provincial offenses

The Court of Queen's Bench of New Brunswick handles:

• Murder cases
• The Family Law division handles all matters relating to Family Law
• Appeals of the Provincial Court
• All Civil cases

Wills and Estates are handled through the Probate Court of New Brunswick.

The New Brunswick Court of Appeal handles appeals from the Court of Queen's Bench.

Quebec

Because of the complex balancing act that Quebec performs between French and English law, the first thing you should do is read the Court of Quebec's webpage of their history. Quebec is unique to the rest of Canada in that it's civil code originated from French law, yet it's criminal code follows English law.

The Court of Quebec is divided into divisions. According to the website, the Civil Division handles 

 "...all plaintiff claims involving monetary value or interest – in relation to the object of the dispute – that are less than $85,000, except claims for alimony, class actions and those reserved for the Federal Court of Canada...".  

If the amount of the claim is less than $15,000, it is handled by the Small Claims Court. 

The Criminal and Penal Division handles any criminal proeedings that are not under the jurisdiction of the Provincial Superior Court.

The Youth Division handles:

• Youth Criminal Justice
• Adoption
• Welfare of Minors

The Superior Court of Quebec has jurisdiction over:

• Appeals of other Courts
• Family Law
• Bankruptcies
• Civil cases over $70,000
• Jury Trials in Criminal matters
• Wills and Estates

The Court of Appeal of Quebec handles appeals from the Superior Court, and also in lower courts in certain circumstances.

Ontario

The Ontario Court of Justice has jurisdiction over:

• Family law is practiced in the Family Court
• Most criminal cases are tried in the Criminal Court
• Provincial offenses
• Child Protection
• Adoptions
• Youth Criminal Justice

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice handles:

• Appeals from lower Courts
• Serious Criminal Matters
• Wills and Estates 
• Bankruptcy
• All civil matters. If under $25,000 it is handled through the Small Claims Court
• All Family Law not covered by the Ontario Court of Justice
• Divorce

Keep in mind matters relating to spousal or child support, and child custody/ access can be handled by either court.

The Court of Appeal for Ontario handles appeals from all lower courts.

Manitoba
The Provincial Court of Manitoba has jurisdiction over almost all criminal matters. Outside of Winnipeg, they also handle a limited amount of Family Law.

The Court of Queen's Bench has 2 divisions:

The General Division deals with criminal and civil litigation matters. The also hear appeals from the Provincial Court.

The Family Division handles all cases pertaining to Family Law and Child Welfare.

The Court of Queen's Bench is also where Wills and Estates are handled.

The Manitoba Court of Appeal handles the appeals from the lower courts.

Saskatchewan
The Saskatchewan Provincial Court has jurisdiction over the following:

• Most criminal cases
• Civil cases up to $30,000
• Some Family Law matters, but only those outside Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert
• Traffic and municipal laws

The Court of Queen Bench for Saskatchewan handles:

• The most serious criminal cases
• Civil cases over $30,000
• Divorce and division of assets
• Custody and access to children
• Wills and Estates
• Appeals from the Provincial Court

The Court of Appeal handles appeals from the other courts

Alberta

The Provincial Court of Alberta has jurisdiction over:

• Most of the criminal cases 
• Most civil cases under $50,000
• Child support, custody and access
• Spousal support
• Guardianship

The Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta handles:

• The most serious criminal offenses
• Civil cases over $50,000
• Divorce and division of property
• Wills and Estates
• Appeals from the Provincial Court

The Court of Appeal of Alberta handles appeals from the other courts

British Columbia

The Provincial Court of British Columbia has jurisdiction over:

• Child Welfare
• Child custody and access
• Adult guardianship
• Spousal and child support
• Civil claims $5,001 to $35,000
• Most criminal cases
• Youth Criminal justice
• Provincial and municipal offenses

The Supreme Court of British Columbia handles

• Appeals from the Provincial Court
• Civil claims over $35,000
• Divorce and Division of Property
• Adoptions
• Wills and Estates

The Court of Appeal of British Columbia handles appeals from the lower courts.

Yukon

The Yukon Territorial Court has jurisdiction over:

• Most criminal cases
• Youth Justice cases
• Child protection
• Civil cases under $25,000

The Supreme Court of the Yukon handles:

• Appeals from the Territorial Court
• The most serious criminal cases
• Divorce and division of property
• Custody and Access
• Child and spousal support
• Wills and Estates

The Court of Appeal of Yukon handles appeals from the lower courts. Take note that the BC Court of Appeal also handles cases from the Yukon. If you can't find a record of it in the Yukon, check in Vancouver as well. The judges from this court also sit in the Appeals Courts of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

Northwest Territories

The Territorial Court of the Northwest Territories has jurisdiction over:

• Most criminal cases
• Territorial offenses
• Child protection
• Custody and Support
• Civil cases up to $35,000

The Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories handles:

• Appeals from the Provincial Courts
• More serious criminal cases
• Divorce
• Wills and Estates
• Civil cases over $35,000

The Court of Appeal for the Northwest Territories handles appeals from the lower courts. The judges also sit in the Appeals Courts of the Yukon and Nunavut. In special cases, they can also deal with cases from Alberta.

Youth Justice cases be heard in either the Territorial Court or the Supreme Court.

Nunavut

The territory of Nunavut is unique in Canada. The Nunavut Court of Justice handles all civil, criminal, Probate, and Family Law matters. There is no division between a Territorial and Supreme Court.

The Nunavut Youth Court handles cases relating to Youth Criminal Justice.

The Nunavut Court of Appeal handles all appeals. The judges also sit for the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Alberta Appeals Courts.

A final note, if your ancestor is Indigenous. Many of the Provinces have special courts for cases involving Indigenous or Aboriginal people. These courts work hand in hand with the Native communities. From what I understand, community elders have a say in matters that come before the courts, with a focus on reformation and community involvement.