Documents & Records

C.I.28 Register

Basics

This set of federal Chinese immigration records documents the issuing of C.I.-28 certificates to approximately 14,300 individuals. C.I.-28 certificates were issued to replace destroyed or lost identifying certificates (C.I.-5, C.I.-30, and C.I.-36).

The records are arranged in numerical order, and are in rough chronological order. The date of the first record is January 26, 1912. The last record is dated June 30, 1950.

The "Details of Arrival in Canada" column in the C.I.28 Register records the date of each person's original arrival in Canada, as well as the number of any C.I.-4 or C.I.-5 certificate that was issued. The Register oddly, however, does not indicate the date on which the C.I.-28 certificate was issued. Throughout the records, the date of issue has been added to the register either in a hand-drawn column or in the "Remarks" column.

The register is divided into columns with labels as follows:

C.I. 28 Number
Name
Details of Arrival in Canada

Port
Ship
Date
Serial Number
C.I.4 Number
C.I.5 Number

Fyle Number
Remarks

Indicates the individual's residence (often including their street address) and usually notes "Gave name on arrival . . ." In many cases, alternate forms of name are indicated.

For more details see the archival inventory description of the C.I. 28 Register in the General Inventory on the Library and Archives Canada website.

Finding the Records

At the Vancouver Public Library

The above set of records has been microfilmed and is available at the Vancouver Public Library. The records are found on microfilm reel T-3486, which is the second to last last in a set of eight microfilm reels comprising several series of federal Chinese immigration records.

T-3486 - Film notes
Note that the beginning of the film comprises the final sections of the General Register of Chinese Immigration. These are followed by the C.I.28 Register and then by the first part of the C.I.36 Register. The date ranges shown in the table below are approximate, as the records are not in exact chronological order.

Record series	Record numbers	Date
General Register of Chinese Immigration	83226 - 97114	8 March 1914 - 29 September 1949
C.I.28 Register	1 - 20 [cancelled] 21 - 14353	26 January 1912 - 30 June 1950
C.I.36 Register (first part)	1 - 25 [not issued] 26 - 9000	28 January 1913 - 15 April 1915

Photo banner: Detail from VPL Historical Photograph 78362