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Prince Edward Island records for Canadian citizenship by descent: who holds them, what they cost and how long they take

Checked against IRCC's pages on 25 October 2026.

A painting of a family with a baby walking away from a white country church on a red dirt road, with a horse and buggy behind them
A family leaves a country church on a red clay road. Painting from our Prince Edward Island series.

Prince Edward Island had no civil registry of births before 1906. If your ancestor was born on the Island before then, there is no birth registration to order.

The Public Archives and Records Office says researchers rely on church records instead, "using baptismal records as proof of birth."

The price is low. A copy of a baptism from the archives costs $5, and certification by the Provincial Archivist costs nothing extra.

The wait is not. A spokesperson for the archives told CIC News in May 2026 that the office had received "four years' worth of requests in four months": 585 requests in all of 2025, then 1,776 from January to April 2026.

IRCC's guide asks for documents "issued by the original authority" for each person in your line. It also says: "Your application cannot be supported solely by third-party records." For Prince Edward Island, the original authority is the Public Archives and Records Office in Charlottetown, the Vital Statistics office in Montague, or the church that kept the register.

Who holds which records

The recordPublic Archives and Records Office, CharlottetownVital Statistics, Montague
BirthsNo birth certificates. Baptisms from 1777 to 1923Birth registrations from 1906 on
MarriagesLicences 1827 to 1919, bonds 1849 to 1902, registrations 1920 to 1936Registrations not yet moved to the archives
DeathsAn index of deaths before 1906, registrations 1906 to 1968Registrations not yet moved to the archives

The archives' years come from its ordering page, published 13 May 2026.

The Vital Statistics Act lets the province move a birth registration to the archives once it is 120 years old. For a marriage the period is 75 years, and for a death it is 50. Civil registration only started in 1906, so almost every Island birth registration is still with Vital Statistics.

Born before 1906: a baptism from the archives

The archives' baptism index runs from 1777 to 1923 and is indexed by the name of the child. An entry usually gives the date of birth, the date of baptism, the parents' names and a reference to the church register. Many of those registers are at the archives.

The parents' names are the link between one generation and the next in your application.

To order a copy:

1. Find the entry in the PARO Collections Database. The archives suggests using the Advanced Search for vital records. 2. Fill in every required field on the archives' Request Archival Baptismal Records form. 3. Wait for staff to confirm they hold the record. They contact you about payment when the copy is ready.

Copies come on paper or as a PDF. Filling in the form does not guarantee the archives has the record, and the archives says not all baptismal records survived.

A painting of an open register on a desk by a window, with red fields outside
The archives' baptism index was taken from church registers, many of which it holds.

What the archives charges

ItemFee (Canadian dollars)
Copies of a baptism, marriage or death record, up to 10 copies$5.00 minimum
Each extra copy$0.50
Certification, signed by the Provincial ArchivistNo charge

Fees are subject to tax, and payment comes before the copies. The archives takes cash, debit, credit card, or a cheque payable to the Minister of Finance.

If you need more than one kind of record, such as a baptism and a marriage, the archives asks for one email to [email protected] instead of the online forms.

Not sure which name or which parish to search?

Start with a Gen 0 Check, $49.

We look for your Canadian-born ancestor's birth or baptism record, then tell you which office holds it and how to order it. You receive the results within 3 business days.

Marriages and deaths at the archives

Marriages are indexed under both the bride and the groom. In the database, the archives says to search with the groom as "Primary" and the bride as "Spouse".

Two limits to know about:

So a marriage before the 1920s can show that two people married, but it won't connect either of them to their parents.

Not every marriage record is online yet. If you can't find a marriage from before 1945 in the database, the archives still takes a request, and staff follow up.

The death index before 1906 draws on church records, newspapers and unidentified sources, and the archives warns that some of its references may be impossible to trace. Deaths were registered with the province from 1906. Those registrations do not give a cause of death.

Born in 1906 or later: Vital Statistics

Births from 1906 on were registered with the province, and Vital Statistics in Montague issues three documents for a birth:

DocumentWhat it showsFee
Short form birth certificateName, sex, date and place of birth, registration details$25
Long form birth certificateThe same, plus the parents' names and birthplaces$35
Certified copy of the registrationA photographic print of the whole registration, parents included$35

The long form and the certified copy both name the parents. The short form doesn't, so it does not link your ancestor to the next generation.

The province's 2023 application form lists who may apply: the person named, a parent named on the registration, a lawyer acting for either of them, the executor or trustee of an estate, a guardian, and an agent authorized in writing. Anyone applying for someone else needs a consent form, and may need a statutory declaration. A grandchild is not on the list.

The Vital Statistics Act has one more route. The Director of Vital Statistics may issue a copy to a person "engaged in good faith in genealogical research." That is the Director's decision to make.

The Act also says that once a birth is 120 years old, any person may order a copy of the registration. In 2026 that covers only the earliest registrations, from 1906, and each year adds another year of births.

Payment is in Canadian funds, by cheque or money order payable to the Minister of Finance, or by Visa or Mastercard. Courier costs $11.50 within the Maritimes and $23.00 elsewhere in Canada. For delivery outside Canada, the fee page says to call 1-902-838-0880.

Rush service ($50) and same-day service ($100) are for certificates only, and the 2023 form says both are for pick-up in Charlottetown or Montague.

How long it takes

The archives does not give a timeline. Its ordering page says: "Due to the high volume of requests, the Public Archives and Records Office cannot provide a timeline for when orders will be completed."

Requests are filled in the order they arrive. Staff contact you when an order is ready, and the archives asks people not to send the same request twice.

In May 2026 the office told CIC News that applicants should expect about three months, and then called that "not an accurate estimate" because the numbers keep rising. Before the rush, it answered within a week.

The archives fills orders in the order they arrive, so you want yours to name the right record.

Start with a Gen 0 Check, $49.

We look for your Canadian-born ancestor's birth or baptism record, then tell you which office holds it and how to order it. You receive the results within 3 business days.

A painting of two small white buildings beside a red dirt road, a bicycle leaning on one porch
Prince Edward Island records are split between the archives in Charlottetown and Vital Statistics in Montague.

What to have before you order

From the archives, you need the entry from the PARO Collections Database. The order form asks for the details on it.

From Vital Statistics, the 2023 application form asks for:

If you leave a field blank, the form asks for a letter explaining why.

Questions people ask

Can I order from the U.S.?

Yes. The archives' forms are online, and staff contact you about payment, which can be by credit card. Vital Statistics takes Visa or Mastercard on its form, but it does not publish a courier rate outside Canada, so call the office first.

Is a baptism from the archives the same as a birth certificate?

No. The archives has no birth certificates. A baptism record comes from the church that performed the baptism, and for births before 1906 it is the record the archives points researchers to.

Do I need a certified copy?

The archives certifies baptisms, marriages and deaths at no extra charge. What IRCC says about certified copies is on our page Do your documents need to be certified?

Start with a Gen 0 Check
A painting of two hands opening an envelope with a certificate inside

The archives can't say when your order will be filled, so it pays to order the right record the first time.

Start with a Gen 0 Check, $49.

We look for your Canadian-born ancestor's birth or baptism record, then tell you which office holds it and how to order it. You receive the results within 3 business days.

Canadian Roots Found does record research. We are not lawyers, and nothing here is legal or immigration advice. Checked against IRCC's pages on 25 October 2026, and against the Prince Edward Island archives' ordering pages (March and May 2026), the Vital Statistics fee page, the 2023 birth certificate application form and the Vital Statistics Act.

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