Monday, May 11, 2026
Canadian Citizenship
Sarah Raza, "
Millions of Americans may now also be considered Canadian under a new law," AP (April 23, 2026):
Quebec didn't issue birth certificates until recently, but the church register of L'église de la Visitation-de-la-Sainte-Vierge, in Pointe-du-Lac, contains the record of my grandmother's baptism (thanks to a Canadian friend for deciphering the handwriting; click once or twice to enlarge, entry B-37 at lower right corner):
My grandmother also appears in the 1901 census of Canada, under the name Ivonne Helie (click once or twice to enlarge, row number 3):
Row number 1 is my grandmother's sister Alice (1898-2002), whom I also remember fondly.
My grandmother's obituary says she was born in Yamachiche. See the following map for the proximity of Yamachiche to Pointe-du-Lac:
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Previously, Canadian citizenship by descent could only be passed down to one generation, from a parent to a child. But the new law opened up citizenship to anyone born before that date who could prove they have a direct Canadian ancestor — a grandparent, great-grandparent or even more distant ancestor.According to DNA analysis, my ancestry is 48% French Canadian. My nearest relative born in Canada is my maternal grandmother, Yvonne Aurore Hélie (1900-1999), a native of Quebec.
Le vingt sept août mil neufPtr = presbyter or prêtre. For the identity of the priest who performed the baptism see Jean-Baptiste-Arthur Allaire, Dictionnaire biographique du clergé canadien-français: Les contemporains (St Hyacinthe: Imprimerie de "La Tribune", 1908), p. 104:
cent. nous, prêtre, curé, soussigné
avons baptisé Marie Aurore
Yvonne, née le même jour de
baptisme. mariage de Alphonse
Helie et de Marie Louise Benoit
de cette paroisse. Parrain
Emile Dupont. Marraine
Aurore Benoit qui ont signé
avec nous. Le père a déclaré
ne savoir signer.
Aurore Benoit
Emile Dupont
J. Caron, Ptr curé
CARON (L'abbé Joseph), né à Louiseville, comté de Maskinongé, le 25 avril 1855, de Thomas Caron, cultivateur, et d'Émélie Lesieur-Désaulniers, fit ses études à Saint-Hyacinthe; fut ordonné dans sa paroisse natale par Mgr Laflèche, le 29 août 1880. Professeur, directeur des élèves, des séminaristes, et aumônier des Sœurs Sainte-Marthe au séminaire de Saint Hyacinthe (1880-1891); curé de Régina dans la Saskatchewan (1891-1894); exécuta le tour du monde en 1894; aumônier de l'hôpital des Trois-Rivières (1894-1898); depuis 1898, curé de la Pointe-du-Lac, où il a parachevé le presbytère en 1898 et l'église en 1900. Maître-ès-arts de l'université de Québec (1891).Photograph of L'église de la Visitation-de-la-Sainte-Vierge in Pointe-du-Lac:
My grandmother's obituary says she was born in Yamachiche. See the following map for the proximity of Yamachiche to Pointe-du-Lac:
