Genealogy and the Law in Canada. Margaret Ann Wilkinson

      We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and The Association for the Export of Canadian Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program, and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.

      This book is based upon the law in Canada as of June 2009. This book cannot substitute for legal advice. Please consult a lawyer qualified to practise in your province or territory to obtain specific legal opinions about specific situations that concern you.

      Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.

       J. Kirk Howard, President

      Printed and bound in Canada.

      www.dundurn.com

      Ontario Genealogical Society

      Suite 102, 40 Orchard View Boulevard

      Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4R 1B9

      tel. (416) 489-0734 fax. (416) 489-9803

      [email protected] www.ogs.ca

      CONTENTS

Dedication and Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1: Privacy and Personal Data Protection

Chapter 2: The Business of Genealogy

       Chapter 3: Cemeteries as Sources of Genealogical Information

       Chapter 4: Copyright in Genealogy

       Chapter 5: Genealogy and Libel Law

       Glossary

       Statutes Cited

       Cases Referred To

       Notes

DEDICATION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      This book was inspired by the dedicated work in genealogy that my mother-in-law, Yvonne June (Ferguson) Crouch undertook before her untimely death, in order to provide a legacy for her three grandchildren (Nicole Amor Crouch-Diaz, Meredith Yvonne Crouch, and George Gregory Richard Crouch).Yvonne was a very active member of the Ontario Genealogical Society, Kingston Branch. My ongoing interest in genealogy is fuelled by the wonderful family archives amassed and organized by my own mother, Isobel Ellen (Althouse) Wilkinson, before her death.

      The immediate impetus for the research leading to the series of articles and talks on which this book is based was an invitation to speak, facilitated by my cousin-in-law, once removed, Carolyn Croke, at The Ontario Genealogical Society in London. I would like to thank, as well, those who asked questions during the talks around the province of Ontario to which I was invited while working on this project.

      I am indebted to former law student Leo Law and current law student Justin Vessair for assistance in the editing preparation of this manuscript, as well as to former law students Chad Matheson and Lovejeet Bajwa for research assistance on earlier versions of this work. I am also exceedingly grateful for the guidance, advice, and patience of my editor at the Ontario Genealogical Society, Ruth Chernia. All of this work investigating the interrelationships between intellectual property (including copyright) and privacy (and its derivative, personal data protection), as well as other aspects of information law and policy, has been funded over the years through grants received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

INTRODUCTION

      As you know, genealogy is a fascinating study. Doing genealogical research is essentially an exercise in information-gathering. This may explain why genealogists are one of the most important (if not the most important) users of the services and resources of public libraries in Canada today. Increasingly, however, we are told that we are in the “information age” — and one result of this new state of affairs is that information is becoming an engine of our economy. As such, information is more and more viewed from the perspective of its commercial value.

      On the other hand, democracies traditionally view access to information as