Our Mission

Founded and incorporated in 1994, the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO) is a not-for-profit genealogical organization.

Our mandate is to encourage and facilitate family history research, and its dissemination, by people with ancestry in the British Isles ( England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands). As of 2020, we have more than 575 members, approximately 30% of whom are outside the National Capital Region.

About BRITISH ISLES FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY OF GREATER OTTAWA

BIFHSGO is a member of Capital Heritage Connexion Patrimoine de la capitale (www.capitalheritage.ca), an umbrella organization providing networking and resources for the heritage community in the City of Ottawa. The society is also an associate member of the Council of Irish Genealogical Organizations (CIGO), and affiliated with both the Federation of Family History Societies in the UK and the National Genealogical Society in the USA.

Our volunteers work in close cooperation with Library and Archives Canada in researching Canada's Home Children, particularly in regards to the indexing of names found in ships' passenger lists, records of child welfare organizations, and government records. BIFHSGO's role in Canada's Home Children story is to establish databases of information about Home Children who were brought to Canada and to ensure that the information compiled is freely available to all. Databases related to military records and migration to Canada are also publicly available on the society's website at bifhsgo.ca.