The birth, marriage and death registration index databases contain all events that were registered with the central Vital Statistics Agency. If any event was not registered, for whatever reason, it will not appear in the index database.
If you intend to request a certificate of an event from the British Columbia Vital Statistics Agency or view the actual event registration document on self-serve microfilm, write down the following information from your search results:
• Registration number (reg. number): This is the number that was assigned to the record by Vital Statistics at the time of registration. Records usually appear in registration number sequence on the microfilm reels.
• BC Archives microfilm number: This is the number BC Archives assigned to the reference copy of the microfilm reel containing the registration record.
• GSU Microfilm Number: This is the number given to the microfilm reel by the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU) for use in its Family History Centres throughout the world.
How to Search the Index Databases
You may enter search criteria in one or more fields in the search form. However, the more fields used, the more restrictive your search becomes. For example, searching by only the surname “Smith” will retrieve far more matches than searching by the surname “Smith”, the given name “Mary”, the years “1900-1905”, and the event place “Vancouver”.
Once you have entered all of your search criteria, you can go to the bottom of the search form and choose how you want the search results sorted. The default for search results is “no sort” but you can choose to display the results sorted by surname, year, or event place. Further, the number of matches displayed is set at 10, but you can increase that number up to 200.
To proceed with the search, select the start search button. The total number of matches will be displayed at the top of the list of retrieved records.
At the end of the list of retrieved records is the search form with your original search criteria (note however, that the "match criteria" have returned to the default settings).
You may change the search criteria as you wish, then select "do search" to do another search.
Select the reset button if you want to clear the search form and re-enter data.