Why are British Columbia death records not available when previously they were?
I frequently searched British Columbia death records, however they are no longer available. Does anyone know why?
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Does anyone know why British Columbia death records are no longer available? Worked great before. All I get for every search is nothing found.
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The collection is here: https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1538285
I did a few test searches, and it appears there may be issues with the year of death field.
@Maile L Could you please send this one up to the Engineers to have a look? For example:
Detail from the 1st name on that search: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK6P-K2MZ
Thanks.
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Thank-you for responding so quickly. I do have the search site you posted, it also doesn’t respond for me. I tried putting a few year spread for several individuals searched, but only get their standard reply of nothing found. Also tried all search fields without selecting death, then get all possibilities but no familysearch death record.
Was your comment to send it up to the engineers a suggestion? I’m not sure how to contact them, otherwise that would be my first option.
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I flagged a mod to send it up to the engineers because of the display problem on the year of death.
I got results when I searched, but I used just names after I saw the display problem on years.
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Hi, I tried everything, still get the automatic answer no results try using less information. Everything else is working, census, find-a-grave, death records for U.S. etc, but no British Columbia death records. This has never been an issue before. Also getting no reply from contact us. Several attempts have gone unanswered.
I appreciate your help, otherwise I wouldn’t have any.
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I think I see your point. I just tried a search from the collection, at https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1538285, and am getting no results. Assuming you have received results previously using this search path, something appears to have changed / gone wrong when one currently undertakes such a search.
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@Bruce Broadwood Patience, if you can. The FS records base is huge with many moving parts. Things break, and it can take some time to repair.
Most of us here in this Community are just other users, like you, volunteering our time to help others. I've escalated to a moderator, and we should receive a comment before too much longer.
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Sorry, I posted my comments too quickly! I am now able to get results, using the suggestion made by @Áine Ní Donnghaile. I believe I made my search on the assumption there must be at least one "John Smith" in the collection, but after trying the names illustrated above I did find results.
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Hi Paul, I’m assuming your search is related to another issue.
kind regards, Bruce
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As an alternative, have you tried the BC Archives Genealogy Collection? https://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy In many cases, the image is also available there, free.
Edit to Add: @Paul W and there are John Smith entries there.
I did a few test searches on the record set on FamilySearch, and it seems that only a few records/index entries are available. I do think there is an issue with what is accessible there. It may be a change in contract or there may be some problem.
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Hi Bruce
Sorry if I confused matters here. Just to clarify, whenever I try to replicate an issue I use "John Smith" as my individual: there appears to be one in nearly every FamilySearch collection. However, the British Columbia Death Registration collection proved to be an exception! Even without entering any placename or date range I got a "No Results Found" message.
As Áine suggests, it looks like some names have disappeared from the FamilySearch collection - either by "accident or design". The records found via the link she provides appear to lead to a far broader set of results.
I assume you are now able to see at least some results from the searching the FamilySearch collection - even though they do not include the individuals you were formerly able to find there.
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FYI - this thread on the same subject from more than 3 years ago: https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/28901/anyone-know-why-we-can-no-longer-see-the-images-for-british-columbia-vital-records-on-familysearch
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Hi Paul, all good! Thank-you for confirming the search results still produce a no results answer. Using John Smith was a great way to test it. I’m hoping it’s only a technical problem.
I appreciate the help you both have provided.
kind regards, Bruce
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@Bruce Broadwood since the issue seems to have existed for more than 3 years, I suspect it is a contract change rather than a tech problem. I recommend you try the BC Archives link I posted earlier as it has far more records, actual record images, and other record types.
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Hi Aine, I have used it frequently up to about a month ago. Something has happened to make it unavailable. Will keep trying to find a solution.
Thank-you for all your help!
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Hi all, I've been waiting patiently for several months for searching in the BC Death and Marriage collections to be corrected, but I see that it is still non-functional. I can search for known records (e.g. my grandparents) and get no results found. Or search for surname 'smith', and it finds only one primary entry for "Ethel Kate Lucas-Smith", and a few secondary entries (father, spouse, etc.).
FYI, the issue discussed 3 years ago is something different… that is from the time when all images for this collection were removed, due to privacy laws in BC, I believe. I have a vague memory of it being something about protecting information that could be used in identity fraud (e.g. child deaths), and the records that needed to be protected were mixed together on the films. So the images all went away, but the transcribed information remained.
That transcribed information is why you would use the FamilySearch collection — there was a bit of information remaining in the transcriptions that can't be see on Royal BC Museum for the entries without images.
Anyhow, sure hope the records come back some day! It was a very useful tool.
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Thank you everyone for your information and for bringing this to our attention. I will forward this on. Thank you for your continued patience while we work towards a resolution.
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