Linda Yip

Why LAC’s ATIP capacity matters for Canadian genealogy As a genealogist, I celebrate every effort to make records more visible and more usable. The issue is not the records themselves, but access. More access means a deeper understanding of the stories that shape individuals, families, and communities. Over many months, my team and I have worked with the good people at LAC to improve understanding of, and access to, records that matter to our community. That work has produced real, methodical progress. We are already seeing better search functionality and greatly improved finding aids, and in some instances new finding aids were created through that collaborative effort. At the same time, I have heard firsthand about the pressures and challenges facing LAC staff. That is why I am dismayed by any suggestion that this progress may now be curtailed, shelved, or slowed in response to a government-wide call to reduce expenditures. Better finding aids are important, but if ATIP capacity is significantly reduced, the bottleneck does not disappear. It simply moves from finding the records to gaining access to them.

Thoughts in response to the article "Library and Archives planning deep cuts to access to information team, document shows," by Bill Curry, Globe and Mail, 9 Mar 2026.

It’s going to be a brand new talk. Can’t wait to talk about evidence and unusual records in this very difficult case study.

My Big Hairy Audacious Goal – creating an analytical framework with ChatGPT Using artificial intelligence, I have created a work I never would have been able to do on my own. I have struggled to understand laws separately, such as the Chinese Immigration Act, 1885, the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1906, and the Chinese Immigration Act, 1923. My analytical framework is a synthesis of dozens of laws, from the British North America Act, 1867 to the repeal of Chinese exclusion in 1947. It’s not perfect, as a historically accurate work never can be, but it’s a foundation. It’s a process, a developing method, and a tool. Soon I might be able to use it to analyze cases.

What if I could build an analytical framework to help me understand the mother of all complexity: Chinese Case files?

Connecting in 2025 – a year in highlights It's become a needed ritual. During the long, dark nights that are December in the Paris of the Prairies, I take time to reflect. I look at my blogs, the events from my calendar, the photos on my phone, and the stats on my site. I review the work I've done, and wonder how I can do better.

What happened in 2025? Phew. A lot.

Thank you so much for sharing my post Peggy. I would love to hear what you have been trying out with AI.

Me and ChatGPT, a story I'm building a custom analytical framework in ChatGPT Plus (paid version, 5.2 as of December 2025) to help me understand Chinese Canadian records. Along the way, I've been blasted with one revelation after another. ChatGPT isn't like google. ChatGPT and other large language models are the T-Rex dinosaurs of computing: massively powerful but also with scary downsides. I want to use the big, powerful beast and I don't want to get eaten, and I think the slower we are to get on board, the harder it will be. I've learned in a short time how to set it up, what it does with private data, what keywords are important, how to create my first ChatGPT-generated prompts, and a few limits of the model. In the meantime, I am agog at what I've got so far, and this is only the beginning.

I've been delving deeply into exploring ChatGPT Plus after 18 months of testing the free version. Here's what I'm trying out and learning along the way.

Held on the west coast: the history of Albert Head and William Head Quarantine Stations (1884-1958) In this post, I looked at the iterations of Canada's western quarantine stations, where medical inspectors inspected incoming immigrants to Canada for disease. As a genealogist, I want to fill in the bare bones of facts with ideas about what life was like, and this post was by turns enlightening and horrifying.

Held on the west coast: the history of Albert Head and William Head Quarantine Stations (1884-1958)

In this post, I looked at the iterations of Canada's western quarantine stations, where medical inspectors inspected incoming immigrants to Canada for disease. As a genealogist, I want to fill in…

How to decipher the secret codes to quickly find microfilmed vital records for B.C. Despite pulling birth, marriage, and death records (BMDs) back in 2018, I'd forgotten this trick for reading registration codes.

Don't waste a precious minute at the archives - use my tips to quickly pull all the vital records on your BC to do list.

Key Takeaways from the 2025 East Coast Genetic Genealogy Conference Every conference and institute I attend is memorable for different reasons. With the in person events, it's about the networks, people, and travel. And now with the East Coast Genetic Genealogy Conference, where I'll be madly applying new techniques and taking notes until they close the site and lock me out.

I took a deep dive into genetic genealogy this weekend and you can too.

I love speaking with the BC Genealogical Society. They are such a generous, warm and friendly group. If you’re not yet a member come join us. It’s 40% off memberships to the end of 2025.

How to Access Chinese Case Files at LAC (2025) The process for finding Chinese Case Files at Library and Archives Canada has changed considerably since I first wrote about the finding aids in 2020. Some individual Chinese Case file information is now findable through Collection Search. Use Advanced Search for searching by numbers.

Finding Chinese Case Files at LAC just got simpler

I was thinking of you just today. Thank you for the terrific compliment.

Researching Supreme Court records at the BC Archives Genealogists are interested in a wide variety of court records from adoption to wills. I don't know about you, but I learn best by doing. In this series, I'll share what I learned about researching Supreme Court records at the Royal British Columbia Museum and Archives, Victoria, in April, 2025. For the record - haha see what I did there? - I'll be discussing an 1885 criminal case, and then a 1955 probate search.

If you've ever been baffled by researching 19th cent. criminal court cases in Canada, this is for you. And future me.

Asian History Month – The Riveter by Jack Wang I enjoyed The Riveter. It's rare to read fiction about the Second World War which centres an Asian Canadian perspective. A writer tackling that subject cannot avoid discussing heavy issues such as exclusion, history, and racism. These themes are the background noise to my work, and I appreciate every writer who tackles them in a story with universal themes of identity, love, and struggle.

A WWII story about a Chinese Canadian soldier? Sign me up.

Exclusion: Beyond the Silence – a chat with Keira Loughran and Helen Lee Each May in Canada and the U.S., it's Asian Heritage Month. I spent the first part of the month in Vancouver, where I had the distinct pleasure of seeing "Exclusion: Beyond the Silence," at the Cineplex Odeon Theatre, International Village, Vancouver. On 14 May 2025, I had a chat with writer and director Keira Loughran, and Helen Lee. Also joining us were producer Bradley Lee ("Operation Oblivion"), members of Genealogy for Asian Canadians, and the community.

As "Exclusion: Beyond the Silence" is making its way onto screens large and small, I seized the chance to speak with writer and director Keira Loughran, and Helen Lee, about their experiences during and after film making.

Congratulations from SK, MP Fanjoy. 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

We all love our country but we have different ideas how to get there. Very few of us have been coast to coast and seen firsthand how we are where we live. The things that we cherish. I trust you’ll do a good job driving the bus and I’ll stop worrying - for now - with you at the wheel. TY from YXE.

Congratulations, Prime Minister. A momentous win for 🇨🇦. Glad to have someone with your resume running the joint. I figure you’ve already got the private numbers for heads of state on speed dial. Please be sure to enact all that you promised, from a stronger North to investing in science. 🇨🇦🧵

Okay fellow 🇨🇦. It’s time to get out the vote. The cohort of people who can vote but don’t are women 18-30. They think they don’t matter. In this election their votes could swing key ridings. I’m asking my friends with university age kids to go and TAKE THEIR FRIENDS. We can do this on Monday.

I signed up for the Star Trek future, not whatever immoral dystopian train wreck this might be. We can be so smart, and dumb as a sack of hammers at the same time.

True. They let U.S. women moisten the tips of radioactive paintbrushes with their tongues. They said the glowy stuff was harmless. Google Radium Girls and Amelia Maggia.

Thank you for including my blog!

WWII: what is a genealogy pack? In Canada, most Second World War military files are only available on request. In this blog, I'll explore the difference between ordering a complete file and a genealogy pack by looking at two requests for the same records for the same person. If you're new to Canadian military files, see my posts Exploring First World War Files online at LAC: A Top 10 List…

Is it better to order the WWII genealogy pack? I do a deep dive into this question by ordering the same file with different options.

We got our voter cards in the mail yesterday. If you haven’t got yours yet, make sure that you are registered. The election is on April 28.

We did this tour and it was fantastic. Pictured below (in a rare quirk of fate) is the house that my grandparents owned for 40 years, except dolled up and fancy.

Love that house 😄❤️🤣

It is dangerous to declare one side or another as winning before the votes are counted. Do your research. See what all the parties are saying. See who is going to the rallies. Canada is divided. Go vote on April 28.

Monthly supporter here and keep up the good work.

We need to talk about Rachel Because our democracy is not going to make it through the next years without strong journalists.

We need to talk about @rachelgilmore.bsky.social
Our democracy is not going to make it without strong journalists. Let me begin by stating the obvious: these thoughts are mine alone. They do not speak for my employers. They are personal and, at this moment, angry. #cdnmedia
tinyurl.com/mwtpfbze

I hate to point out the obvious, but there are other places to live in Canada than British Columbia and Ontario.