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Where Are the Marriage Records for Saskatchewan?

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by

Patricia Greber
in ,

Yesterday I went to the Saskatchewan Vital Records website to see if they had finally added the marriage index, and I was sad to see that nothing had changed.

The website still indicates that they will work on the Marriage index when they have completed the Death index.

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Don’t get me wrong the site is great and I have been able to find numerous people in the Birth and Death index, but what is the hold-up on the marriage records?

Maybe we need to copy what they are doing in the US with Reclaim the Records. This is a group that is going after institutions that are making it difficult to access certain records.

I decided to go ahead and make a guess for the marriage year, filled out the forms, uploaded my picture ID and that was then I realized the price. They are charging me a whopping $55.00 for a marriage record. This has to be the most expensive genealogical record in Canada!

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C’mon on Saskatchewan, follow Alberta’s lead, get those marriage indexes online and lets drop that price! You can do better than this.

*Featured image – St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Fort Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan   found on Wikimedia Commons.

Comments

18 responses to “Where Are the Marriage Records for Saskatchewan?”

  1. Leslie Eakin Avatar
    Leslie Eakin

    I agree! I got a marriage certificate from them a couple years ago. It was $50 at that time. They’re increasing their prices rather than bringing them in line with other provinces. BC has a lot of records online for free, & so does Ontario.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Patricia Greber Avatar
      Patricia Greber

      It does seem like they are moving in the wrong direction. Alberta finally has come onboard and although not free the price is less than $10.
      I am not sure why Saskatchewan is charging so much.

      Like

      Reply
      1. Brett Clark Avatar
        Brett Clark

        Yes, definitely price gouging. I will not order anything from Sask. simply out of principle

        Liked by 1 person

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    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  3. John H. Althouse Avatar
    John H. Althouse

    Yes, How long can this be dragged out. It would be great to see SK marriage index.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Patricia Greber Avatar
      Patricia Greber

      I was thinking a letter writing campaign may be in order!

      Like

      Reply
  4. J Adams Avatar
    J Adams

    Is there an marriage index where you can even locate the marriage. I’m not sure they was married in Saskatchewan and certainly don’t want to pay $55 just to find out.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Patricia Greber Avatar
      Patricia Greber

      No there isn’t. It is very disappointing that they haven’t added it to their website.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  5. J Adams Avatar
    J Adams

    Is there an edit for my comment?

    Like

    Reply
    1. Patricia Greber Avatar
      Patricia Greber

      I am not sure you can edit comments in WordPress

      Like

      Reply
  6. Batb Avatar
    Batb

    How do you get a Saskatchewan marriage license from 1912 then?
    Is there a way of you don’t have all the online information?
    I am next of kin.

    Like

    Reply
    1. Patricia Greber Avatar
      Patricia Greber

      You could write to them and tell them what you know. I think they will do a search but still charge you the same price if they don’t find the record…

      Like

      Reply
    2. Brett Clark Avatar
      Brett Clark

      You can try to location church records to at least narrow down the date and place perhaps. Try familysearch.org and use their card catalogue to see if they hold any indexes or digitized records

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. Patricia Greber Avatar
        Patricia Greber

        That does help but they are few

        Like

  7. Brett Clark Avatar
    Brett Clark

    I am leaving my two cents worth as well. I too was in shock when I discovered how expensive it was to obtain a geneaoligical document from Saskatchewan. I have yet to order a doc from Saskatchewan simply out of priniciple. You compare other provinces…in BC a great many are available via the BC archives site available to simply download at no charge. There are many that are not digitized but it indicates the microfilm number and all you have to do is go to the Vancouver Public Library or the Archives in person and get the microfilm and scan it yourself. Alberta, docs are available for around ten buck. Same thing with Manitoba. You can get a historical record for around 12 bucks. The other thing that is very disappointing is that it is quite apparent that Saskatchewan has only added a fraction of what should be in the database thus far. That includes births, deaths as well as the marriage records they claim are still being digitized.From what I can tell barely anything has changed on that site for the better part of a decade. Pretty pathetic when compared to almost every other jurisdiction in most of North America. I am not sure of which exact department of whatever ministry is managing this area but it looks like they may consider it a completely rock bottom priority as I do not think they have done any work on that database whatsoever. Maybe find out if any MLA’s are into geneaology and reach out to them to start some kind of discussion to put a flame under somebodys butt to do something. Again, just my two cents here….

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Patricia Greber Avatar
      Patricia Greber

      It is disappointing and because of their lack of access and the expense I have limited documents from Saskatchewan.

      Alberta has improved their records, they added an index and charge about 3$ per document. I hope Saskatchewan is paying attention.

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      Reply
      1. Brett Clark Avatar
        Brett Clark

        Yup same here. I was able to verify several historical death dates from going to familysearch where the catalogue has a link to Saskatchewan probate records and they are digitized as well. Other than a few transcipted pieces via other sites like ancestry and the odd church record I have basically nothing either. I can almost guarantee you that their sales of historical documents is pretty slow. I would be even willing to pay fifteen dollars for a doc, at which point I WOULD spend 55 bucks knowing that I would get three docs, makes much more sense in the long run. Some pencil pushing bureaucrats are making this stupid decisioins, very annoying.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Patricia Greber Avatar
        Patricia Greber

        Accessing the Probate records and the Church records at Family Search has helped but they need to make some changes!

        Like

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