Digital records and broad access to the Internet have made it easier for genealogists to gather relevant information from distant sources and to share the information they have gathered. The law, however, remains tied to particular geographic locations. This book discusses how specific laws – access to information, personal data protection, libel, copyright, and regulation of cemeteries – apply to anyone involved in genealogical research in Canada.

Currently Professor of Law at Western University, Dr Margaret Ann Wilkinson is qualified as both a lawyer and librarian. After practising law in Toronto and then completing a doctorate focused on personal data protection, she was initially appointed to a unique joint professorship in the Faculties of Law and Information & Media Studies at Western. She has held visiting or adjunct positions at Western’s Richard Ivey School of Business, Dalhousie University, Osgoode Hall Law School, the University of Toronto, and Newcastle University (UK). Funded variously, including through the Law Foundation of Ontario and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and awarded Faculty Scholar recognition at Western and the Ontario Library Association’s Les Fowlie Intellectual Freedom Award, Professor Wilkinson has taught, spoken, and published widely on copyright, moral rights, patents, confidential information, personal data protection, and privacy, both in the Canadian and international contexts, on pharmaceutical and health regulation, and about professional ethics. Author of Genealogy and the Law in Canada (Dundurn Press, 2010) and a co-author of the new Canadian Intellectual Property: Cases and Materials (Emond Montgomery, 2013), Professor Wilkinson continues to be involved in graduate education in law, business, library & information science, and health information science.

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"Dr. Margaret Ann Wilkinson's book on the impact of the law on Canadian researchers will be most useful if you are living in Ontario and dealing with Ontario records."

Times-Colonist, The

Much of the information is useful, and Canadian genealogists will find themselves reaching for this text as they encounter questions

National Genealogical Society Quarterly

" a very informative book for professional and amateur genealogists researching Canadian families."

The British Columbia Genealogist