# Need Help Finding My Brother In Canada
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-my-brother-in-canada/785802
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 3, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-my-brother-in-canada/785802 "2017-05-03T18:52:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-my-brother-in-canada/785802/1 "2017-05-03T18:52:54Z")
My brother has been estranged from the family for about 20 years or so with no contact.
Recently our mother has been diagnosed with a terminal disease and she would like me to try to get in touch with him.
I’ve contacted the police with his last known city of residence but he could very easily have moved in the last two decades.
The internet has been of no help (although this could be because my internet research skills are somewhat wanting.)
Private investigator is out due to funds.
Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Zeke
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### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2017, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-my-brother-in-canada/785802/2 "2017-05-03T19:31:31Z")
Did you know any friends from back then you could contact? Think what you know about him. Date of birth? What kind of jobs did he work in? Was he in the military? What schools he went to? [don’t answer here but instead people who message you who want to help]
There should be some databases you can consult for moderate amounts–but I don’t know what they would be for Canada.
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### Author:  [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2017, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-my-brother-in-canada/785802/3 "2017-05-03T19:56:36Z")
That’s the big problem… I have no information with which to even start looking meaningfully.
I know his name, birthdate, high-school and what city he lived in 17 years ago. That’s it.
He was never in the military, never took post-secondary (to the best of my knowledge) and would have worked low-skill transient type jobs (gas station, general labour etc.)
He has no internet presence that I can find.
My local PD sent a request to the police in his last known city to pass on the info and how to contact me if he so desires but if he has changed locales then I’m likely hooped.
Thank-you for the response, I appreciate it.
Zeke
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### Author:  [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-my-brother-in-canada/785802/4 "2017-05-03T19:58:06Z")
About 30 years ago my brother-in-law was missing in Alaska. Somehow, the Salvation Army was helpful in locating him. I don’t know just how, but maybe it’s worth a call.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2017, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-my-brother-in-canada/785802/5 "2017-05-03T20:04:07Z")
If you send me his name, I can check on Ancestry. They usually will show city directories for living people.
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### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2017, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-my-brother-in-canada/785802/6 "2017-05-03T20:04:30Z")
My suggestion: start with the local library in the city he was last in (central branch, research desk, if it’s a large city). Likely they have an archive of old phone books, maybe on microfilm/microfiche. Ask them to look up your brother’s name in the phone book from 17 years prior, then for each subsequent year until he stops appearing. If they won’t do it for you, ask if they’ll do an inter-library loan with your local library. I’ve gotten old newspaper microfilms from other cities that way (although admittedly, all within the USA - I don’t know if Canadian libraries agree to this).
Where that stops, you might be able to either
a) find out from the local authorities if there’s a death certificate under his name for the year his name stops appearing
b) find out from the post office if he had a forwarding address
c) if his name appears together in the phone book with someone else, perhaps that other person can be more easily located, and they might have information that helps further your search
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### Author:  [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2017, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-my-brother-in-canada/785802/7 "2017-05-03T20:12:31Z")
**Jaycat** - Thank-you, that is an excellent suggestion and something that would be in keeping with him as I remember him. I would never have thought of it.
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### Author:  [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-my-brother-in-canada/785802/8 "2017-05-03T20:16:58Z")
**Chefguy** - Thank-you!
**CmKeller** - Again, excellent idea. Thank-you.
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### Author:  [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2017, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-my-brother-in-canada/785802/9 "2017-05-03T20:27:26Z")
> [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](#):
>
> That’s the big problem… I have no information with which to even start looking meaningfully.
>
> I know his name, birthdate, high-school and what city he lived in 17 years ago. That’s it.
Contact his high school. Admittedly I went to a private school for high school rather than a public one, which has more interest in keeping tabs on me after graduation than a public one likely would (to the extent of being a nuisance until I politely told them to bugger off), but it’s conceivable a public high school might have an interest in their alumni. Certainly no harm in trying.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2017, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-my-brother-in-canada/785802/10 "2017-05-03T22:45:56Z")
> [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](#):
>
> **Chefguy** - Thank-you!
>
> **CmKeller** - Again, excellent idea. Thank-you.
First go-round, there are just too many people with that last name. If you can give me a birth year, that would be a big help. Also, did he immigrate to Canada or was he born there?
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### Author:  [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2017, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-my-brother-in-canada/785802/11 "2017-05-04T00:03:26Z")
> [@Canadjun](#):
>
> Contact his high school. Admittedly I went to a private school for high school rather than a public one, which has more interest in keeping tabs on me after graduation than a public one likely would (to the extent of being a nuisance until I politely told them to bugger off), but it’s conceivable a public high school might have an interest in their alumni. Certainly no harm in trying.
Good idea but he didn’t like his high school much and the feeling was mutual. They didn’t keep in touch.
Thank you though.
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> First go-round, there are just too many people with that last name. If you can give me a birth year, that would be a big help. Also, did he immigrate to Canada or was he born there?
I sent you birth date via pm. We are both 3rd generation Canadian.
Thank you again. I really appreciate your efforts!
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2017, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-my-brother-in-canada/785802/12 "2017-05-04T00:37:48Z")
In the United States many states have an online judiciary case search web page. Most of the time you can simply enter his name and all cases of any kind from traffic to Criminal to civil cases under someone having that name will show up and there is often birth date data as well if they were given a traffic citation or similar notice. If they have something somewhere in Canada I would try searching the provinces he was in and those adjacent to the one he was in. If he has brushed up against the legal system in any way over the last five to fifteen years those cases would be listed. I do not know if this information that publicly accessible in Canada as it is in the US.
Sent from my SM-T320 using Tapatalk
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2017, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-my-brother-in-canada/785802/13 "2017-05-04T12:02:34Z")
Just to cover the obvious options: Have you looked for him on Facebook?
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### Author:  [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2017, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-my-brother-in-canada/785802/14 "2017-05-04T21:03:35Z")
I occasionally see announcements in the newspaper classified ads that say something like “Looking for Joe M. Blow, age 53. Last known location Toronto 1992. Contact Larry at …”
Don’t know how effective the ads are, but they’re not expensive, and you could try several major cities.