The BALSAC database was created 50 years ago at Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC) in partnership with Université Laval, McGill University and Université de Montréal. The database is comprised of digitized Québec vital event records (mainly marriage certificates). These records are interconnected using a linkage method based on nominative information that allows for the automatic recreation of genealogical relations and kinship structures in the Quebec population over four centuries. BALSAC covers the entire territory of Quebec, from the beginning of European settlement in the 17th century to the contemporary period.

This is a remarkable piece of Quebec’s scientific legacy and a unique infrastructure, both for its genealogical depth and the population it covers. BALSAC is used by researchers in Quebec, Canada and abroad who are interested in population genetics, genetic epidemiology, demography, geography, sociology and history.

Today, BALSAC is a major research infrastructure that contributes to the scientific influence of Quebec. The file is used by researchers from Quebec and elsewhere, both in the fields of social sciences and biomedical sciences.