Insuring Canadians is a project that is mining one of the most exciting sources in the history of Canadian insurance: a collection of just over 59,000 life insurance applications to the Odd-Fellows’ Relief Association of Canada. The ORFA applications are held by the Ontario Genealogical Society, which I have partnered with to digitize and exploit their historical potential. The applications contain answers of up to thirty-one questions about sex, age, occupation, height, weight, ethnic origins, marital status, family structure, and past and present health conditions. Analyzing these as a group will give us an unprecedented look at those who were insured, and contribute to our understanding of Canadian consumption of life insurance, fraternal society insurance, Canadian life insurer practices, and general trends in Canadian social and economic well-being. Insuring Canadians is funded by a SSHRC Insight Development grant.
