black Canadianhistory
Black Canadians in Canada:
Total Population of Canada: 30+,000,000
Number of Black People living in Canada: 670,000
Percentage of Canadian Population that’s Black: 2%
Percentage of the Black Canadian Population living in:
- Toronto – 47%
- Montreal – 20%
- Ottawa – 6%
- Vancouver – 3%
- Halifax – 2%
Where Black Canadians were born:
- Caribbean and Guyana (South America) – 350,000 people
- Africa – 195,000
- Canada and united States – 125,000
- Total = 670,000 people
Discouragement from Canada:
Faced with protests from White Canadians, Prime Minister Laurier decided he had to discourage the “Exodusters” from coming to Canada. Up until 1911, under Liberal Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier, Canada had actively recruited Black settlers to the Prairies. Now anit-Black prejudice was starting to build. Newspapers ran stories about problems that sprang up when large numbers of Black People moved to Northern American cities. But the papers didn’t report on Black People’s success stories.
When White Canadians heard rumours that a large group of Exodusters was planning to come North, many called for an end to Black immigration. Still worried by Western protests, Laurier’s Government decided to stop Black immigration for one year – from 1911 to 1912. It Passed a Regulation stating that Black People were “unsuitable to the climate and requirements of Canada.” Although the Regulation never became Law, Black People got the message that they were no longer welcome in Canada. In fact, Black immigration to Canada came to a standstill from 1912 until the 1950′s.
- During Wilfred Laurier’s Liberal Ministry, the Government of Canada helped about 2,000,000 immigrants enter Canada. Most of the newcomers settled on the Western Prairies. Queen Victoria Knighted Laurier in 1897. -
One Government scheme sent Dr. G.W. Miller, a Black Doctor from Chicago, to hold meetings in Oklahoma, Kansas, and other Western States. In his speeches, Dr. Miller tried to convince hopeful Farmers that they would perish in Canada’s waist-high snows. The ground was frozen year-round, he said, so they wouldn’t be able to Farm it.The Government also instructed Officials at the Border to make Black Americans answer tough questions about their health and character. The idea was that they would fail the test and be sent back home.
By the 1880’2, the promise of a good life for freed slaves in the United States was over. In the South, violent anti-Black groups such as the Ku Klux Klan had formed, and new Laws forced the segregation of Black and White People. Fifty thousand Black Americans escaped by heading West to new States such as Oklahoma. Most were poor farm labourers – known as Exodusters – who went to take up offers of free land. Many Exodusters did well in Oklahoma, others found that land was becoming too expensive. They began to think about moving North to Canada. By 1910, things were getting worse for the Exodusters in Oklahoma. The State had Passed Segregation Laws like the ones in the Southern States. More and more Black Families looked towards Canada as a refuge from prejudice and violence. A group of Black People travelled to the Canadian Prairies to investigate. One of them was Henry Sneed, a former Texan, who liked what he saw. When he returned to Oklahoma, Sneed helped to organize a large group of Exodusters who had decided to emigrate to Canada. Knowing Canada’s record, they were sure they would be welcomed.
Exodusters had faced discouragement before and won. Encouraged by Henry Sneed’s report on Canada, a group of about 190 Black People from Oklahoma and Kansas made the trek north in 1911. They filled nine railway cars with horses and Farming tools. At the Canadian Border, Officials tried to stump the Exodusters with health and Citizenship tests. But because the group had money, property, and good health, they passed easily. They went on to establish Communities from western Alberta to Thunder Bay, Ontario. Between 1909 and 1911, about 1500 Exodusters emigrated from Oklahoma to the Canadian Prairies.
The Dust Bowl exodus was the largest migration in American history within a short period of time. The second wave of the Great Migration by African Americans from the South to the North was larger, involving more than 5 million people, but it took place over decades, from 1940-1970.
The name “Exodusters” comes from the Book of Exodus in the Bible, which tells the story of the Israelites’ flight from slavery in Egypt. “Exodus” means the departure of a large group of people, and “dusters” refers to the dry soil of Oklahoma. “Promised Land” or “Canaan” was an Underground Railroad code word. It meant Canada. In the Christian Bible, Canaan was the promised Land to which Moses led the Jews out of slavery in Egypt. The name “Underground Railroad” was inspired by the first steam powered trains in North America. Brand new in the 1830′s, trains were a quick and easy way to travel. They were just coming into use when Britain abolished slavery in Canada and all other Colonies in 1834. Runaway slaves couldn’t board real trains for fear of getting caught, but they rushed to board the Underground Railway from that time on. The Underground Railroad dates from about 1831, the year of Nat Turner’s revolt against slavery, to 1865, when slavery was abolished in the United States. During that time, slavery was illegal in the Northern States, but Black People escaped from Southern States often didn’t dare to stop there. In 1850 the Fugitive Slave Act was Passd. It declared that anyone in a free Northern State who knew about runaway slaves had to turn them in. As a result, the Underground Railroad was most active in the 1850′s. The Underground Railroad brought the biggest single group of Black American immigrants to Canada – somewhere between 20,000 and 100,000 people. Nobody knows the exact number because of the secrecy that had to surround the enslaved peoples escape. In 1865, after the North won the American Civil War, slavery came to an end in the United States. Many Black People who had come to Canada on the Underground Railroad returned home. Others remained and became Canadians. But for some years, they lived in fear of being kidnapped by slave hunters who ignored the Law.
Mattie Mayes was a successful Oklahoman immigrant. In 1910, when she was 60 years old, she and her husband, Joe, travelled by train to Canada with 13 children and Grandchildren and 10 other Families. The group chose to homestead in Eldon, not far from North Battleford, Saskatchewan. After 10 years of their hard work, Matties’ farm was doing well. The community built a Baptist Church, and Joe became the first Preacher. A few years later, they built a school. Mattie was a warm and caring leader in the community until she died in 1953 at age 103. Her descendants include Reuban Mayes, the great NFL football player, and Lesa Stringer, who’s been a member of Canada’s National Women’s Bobsleigh Team.
Some Black homesteaders took on extra work during the winter. They hauled heavy loads by sleigh to Northern settlements such as Fort McMurray, Alberta, where the railroads didn’t reach. There were no Inns where the men could sleep. To keep warm at night, they’d scoop out snow from a snowbank, lay down, spruce boughs to make a sleeping mat, then pile more snow over their blankets. A few years later, when the Canadian Government wanted to restrict Black immigration, it made ridiculous claims, including that Black People weren’t suited to Canada’s cold climate. Brave Black homesteaders had already proved how wrong that was! These Black settlers learned how to survive in Canada’s cold climate very well. The children, Grandchildren, and Great-Grandchildren of hardy pioneer families, such as the Edwards Family, still live in the Amber Valley, Alberta area.
A slave owner in Upper Canada was Chief Joseph Brant. He was a famous Mohawk Chief who was loyal to Britain during the American Revolution (also called the War of American Independence). As a reward, Brant received a large Grant of Land in what is now Southwestern Ontario. He owned about 300 slaves, but he also allowed free Black People to live on his Land and marry people in his Tribe. Joseph Brant’s carriage driver may have been one of his Black slaves.
The first slaves in New France were people of the Pawnee Nation, called panis by the French. But many of the Native slaves were killed by European diseases. So the French settlers imported African slaves from American and Caribbean plantations. These slaves had built up immunity to most European diseases. Plus, because of their dark skin colour, it was harder for them to blend in with the people around them if they ran away.
There weren’t many enslaved Black People in New France, however. The long, cold winters prevented the settlers from creating large plantations like the ones in the Southern Colonies. Their small farms didn’t need huge numbers of workers. Although slavery wasn’t Legal in France, the Code Noir (Black Code) made it acceptable in New France. Passed by King Louis XIV of France, the Black Code stated how slaves were to be treated. Owners couldn’t marry their slaves, and the children of slaves were the property of the slave owner. Slavery was made fully Legal in New France in 1709.
Black People helped to build and protect French fur-trading posts. All sorts of people were slave owners – military men, Merchants, Governors and Priests. Even Catholic Women’s Convents used slave labour in their Hospitals and Schools. Enslaved people were at the lowest level of society. Their owners could beat them whenever they wished. Many died young, at an average age of 25. By 1760, New France’s population of 65,000 included about 1200 Black slaves, and 2500 panis.
Most enslaved Black People in early Canada were house slaves. Besides cleaning the owner’s house, doing the laundry and preparing meals, they cared for children and old people, made clothing, candles and soap, and tended small vegetable gardens. Some developed trades such as carpentry, blacksmithing, and hairdressing. Others helped to clear the land, chop logs, and store firewood in preparation for the long, cold winters.
The story of Marie-Joseph Angelique shows how harshly slaves could be punished. Angelique was a house slave in Montreal. In April 1734, she learned that she was about to be sold and decided to run away. While she was escaping, a fire started in her owner’s house. The flames spread and destroyed 46 homes. When Angelique was captured, she was found guilty of starting the fire, tortured, paraded through the streets and hanged.
The first Black person known to have come to Canada (as the country would later be called) was a free man, not a slave. Sometime before 1605, Mathieu Da Costa travelled from France to the new French colony of Port Royal, in today’s Nova Scotia. Da Costa was a translator – he could speak French as well as the language of the local Native People, thet Mi’kmaq. The French needed Da Costa to help them trade with Mi’kmaq. He returned to Europe around 1607.
Slavery still exists today in a number of countries. Often the slaves are poor children who are purchased from their parents. In 1777, Vermont became the first British Colony to abolish slavery. Some enslaved people from Quebec escaped there to freedom. It was almost 100 years later that President Lincoln abolished slavery across the United States.
Racism is the belief that people’s abilities are determined by their race and that one race is better than another. This prejudice can make people treat other races badly. Racist acts – everything from verbal insults to physical violence – are very hurtful to the racial group that is the target. Racism is wrong. Prejudice and racism rob all people of something valuable. Young People who experience racism in school or in the community may lose confidence in themselves and their future. They often become angry, which can lead to fighting and other violence. Nobody can tell by looking at a stranger how that person will behave or what she may achieve. Racist attitudes make it impossible for people to appreciate everyone in their community and share their contributions. There is only one Race. The Human Race. In Canada, segregation wasn’t an official policy. But when Black and White people lived in separate communities, prejudice had a greater chance to spread.
Africville was a Black community on the North Side of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Starting in 1848, Africville attracted Black People from across Nova Scotia who were looking for jobs in Halifax. The town grew to 400 residents by 1951. But problems began almost immediately. In the 1850′s, a railway cut through the community. Although the residents paid taxes to Halifax, the city never provided water, sewage, or police services. Instead, it located factories, a prison, and a garbage dump beside the community. To any outsider, Africville looked like a slum. In the 1960′s, without consulting the residents, Halifax’s City Council decided to get rid of Africville. Black community leaders protested loundly, saying the residents didn’t want to leave. Instead, they needed and deserved the services they’d been denied. However, Africville’s houses were destroyed and the people were moved. They were promised better homes, but their new houses were often worse. In 2002, Africville was declared a National Historic Site in recognition of its importance to Black Canadian culture.
(a newspaper clipping from the time...)
CANADA WILL BAR THE NEGRO OUT
Official Notice Given by Dominion to United States Consul
UNFITTED FOR HEALTHY CLIMATE
The Action of Dominion Leading to Conference in Washington
Washington, D.C. April 26. – The plans of the Dominion of Canada to adopt restrictions against the entering of their country by American negroes was the subject of a conference today between Assistant Secretary of State Wilson and John K. Jones, Consul General of the U.S. at Winnepeg. Mr. Jones presented a recommendation from the Canadian Immigration Authorities indicating that the American negro may be barred on the ground that he could no become adapted to the rigorous Northern climate and consequently might become a Public Charge. Such action is authorized by the Immigration Act of Canada.
Noteable dates for Black Canadians
Emancipation Day: Slavery officially ended in all British Territories, including the Dominion of Canada, on July 31, 1833. Since 1834, many Black People around the World have celebrated August 1 as Emancipation Day.
Kwanzaa: This week-long celebration began in 1966. It was inspired by African Harvest Festivals – Kwanzaa means “first fruits” in the Swahili Language. The festivities run from December 26 to New Year’s Day. Many Black Canadians gather with friends and family to remember their history and enjoy special feasts. They light seven candles, each one representing a high ideal to guide people in their lives: unity, self-determination, responsibility, co-operation, purpose, creativity, and faith.
Caribana: In the Caribbean islands, people celebrate Carnival in February, just before the Christian season of Lent. In 1967, when Canada turned 100 years old, Black Canadians in the City of Toronto decided to organize their own Centennial event. The called it “Caribana” and shifted it to August to help celebrate Emancipation Day and a long weekend in Summer.
Caribana has become a huge annual Summer Party. Groups prepare all year for the Parade, with its steel-drum music, fantastic costumes, and non-stop dancing. More than 1 million people attend Caribana from all over North America. Similar celebrations take place in Halifax, Montreal, Windsor, and other Cities across Canada.
Source: The Kids Book of Black Canadian History, written by Rosemary Sadlier, illustrated by Wang Qijun, 2003; printed and bound in Dubai } -
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Keep for good work, glad to be here reading your post
Interesting breakdown. I knew Canada had a large Caribbean population, especially Toronto, but I had no idea they represented half of Canada’s Black population. It seems there is more of a Black International presence in Canada than in the United States.
this doesn't tell me anything i want to know
this is brilliant i have never been so bored perfect thing to read if you want to get to sleep quickly! BORING!
Why don't you ask a question then instead of moaning?