Fact Sheet: Key Historical Facts about Anti-Black Racism and Discrimination in Canada
The contributions of Black people to every aspect of society can be seen throughout Canada’s history and continue today. While Black Canadians continue to enrich our country, their history in Canada is marked by oppression, resistance and perseverance. Although much of Black people’s early history in Canada involved enslavement and segregation, Black people have demonstrated unwavering resilience throughout time.
Through trailblazing and advocacy, Black people have achieved various milestones and accomplishments that have contributed to Canadian society. These contributions have influenced and defined Canadian culture and shaped history.
While Canadian history includes the enslavement of African people, it is important to remember that Black people’s history started thousands of years before slavery. In fact, African societies had rich and diverse histories and cultures, with their own political organizations, economic systems, art practices, and technologies.
As Canadians, we must acknowledge and understand our history in order to move forward from past mistakes and injustices to achieve full equality for all. The following timeline highlights some of the most significant events of this part of Canadian history.
1501 – 1867: The Transatlantic Slave Trade was an extreme form of slavery that dehumanized Africans and their children by treating them as property with no rights rather than as people. This Slave Trade kidnapped and trafficked more than 12.5 million Africans to replace dwindling numbers of enslaved Indigenous peoples. Nearly 2 million people died during the voyage and an unknown number died even before the voyage. The International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade was designated by the United Nations in 2008 to be observed annually on March 25.
1604: Mathieu Da Costa, a multilingual interpreter, became the first Black person on record to land in Canadian territory.
1628: Olivier Le Jeune was the first Black person on record to live in New France (Canada). He was an enslaved African taken from his country when he was a young child and his name was from the priest who bought him.
1629 – 1834: More than 4,000 people of African descent were enslaved in the British and French colonies that became Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick.
1689: Because of labour shortages, King Louis XIV approved the colonists enslaving both Africans and Pawnee Indigenous people in New France. Continuing this slavery was a specific term of the Articles of Capitulation that gave New France to Britain in 1760.
1732: The Governor of New France enslaved a Black freedom seeker who had arrived from New England on the basis that “a black is a slave, wherever he may be found.”
1734: Marie-Joseph Angelique, an enslaved Black woman, was accused of setting a fire that caused significant damage to Montréal. Angelique maintained her innocence but was found guilty of arson and hung to death.
1767: While many Black people came to Canada as slaves of white settlers, by 1767 there were 104 free Black persons living in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
1775 to 1783: Freedom from slavery was offered to enslaved Africans who agreed to fight for the British during the American War of Independence. As a result, 10 percent of the United Empire Loyalists that came to Canada after the war were estimated to be Black. Colloquially known as “Black Loyalists”, these veterans faced discrimination in Canada, causing some to return to the United States, the country where they had been enslaved, or to resettle in Sierra Leone, on the African continent. Some Black war veterans had their land grant processes slowed down, or received much smaller plots of land, or even no land was awarded despite earlier pledges.
1777: A group of enslaved people fled into the state of Vermont from British North America, when Vermont abolished slavery.
1793: The plight of Chloe Cooley, an enslaved African woman who was sold to a new owner in the United States, inspired anti-slavery activists in Canada and John Graves Simcoe, Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada to introduce The Act to prevent the further Introduction of Slaves and to limit the Term of Contracts for Servitude that prohibited bringing new slaves into Ontario. Even though the Act did not free the enslaved people who were already in Ontario, Canada became a destination for slaves seeking freedom and strengthened the abolitionist movement, although slavery continued in Canada for another 40 years.
1800-1865:
1815: Black veterans of the War of 1812, some of whom were free men, and some of whom were slaves, were given land grants in Nova Scotia and Ontario, although many of these lands were not suitable for agriculture.
1825: Prince Edward Island abolished slavery.
1830: In a landmark case that is foundational to Canadian extradition law, the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada refused to extradite escaped slaves, Lucie and Thornton Blackburn, to the United States. The Blackburns would go on to establish Toronto’s first cab company, work for abolition and contribute to the well-being of their community.
1833: Slavery was abolished in Canada, with the Act on the Abolition of Slavery in the British Empire .
Early 1850s: Black people in Canada supported the global anti-slavery movement by founding two abolitionist newspapers: The Voice of the Fugitive (1851) and The Provincial Freeman (1853). The second was founded by Mary Ann Shadd, the first Black woman to own and publish a newspaper in North America.
1858: Some 800 free Black people moved to British Columbia from California to escape racial discrimination and oppression, even though they faced racism in Canada.
1879: Many Black families started to move from Oklahoma to Alberta for similar reasons, even though they faced opposition to their immigration.
1896: Dr. Alfred Smitz Shadd becomes the first documented person of African descent to arrive in Saskatchewan. Dr. Shadd lived in the Kinistino and Melfort areas where he practiced medicine, operated a drugstore, ran a mixed farming operation, edited the town’s newspaper, and served on town council and various boards.
1910: Black families fleeing escalating violence and segregation laws in the American South settle and establish communities in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
1910: The Immigration Act prohibited immigrants who were declared “unsuited to the climate or requirements of Canada,” effectively blocking most non-white immigrants.
1911: Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier signs an order-in-council prohibiting for one year “the landing in Canada of any immigrant belonging to the Negro race, which is deemed unsuitable to the climate and requirements of Canada.”
1917: Black car porters, who were not allowed to become members of other unions, established the Order of Sleeping Car Porters (OSCP) in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The OSCP was the first Black labour union in North America and successfully negotiated better wages and job protections for all porters.
1946: Halifax businesswoman Viola Desmond was arrested for refusing to move from her seat in the “whites-only” section of a movie theatre.
1962: The City of Halifax demolished Africville, the historic Black neighbourhood of Halifax.
1962: The Immigration Act prohibition was reformed by Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Ellen Fairclough, Canada’s first female cabinet minister.
1970: On October 14, 1970, Canada ratified the United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The Convention was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 21, 1965.
1982: The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms , became part of Canada’s Constitution, adding equality as a constitutionally guaranteed right for all Canadians. The Charter provides legal protection against discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age, and mental or physical disability.
1983: The last segregated school in Canada, just outside Halifax, in Lincolnville, Nova Scotia, closed.
1984: Release of Equality Now! the report of the House of Commons Special Committee on Visible Minorities in Canadian Society.
1989: The report of the Royal Commission on the Donald Marshall Jr. Prosecution highlighted the nature of systemic racial discrimination towards Indigenous Peoples and Black people in the criminal justice system in Nova Scotia.
1992: Dan Philip, a prominent Montreal civil rights advocate, received a Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada for his work championing equality and fighting systemic discrimination.
1993: The Honourable Dr. Jean Augustine, a trailblazing politician, social activist and educator, became the first Black Canadian woman to be elected to the House of Commons. Dr. Augustine played a significant role in Canada officially recognizing February as Black History Month.
1995: Release of the Report of the Commission on Systemic Racism in the Ontario Criminal Justice System.
1997: The Supreme Court of Canada confirmed in the case of R. v. S . (R.D.) ([1997] 3 S.C.R. 484) that the comments of a Black judge about her experience of racism did not make her biased in a criminal case involving a Black youth.
2005: The Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean became Canada’s first Black Governor General.
2008: Senator Donald Oliver, the first Black man appointed to the Senate, introduced the Motion to Recognize Contributions of Black Canadians and February as Black History Month. It received unanimous approval and was adopted on March 4, 2008.
2010: Mayor Peter Kelly of Halifax apologized on behalf of municipal, provincial and federal governments, for demolishment of Africville in 1962.
2010: The Government of Nova Scotia issued an apology and a posthumous pardon to Viola Desmond.
2013: The United Nations declared 2015-2024 as the International Decade for People of African Descent .
2013: Office of the Correctional Investigator issued A Case Study of Diversity in Corrections: The Black Inmate Experience in Federal Penitentiaries .
2014: Impact of Race and Culture Assessments were developed in Nova Scotia by registered social worker and sociologist Robert S.Wright to encourage consideration of the contribution of anti-Black racism and systemic discrimination to the reasons a Black accused appears before a court.
2014: Lincoln Alexander Day became a national day of recognition on January 21. Alexander is celebrated for being the first Black Member of Parliament and Ontario’s first Black Lieutenant-Governor.
2016: At the invitation of the Government of Canada, the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent visited Canada on a mission to examine the situation of Black persons in this country. At the conclusion of their mission, the three-member United Nations delegation submitted the 2017 Report of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent on its mission to Canada
2018: The Government of Canada formally endorsed the United Nations’ International Decade for People of African Descent. This represented an important commitment to taking action on the issues that affect people of African descent in Canada, including improving research and data collection, addressing mental health challenges, systemic discrimination and the overrepresentation of Black people in the criminal justice system, including as victims of crime.
2020: The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) apologized for its role in the demolishment of Hogan’s Alley, the first Black community in Vancouver, British Columbia. Under the National Housing Act , CMHC funded up to 75% of what was incorrectly termed “community urban renewal.” This paved the way for the City of Vancouver to raze Hogan’s Alley forcing the dispersal of the earlier Black community.
2021: Court of Appeal cases in both Nova Scotia (R v Anderson , 2021 NSCA 62) and Ontario (R v Morris , 2021 ONCA 680) recognized the reality of anti-Black racism and systemic discrimination in the criminal justice system and its impact on Black people in Canada.
2021: The House of Commons voted unanimously to officially designate August 1 as Emancipation Day. It marks the day in 1834 that the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 came into effect across the British Empire and laid a pathway to the liberation of over 800,000 enslaved Africans and their descendants in parts of the Caribbean, Africa, South America, and Canada.
2021: Release of the Report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security – Systemic Racism in Policing in Canada.
2022: The Prime Minister and the Minister of National Defence apologized to the men of the No. 2 Construction Battalion for the anti-Black racism they faced during the First World War, including that members were forced to live in segregated camps and not provided with proper medical care, rations or equipment, 106 years after the formation of the historic Black battalion.
2022: The Hogan’s Alley Society signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Vancouver for a Community Land Trust to revitalize the Hogan’s Alley neighbourhood which was destroyed by a redevelopment plan for a new viaduct in Vancouver, British Columbia between 1958 and 1967.
2022: 49th Annual Report of the Office of the Correctional Investigator was tabled in Parliament reporting on unequal outcomes of Black and Indigenous inmates in federal custody.
2023: The Halifax Declaration for the Eradication of Racial Discrimination was issued following the National Black Canadians Summit in 2022. The Summit is a flagship program of the Michaëlle Jean Foundation.
2024: The Canadian Commission for UNESCO and Africville Heritage Trust in Halifax, Nova Scotia, announced the designation of Africville as Canada’s first UNESCO Place of History and Memory linked to Enslavement and the Slave Trade.
2024: The United Nations declared 2025 to 2034 the second International Decade for People of African Descent by the United Nations General Assembly, a proposal that was co-sponsored by Canada.
