Black Canadians and their communities stretch all the way back to the 1600s. Perhaps your ancestors were enslaved persons from Africa, Loyalists who fled to Canada after the American Revolution, or part of the Jamaican Maroons. Maybe your ancestors were part of the Underground Railroad and escaped slavery in the United States by fleeing to Canada or were people who just felt the Great North was the place for them. You can discover more about Canadian Black history by reading this article.
Who Was the First Black Canadian?
Most historians believe that Mathieu Da Costa was the first person of African heritage to visit New France (what is now called Canada). He arrived with French explorers Pierre Dugua de Mons and Samuel de Champlain as a possible interpreter in 1604. However, the first documented person of African descent to live in New France was Oliver Le Jeune, an enslaved child who arrived in 1628 at the age of 6 years old.
Slavery in Canada
King Louis XIV of France gave his permission in 1689 for settlers in New France to enslave Native Americans and Blacks. This was the beginning of many years of enslavement and cruelty to thousands of people.
Some historians estimate that approximately 4,000 enslaved people of African descent were brought into the colonies that later became Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick. Most people of African descent were brought directly to Nova Scotia, or Acadia, as the French called it. A collection of documents pertaining to some of these persons can be reviewed and studied at the Nova Scotia Archives.
Not all early Black immigrants to Canada were enslaved. Some were free. Some worked their way to freedom, and some arrived in Canada as recently freed persons.
During the American Revolution (1775–1783), when the American Colonies were fighting the British for freedom, the British offered freedom to any enslaved African in the colonies who joined the British forces. After the British lost the war, many Loyalists felt the need to flee. Black Loyalists settled throughout Nova Scotia. The largest of these communities was at Birchtown. Other Black Loyalist settlements included Brindly Town, Preston, and Southville.
The Book of Negroes is a very important document recording the names of black refugees who immigrated to Nova Scotia following the Revolutionary War. It includes the names and descriptions of 3,000 Black refugees registered on board vessels that sailed from New York to Nova Scotia between 23 April and 30 November 1783.
Black refugees often faced discrimination. Because of this discrimination, an estimated 1,200 Black Loyalists relocated to Sierra Leone in 1790.
The enslavement of Black people gradually declined in the later part of the 1700s. The legislature of Ontario (also known as Upper Canada) passed an act that limited the institution of slavery. The statute of 1793 prohibited the importation of enslaved persons; however, those people currently enslaved were not freed. Instead, the act ensured that children born to enslaved women after 1793 would be free at age 25. It also dictated that any enslaved person who arrived in Upper Canada would be considered free.
Slavery continued in Canada until the Slavery Abolition Act in 1834, which abolished slavery throughout the British Empire. Even though the act established that slavery should be ended, the act only freed children under 6 years old. All other enslaved persons were made apprentices, and many worked for several years with no pay.
Who Were the Jamaican Maroons?
After the demise of the native peoples in Jamaica at the hand of the Spanish during the 16th century, the Spaniards began importing enslaved persons from West Africa to work on the sugar plantations of Jamaica. By 1655, the Spanish lost control of Jamaica to the British. Many enslaved people fled to the mountains and hills of the island. These escaped persons were called the “Maroons” by the British.
The Maroons and the British fought over a period of many hundreds of years, and the British were unable to subdue them. Finally, after the Second Maroon War, between 1795 and 1796, some Maroons were tricked into a surrender that led them to be deported. Some 500 Jamaican Maroons from Trelawny Town were forcibly removed from their homes and relocated to Nova Scotia in Canada.
Many of the Maroons assimilated into the culture of their new home, but Nova Scotia did not appeal to them all. In 1800, a group of 177 women, 151 men, and 222 children were allowed to relocate to Sierra Leone in western Africa.
Jamaican Maroons who were left behind built their own cultural identity over the centuries. Their influence is felt in Nova Scotian history and social movements, and they are seen as contributors to the diverse cultures seen throughout Canada today.
The Underground Railroad: A Path to Freedom in Canada
The Act Against Slavery, passed in Upper Canada in 1793, included the provision that any enslaved person who arrived in Upper Canada would be considered free. Slavery in Upper Canada still existed at this time but was gradually coming to an end. The promise of freedom was very enticing to many enslaved persons living in the United States. Enslaved people used a system of hiding places and routes as they made their way north to obtain their freedom.
The British Empire abolished slavery completely in 1834, about 30 years before the United States did. It was about this time that people began to refer to the numerous secret routes to freedom from the South to the North as the “Underground Railroad.” Though it wasn’t a real railroad, safe houses were referred to as stations, and those who lived there were called stationmasters. Those people who helped lead enslaved people along the railroad were known as conductors.
One estimate suggests the Southern United States lost about 100,000 enslaved men, women, and children between the years 1810 to 1850. About 30,000 to 40,000 of those freedom-seekers went to Canada.
Early Black Communities in Canada
Early Black communities popped up in Canadian towns such as Hamilton, Windsor, and Toronto. The largest number of Black immigrants in western Canada were concentrated in the Chatham-Kent region of Ontario, Canada. Here are some all-Black communities founded in Ontario during this period.
- The Dawn Settlement, started by Josiah Henson around the same time, was an all-Black settlement. Josiah Henson was the inspiration for Uncle Tom in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Below, you can see photographs of Josiah Henson and his home in Chatham, Ontario, Canada.
- Wilberforce, Ontario, was settled by a group of about 200 families from Cincinnati, Ohio, in the 1830s.
- The Elgin Settlement, also known as Buxton, was founded by 15 formerly enslaved people in 1849. This settlement was known for its excellent school system. The town’s population grew to the thousands! Some descendants of the original settlers still live in Buxton, Ontario.
Immigration to Canada
People from Black communities in Oklahoma (United States) began immigrating to the western provinces in Canada in 1897. Canada had begun recruiting farmers from the United States and Europe to settle the provinces of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba. The Canadian government enticed these settlers by offering them 160 acres of land if they cleared it and paid a $10 fee. Black farmers in Oklahoma responded to the call.
As Blacks began moving into Canada, white citizens felt threatened and set in place new immigration policies. However, the new policies didn’t keep these families from making their homes in the Great North. Between 1908 and 1911, more than 1,000 Black Oklahomans moved to Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Caribbean Canadians
You might be surprised to learn that Canadians of Caribbean descent make up one of the largest ethnic groups in Canada. Over 700,000 people reported in the 2016 Canadian census were born in or descended from someone born in the Caribbean Islands. Canadian Caribbeans are mostly from Jamaica, but people also hail from Haiti, Guyana, Trinidad, and Barbados, just to name a few. The largest populations of Canadians from the Caribbean live in Toronto, Ontario, and Montreal, Quebec.
Over the last century, three major groups of immigrants have come from the Caribbean to Canada. The first, a relatively small group of about 21,000 people, came to Canada between 1900 and 1960. The second group came between 1960 and 1971, when the Canadian Immigration Acts of the 1960s came up with a point system to enable more diversity. During this time, Canada accepted about 64,000 people from the Caribbean. The third group came in the 1970s, with numbers averaging about 20,000 per year.
African Canadians
Canada saw a huge increase in the number of African immigrants in the 1990s. Motivating factors such as political instability, wars, and violence in places such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Uganda, as well as genocide in Rwanda and Burundi, encouraged individuals and families to seek new homes. Canada was a place that would accept these people as refugees or by family class under Canadian immigration policies. Most African immigrants moved to the more urban areas of the country.
Segregation, Racism, and the Civil Rights Movement in Canada
Black Canadians of all decades faced some sort of racism throughout their lives. Segregation and racism were felt at even the tenderest of ages. Some Black children were not permitted to attend schools in the 18th and 19th centuries. Black children who were allowed to attend common schools were often forced to sit separately from their white peers or attend separate classrooms.
This segregation was impacted even further by the passage of the Common School Act of 1850. In Ontario, some Black families were forced to create their own separate schools, which only furthered segregation. Separate schools for Blacks continued for over 100 years, with the last segregated school closing in Ontario in 1965 and the last segregated school in Nova Scotia closing in 1983.
Canada also had segregation within its military, politics, hospitals, and civic organizations. One example is the armed forces denying Black volunteers until 1939. Another example was that of Viola Desmond. In 1946, Viola Desmond was arrested for sitting in the “whites only” section at the local movie theater. Her defiance helped pave the way for the civil rights movement in Canada. Other prominent leaders of the Canadian Civil Rights Movement include Bromley Armstrong, Donald Willard Moore, and Carrie Best.
Canadian Black communities have always been diverse in culture, language, and roots, but many have experienced similar challenges due to racism. Systemic obstacles to inclusion and social equality have been difficult.
Black Canadians Today
A statistics report in 2021 indicated that some 1.5 million Canadians reported their race as Black. These Canadians can largely be divided into those who are Canadian-born, African-born, and Caribbean-born, and these groups can be further subdivided into over 180 countries. The majority of these Black populations live in urban areas, especially in Toronto and Montreal.
Black Canadian populations are so diverse (as reported in 2021 statistical reports) that they represent over 350 cultural and ethnic backgrounds. With this diversity, Black Canadian communities flourish with different languages, cultures, religions, and traditions.
Trace Your Black Canadian Roots
To trace your Black Canadian family roots, consider a few important questions to guide your research journey:
- Where were my Black Canadian ancestors born? Canada? The West Indies? Caribbean? The United States? Africa?
- Is it possible that some family members relocated from Canada to Sierra Leone in the 1790s?
- Is it possible that enslaved ancestors traveled the Underground Railroad to Canada only to return to the United States after the Emancipation Proclamation?
- Were my Black Canadian ancestors enslaved, free, indentured?
With the answers to these questions and other information you have, turn to the records at FamilySearch.org. FamilySearch offers everyone a free online account that allows people to view, save, and download millions of historical documents. Here are some record collections you can look through today!
- Canadian Censuses—These records were created every decade. They offer information such as names, relationships, ages, birthplaces, immigration, and schooling. Available information varies depending on the year.
- Canadian Births and Baptisms—Birth records typically include the name of the infant, birth date and place, names of parents, and sometimes additional information about the parents, such as age and place of birth.
- Canadian Marriages—Marriage records include a variety of information depending on the place and year of the event. Names of the bride and groom, date and place of marriage, bride and groom’s birth dates and places, parents’ names, and other information may be included.
- Canadian Deaths and Burials—Death and burial records usually include the name of the deceased, the date and place of death, and the cause of death. Sometimes, records also include the birth date and place of the deceased and the names of parents.
See the following guides to help you further:
- Canada Online Genealogy Records Guide
- Ontario Black Canadians Guide
- Nova Scotia Black Canadians Guide
- New Brunswick Blacks—International Institute Guide
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