The Canadian Confederation - Essay Example

History of Slavery in Pre Confederation Canada Your The Canadian confederation came into being after the London Conference of 1866 where the majority population of Canadian provinces had accepted the framework for uniting the British colonies of North America into a single, self governed unit. The Dominion of Canada formally came into existence on July 1, 1867, the term dominion indicating that Canada would remain as a colony of British Empire1. While the confederation marks the beginning of modern day Canada, the history of the region stretched far back including the development of aboriginal settlements and culture, the first introduction of Europeans in the area and then later on the development of French and British colonies. All the different groups of people who resided in geographical region of Canada added in one way or the other to the culture and identity that we recognize today. However, the popular version of history as it is taught to the masses often glosses over the contribution of and lifestyle followed by one set of people, that is, the slave groups who were also amongst the early settlers of the region. Canadian history, when it discusses the role of slavery and the slave trade within the region only highlights the fact that the government was amongst the first to hasten the demise of the abhorrent practice. The Canadian society as a whole has difficulty accepting the fact that slavery was actively practiced in New France and this fact has been documented as far back as 1629 with the arrival of the Kirke brothers and their young slave boy in Quebec2. The institution of slavery formed a significant part of Canadian society and hiding this fact is doing a disservice to the identity of the thousands of the African and Aboriginal men, women and children whose lives were impacted and molded by the practice. Slavery was a part of life in New France as well as under the Lower Canada during British rule. Slaves were owned by people from various demographics including religious, military and political leaders and the merchant class3. Popular historical narrative tended to portray that the slave trade had only reached the region after the British had conquered the region in 1760, however in the book “Canada’s Forgotten Slaves: Two Hundred Years of Bondage” historian Marcel Trudel provides extensive details of the people who lived as slaves before that time as well as the people who eagerly owned and ‘flaunted’ them. He states that “Slavery in Quebec was not some economic imperative, but rather a form of public extravagance which conferred prestige,”3. First published in 1960, Mr Trudel’s revelations were the one of the first attempts made towards enlightening the people about this disappointing but significant part of the pre-confederation era Canada. Since then a lot of effort has been made by various communities and historians to curate and spread knowledge about this aspect of our history. One of the possible reasons that slavery in Canada has not been studied in a larger context is because unlike in the United States, here the slave population was divided amongst the Africans and the Aboriginals. This created a multidimensional structure of the slave system in the region which his more complex to study and understand. About two third of all slaves in the New France region were aboriginals, captured during battles or given by the tribes as ‘gifts’ to the settlers. There is evidence, however, that the settlers preferred African slaves over indigenous people; as being a rare ‘commodity’ the African slaves were traded at double the price. The slave trade was practiced openly, with advertisements even running in the newspapers for auctions and arrival of new shipments. The trade was considered to be a normal part of the societal life. The first piece of primary resource analyzed for this paper is one such advertisement which ran in Halifax (appendix A), which was a participant in the Atlantic coastal slave trade. The advertisement communicates the arrival of slaves who had been imported from West Indies by merchant Joshua Mauger. The jaunty wordings describe in turn a 34 years old ‘Negro Wench’ who has been working with a gentleman’s family and thus knew all sort of important household skills, two young boys of age 12 to 13 and two adult male slaves who are advertised as having ‘agreeable tempers’. This advertisement is one among many similarly themed ones which ran in diverse newspapers and public announcements in early Canada before 1790s. It clearly demonstrates that the mass public not only accepted by openly participated in the selling and buying of human beings and while the conditions and trends were not much worse than those being practiced in the emerging western world, they definitely existed within the region. The saving grace of this historical narrative is the fact that despite the ongoing acceptance of the slave trade, Canada was also one of the first regions to provide Blacks the freedom and right to independent lives, livelihood and property. While most black people who came to Nova Scotia between 1749-1782 were slaves of American or English settlers, there were also some blacks who were able to gain their freedom and remain employed as common laborers, or in domestic service, stevedoring or building construction. Some of them even managed to learn more complicated trades4. The major shift in the treatment of Black people on an official level came with the American War of Independence. The ‘loyalists’ of the British Empire were provided the option of migrating from the American states to Nova Scotia, this offer was also extended to the enslaved populations who would be granted their freedoms if they shifted towards the British lines. Many slaves took the opportunity to earn their freedom; 3000 of African Americans reached Nova Scotia in 1783. But even as these migrants formed their own settlements, the influx of the loyalist also brought a new wave of slaves who served their migrant masters. At the same time there is evidence that even the freed slaves faced discrimination from the people and government of Nova Scotia in terms of the provision and economic opportunities provided to them. It was a matter of great importance for the Black people to be able to prove their status as a free citizen to afford themselves the rights unavailable to their enslaved counterparts. The letter of certificate (appendix B) was issued to Thomas Williams and his wife Hannah cementing their status as ‘Freeborn slaves’ by a government official. The passengers were Loyalists who had lost their ‘free pass’ and possessions in a shipwreck but this letter allowed them to enter the region as free people. If they had not been provided with the letter their status as equal citizens would have been challenged as slavery was still commonplace. The slave trade would officially come to its end in 1973 when Upper Canada passed the legislation banning the import of slaves into the region. But even before this period, motivated by the existence of free Black communities, many slaves had begun the process of demanding their freedoms. The courts eventually passed judgments in favor of the slaves who had run away from their owners5, ordering the liberations of the ‘fugitives’ and the official abolition of slavery by the British Empire in 1833 also confirmed the liberation of slaves in Canada. Slavery had existed in Canada and not at a minimal scale, it is a travesty to try to disguise parts of history that a nation is not comfortable with. The heritage of the Black people who reside in modern Canada contains the legacy of the slaves and while we cannot change the mistakes of the past, it is worthwhile to recognize and respect their unique history. The past social and cultural trends need to be studied in their entirety so that such atrocities cannot occur again. WORKS CITED: Government of Canada. “Canada’s History”. Discover Canada The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship. Last modified, July 1st 2012. Accessed September 14, 2014. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/discover/section-06.asp Canadian Museum of History. “POPULATION, SLAVERY”. Last modified,2014. Accessed September 21, 2014. http://www.historymuseum.ca/virtual-museum-of-new- france/population/slavery/ Nova Scotia, Canada. “African Nova Scotians: in the Age of Slavery and Abolition”. Last modified, March 2nd, 2006. Accessed September 21, 2014.http://novascotia.ca/archives/virtual/africanns/default.asp?Language=English Trudel, Marcel. “Canadas Forgotten Slaves: Two Centuries of Bondage.” Vehicule Press, 2013 . Appendix A (http://novascotia.ca/archives/virtual/africanns/archives.asp?ID=4) Appendix B (http://novascotia.ca/archives/virtual/africanns/archives.asp?ID=20) Read More