A petition calling on the federal government to formally apologize for the transatlantic slave trade has been filed as the opening petition of the 45th Parliament. New Democrat MP Gord Johns (Courtenay-Alberni, BC) sponsored the petition without providing additional commentary, reports Blacklock’s Reporter.Petition E-6484 states that "Black Canadians have endured centuries of systemic racism beginning with transatlantic slavery followed by legalized segregation and ongoing institutional discrimination in policing, education, employment, housing, healthcare, and the justice system." The document notes that "the Government of Canada has yet to formally apologize."The petition demands comprehensive action from Ottawa. "We the undersigned Black Canadians call upon the Government of Canada to formally acknowledge and apologize for the historical and ongoing injustices experienced by Black Canadians, enact comprehensive legislation that specifically addresses anti-Black racism including hate crime protections and institutional accountability measures, and implement policies to dismantle system discrimination across all sectors, ensuring the safety, dignity, and equal opportunity of Black Canadians," wrote petitioners..Filed Wednesday with 14 signatures, the petition marks the beginning of what typically becomes thousands of parliamentary petitions each session. The previous Parliament processed 3,336 petitions covering topics ranging from animal rights to Battle of the Atlantic commemorations.The petition follows previous calls for an official apology, including a formal protest last May 29 by Liberal-appointed Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard (NS), who criticized Canada's failure to acknowledge the slave trade. "It would be really good for Black Canadians to know why there is such resistance to issuing an apology to Black Canadians for the transatlantic slave trade despite two petitions over the past few years," she said.Historical records indicate that no Canadian Parliament ever legalized slavery, no Father of Confederation owned slaves, and Canada stands as the sole G7 nation without a history of overseas colonies. Upper Canada, now Ontario, passed legislation abolishing slavery in 1793, decades before the United Kingdom's 1834 Act for the Abolition of Slavery extended the ban across all British colonies..Recent demographic data from Statistics Canada reveals that most Black Canadians immigrated after 1971. The October 25 report Sociodemographic Diversity of Black Populations in Canada found that "four in ten Black people, 41%, were born in Canada."Advocates for an apology have rejected arguments about Canada's limited historical involvement in the slave trade. Former Equality Minister Marci Ien dismissed such concerns in 2023, telling reporters, "It doesn't matter who was in charge and what was a country. Black history is most certainly Canadian history."
