A recent historic analysis finds most French Canadian slaves were indigenous, and that Canada's record fares much better than its neighbors to the south.“Slavery in Canada: The facts rarely told” by Majorie Gunn for the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy says North America had “39 distinct slave societies” in North America before Columbus arrived in 1492. When New France acquired slaves, many were available through a system of native alliances that brought them from Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes, but also from as far away as the Missouri River Basin and the Upper Mississippi River. In 1793, Upper Canada (later Ontario) passed an act to limit slavery which prevented the importation of slaves and freed the children of slaves when they reached 25. Slavery wasn’t banned in Britain until 1815, and not fully abolished in the British Empire until 1834. Over 163 years, New France / Upper Canada (now Quebec) had had 4,185 slaves, the Maritimes about 2,500, and Upper Canada (later Ontario) had 700 slaves.Nearly 10 million people had been enslaved in the United States before slaves were freed in 1865. Before then, Canada welcomed more than 30,000 people of African descent who escaped U.S. slavery.However, until the late 1800’s, indigenous networks continued to trade slaves along the Pacific Coast and Columbia river, with only minimal involvement of Europeans.“On balance, Canada’s history and record on slavery deserve to be cherished and celebrated,” Gunn writes..Continental North America was a rare destination for African slaves, according to the records of more than 36,000 transatlantic African slave voyages from 1514 to 1866. Brazil was the destination for 4.8 million slaves, followed by the British Caribbean at 2,318,252, the Spanish Americas at 1.2 million, the French Caribbean at 1.1 million, the Dutch Americas at 444,727. The 13 U.S. colonies received 388,747 African slaves, the Gulf Coast 10,808, Florida 5,622, and other North American ports 1,817.The Iroquois often took captives of war in New France and what later became Ontario. Some were killed (some following torture), while others were adopted into the tribe to replace a clan member who had been killed. Still others were enslaved without adoption or assimilation. Even those who were “adopted” would become labourers for agriculture, domestic chores, and paddling canoes. “Not all the captives were indigenous; Europeans figured among them, and some adapted so well that they refused to leave,” Gunn explains.By the late 1660s, the Huron had virtually wiped out the Huron who had allied with New France. According to Gunn, whites were slow to adopt the indigenous slavery.“Just as the natives often offered captives as gifts to opposing tribes to cement truces or affirm alliances, they viewed the offers of captives to their French trading partners as ‘powerful symbols of their emerging partnership.’ This is something that took some time for the French, who initially balked at or misunderstood these captive exchanges, to understand,” Gunn writes..In the early 1700s, more families in New France began to buy slaves. They did domestic work, farmed, loaded, and unloaded at the docks, and worked in mills and other urban trades. At most, slaves constituted five percent of the population of Montreal. During 163 years of slavery in New France, 64% of slaves were indigenous, and only 34.5% were African.High estimates for African slaves in 1790 place 300 in Lower Canada (Quebec), 700 for Upper Canada, and 2,500 in the Maritimes.The West Coast indigenous also enslaved people. Their stratified society, which continued as late as the 1800s, consisted of title holders, commoners and slaves. Only title holders could own slaves, which typically comprised 5% to 25% of the population.“Most war captives were enslaved, and the owner retained the power of life and death over his booty. At a potlatch or the ceremony for completion of a home, slaves were killed with a special club, called a ‘slave killer.’ They were also sacrificed at funeral feasts as an indication of the wealth of the heir, and to provide labour to the spirit of the dead in the afterlife,” Gunn explains.Gunn, whose research includes footnotes, says although black and indigenous Canadians still suffer discrimination, the Canadian historical record fares well against the U.S. and other countries.“This history deserves to be remembered and our record lauded, Gunn concludes.
