Liberal-appointed Sen. Wanda Thomas Bernard told the Senate the federal government must apologize for what she called Canada’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. No Canadian Parliament ever legalized slavery and no Father of Confederation was a slaveholder, per Blacklock’s Reporter. Most black people arrived in the country after 1971, Statistics Canada records show. “I hear from many black Canadians who are descendants of enslaved Canadians due to Canada’s role in the transatlantic slave trade that there is unfinished business,” said Bernard.“Despite two petitions over the past few years the federal government has not issued an apology for this historic injustice. Can we anticipate an apology from the federal government for Canada’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade?” asked Bernard.The Upper Canada Legislature (now Ontario) abolished slavery in 1793. In 1834, Britain expanded the ban to all colonies with the Act For The Abolition Of Slavery. Further, Canada remains the only G7 country never to maintain overseas colonies. “From 1628 until the early 1800s black slavery existed, particularly in Eastern Canada where Loyalists emigrating from the United States would often bring slaves with them,” said a 2004 StatsCan report on “blacks in Canada.”Liberal-appointed Sen. Marc Gold, government representative in the senate, said he thought Canada had a “blemished” record on slavery but was unaware of demands for an apology. “Our history is blemished in this regard as it is in others,” said Gold.“It’s a mark of a mature country that is willing to face its past and to subject it to honest and transparent criticism. I’m not aware of what the government’s plans are with regard to your question.”“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,” said Bernard. “I really am not in a position to opine,” replied Gold.The StatsCan report states at the time of Confederation the black community was small, with a population of 21,400, which dwindled to 19,500 by 1931. The community as late as 1971 numbered only 34,400.By 1981, the population of the black community in Canada was 239,50, and doubled by 1991 due to immigration from the Caribbean, Central and South America and Africa, said the report. “Jamaica remained the leading source of black immigrants,” it said.Equality Minister Marci Ien in 2023 told reporters she considered it irrelevant whether Canada was technically complicit in the slave trade.“Here’s what I want to talk about, the mental and psychological damage, the intergenerational damage. It doesn’t matter who was in charge and what was a country,” said Ien. “Black history is most certainly Canadian history. As far as apologies go and everything else, I think first and foremost we have to know that it existed here.”
Liberal-appointed Sen. Wanda Thomas Bernard told the Senate the federal government must apologize for what she called Canada’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. No Canadian Parliament ever legalized slavery and no Father of Confederation was a slaveholder, per Blacklock’s Reporter. Most black people arrived in the country after 1971, Statistics Canada records show. “I hear from many black Canadians who are descendants of enslaved Canadians due to Canada’s role in the transatlantic slave trade that there is unfinished business,” said Bernard.“Despite two petitions over the past few years the federal government has not issued an apology for this historic injustice. Can we anticipate an apology from the federal government for Canada’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade?” asked Bernard.The Upper Canada Legislature (now Ontario) abolished slavery in 1793. In 1834, Britain expanded the ban to all colonies with the Act For The Abolition Of Slavery. Further, Canada remains the only G7 country never to maintain overseas colonies. “From 1628 until the early 1800s black slavery existed, particularly in Eastern Canada where Loyalists emigrating from the United States would often bring slaves with them,” said a 2004 StatsCan report on “blacks in Canada.”Liberal-appointed Sen. Marc Gold, government representative in the senate, said he thought Canada had a “blemished” record on slavery but was unaware of demands for an apology. “Our history is blemished in this regard as it is in others,” said Gold.“It’s a mark of a mature country that is willing to face its past and to subject it to honest and transparent criticism. I’m not aware of what the government’s plans are with regard to your question.”“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,” said Bernard. “I really am not in a position to opine,” replied Gold.The StatsCan report states at the time of Confederation the black community was small, with a population of 21,400, which dwindled to 19,500 by 1931. The community as late as 1971 numbered only 34,400.By 1981, the population of the black community in Canada was 239,50, and doubled by 1991 due to immigration from the Caribbean, Central and South America and Africa, said the report. “Jamaica remained the leading source of black immigrants,” it said.Equality Minister Marci Ien in 2023 told reporters she considered it irrelevant whether Canada was technically complicit in the slave trade.“Here’s what I want to talk about, the mental and psychological damage, the intergenerational damage. It doesn’t matter who was in charge and what was a country,” said Ien. “Black history is most certainly Canadian history. As far as apologies go and everything else, I think first and foremost we have to know that it existed here.”
