As was mentioned in a previous post, slavery did exist in Canada in the form of both black and aboriginal slaves. This was a little-known fact for generations of Canadians (aside from some historians) until quite recently with the advent of open-information and with the release of a book by a Quebec historian that had been informally suppressed for over 50 years.
The Canadian Museum of History states:
"In Canada, the majority of slaves were not of African, but rather of Aboriginal origin. Native populations customarily subjugated war captives before the arrival of the French, but this practice acquired new meanings and unprecedented proportions in the context of western expansion...
By the early eighteenth century, the practice of buying and selling these captives like merchandise was established.
The ethnic origin of Aboriginal slaves is occasionally specified in period documents. They included Foxes and Sioux from the western Great Lakes, Inuit from Labrador, Chickasaws from the Mississippi valley, Apaches from the American southeast, and especially “Panis”. The latter designation can be misleading. In its strictest sense it referred to the Pawnees, a nation which inhabited the basin of the Missouri River and which was heavily targeted by the allies of the French. Amongst colonists, however, their name rapidly became a generic way of referring to any Aboriginal slave. Many an “esclave panis” (Panis slave) who show up in the records, thus, was not Pawnee at all."
An ordinance legalizing slavery:
" In Canada, there never was legislation regulating slavery, no doubt because of the small number of slaves. Nevertheless, the intendant Raudot issued an ordinance in 1709 that legalized slavery: “All Panis and Negroes who have been purchased and who will be purchased, shall be the property of those who have purchased them and will be their slaves; it shall be forbidden to said Panis and Negroes to leave their masters, and whosoever shall incite them to leave their masters shall be subject to a fine of fifty pounds.” This text legitimized the practice of slavery in Canada ..."
Regarding the slaves:
About two-thirds of these were Native and one-third were Blacks.
The slaves were generally very young: among the Panis, the average age would have been 14 years old and 18 years old for Blacks. The percentage of females among Aboriginal slaves was 57 percent. Among Black slaves the percentage of males was also 57 percent.
In Louisiana [district] ...there were about 1,700, of which the majority were females who worked as household help and served as concubines for the French. They were often hardly ten years old. Their average age at death was 17 years.
On the smaller amount of slaves:
"In Canada, the colonial economy did not favour the growth of slavery because the economy’s two principal industries required little manual labour: The fur trade was controlled by a small group of professionals and essentially relied on the labour of Native fur trappers. Manual labour in families was sufficient for small farming operations. Furthermore, the purchase of an Aboriginal or Black slave was an unaffordable expense for settler-proprietors. A Black slave cost from 800 to 1000 pounds, that is, twice as much as an Aboriginal slave. In the 18th century, the annual average income of an unskilled worker was about 100 pounds. That of a bona fide artisan was from 200 to 400 pounds."
Abolishing slavery [Canadian Encyclopedia]
"Although the practice of enslavement had decreased considerably by the 1820s, it remained legal in British North America. The children born in 1793, when the Act to Limit Slavery in Upper Canada took effect, turned 25 by 1818. Therefore, they were no longer slave property and their children were born free ...
During the period of abolition, there was a move to replace enslavement with indentureship in order to benefit both slave owners and the enslaved. Indentureship meant that persons once enslaved were paid for their labour, serving their former masters or other employers for a specific length of time before becoming free. Indentureship was a generally accepted practice across British North America adopted by many slave owners to avoid further losses through slaves running away. Indentureship was also supported through legislation, as outlined in laws such as the 1793 Act to Limit Slavery, which limited the time that formally enslaved persons were bound to service to nine years.
Anti-slavery legislation was introduced in Britain and received Royal Assent on 28 August 1833. The Slavery Abolition Act came into effect on 1 August 1834, abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire, including British North America. The Act made enslavement officially illegal in every province and freed the last remaining enslaved people in Canada."
The takeaway:
Canada did indeed have slavery and enslaved both blacks and aboriginals. The reasons for limited-slavery tended to be economic factors and not at all related to superior ideals of freedom in the north.
As mentioned in a previous post, some black slaves did flee Canada for the United States' free regions [now northern states along the border].
A large percentage of Canadian slaves were aboriginal, due purely to financial and economic factors (being cheaper and more easily obtainable slaves).
Slavery did become illegal in Canada before the US, but due to British law, as Canada was a colony of the British Empire which abolished it. Although some free-thinking individuals did attempt to stop slavery in Canada prior to this time, they had varying successes in different regions and there was no wholesale prevention of slavery across the provinces.
Blow a caker's mind!
The next time a caker starts mouthing off on caker superiority and the issue of slavery in the southern USA - blow the idiot's mind with the facts: Canada also had slavery; Canadian slaves ran for freedom in the US; the British made slavery illegal not Canadians; half the country of the USA was willing to die to make slaves free - is there any proof Canadians would have done the same?
Watch the idiot's mouth hit the floor!
Modern Day Slavery:
The majority of trafficking victims in Canada are Aboriginal, however little is done about it. The incompetent caker government didn't even begin proper anti-trafficking units until the late 2000s!
Take one example:
Native Canadian Women Sold On U.S. Ships, Researcher Says
Unfortunately due to a lack of funding and interest, most information pertaining to this horrific business is second-hand and anecdotal.
As the Globe and Mail reported: "The situation is an open secret. In fact, Canada has been subject to international rebuke for failing to address it."
Further Reading: Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking of Aboriginal Women and Girls
