To help elaborate on the topic of slavery in Canada, I am quoting some excerpts from Marcel Trudel's book 'Canada's Forgotten Slaves: Two Hundred Years of Bondage'. It's an interesting book and worth reading. (The topic has been virtually ignored and suppressed in Canada.)
Points to note:
Between 1632 and 1834 there were over 4000 slaves in New France/Canada. They were both black and aboriginal. A black was worth 900 livres, and an Amerindian slave worth 400 livres. There were more Amerindian slaves than blacks: this tended to be because they were cheaper, which was in part a result of the fact they were nearby and easier to obtain. (Amerindian slaves were known as 'Panis' - a generic term to describe a slave of any tribe.)
Slavery here never reached the heights of the southern colonies or Caribbean - but not through lack of effort. Citizens attempted to import shipments of slaves but were prevented by wars, transportation costs, company changes and a lack of interest from slavers.
While slavery was an economic imperative for southern colonies, slavery here had no real economic basis and was merely a status symbol, conveying wealth and prestige. While attempts to ship slaves were requested for "cost effective" measures, and assistance in "working the land" (agriculture), in fact very few slaves were rural and most existed in the city, purchased by the upper classes.
Timeline:
The slavery timeline begins in 'New France' (a colony of France), and continues under the British military regime (after the conquest of 1760). It carries on in the province of Quebec (1774-1791) and Lower Canada (1791 - 1834).
Introduction
"Canadians have long seen slavery in terms, above all, of the Underground Railway, that clandestine network of forest and waterside paths by which Quakers, black freedmen and other human rights advocates smuggled runaway American slaves northwards to liberty in the early nineteenth century. As many as a hundred thousand slaves escaped to Canada. But for some strange reason, while congratulating Canadians for offering refuge to these fugitives, generations of historians maintained a virtual conspiracy of silence about slaves owned and exploited, bought and sold, by Canadians themselves." (p 7)
"... when did slavery begin here? The first slaves were few and far between, and the practice of slave-holding only became a common practice starting in the 1680s. A few individual slaves appeared first of all. Gradually servitude became a recognized institution in the society of New France, and it remained so up to the first quarter of the nineteenth century." (p 15)
"The first slave we can positively identify in New France was a Negro boy brought here by David Kirke in 1629 ... " (p 15,16)
"When the Negro Olivier Le Jeune died in 1654, we believe he was the only one of his kind in Canada, and the next black slave only turned up a quarter of a century later. Elsewhere in the Americas, however, slave traders preyed on native Amerindians..." (p 18)
This was 'justified' by the fact that Native American tribes practiced slavery themselves, by taking war captives.
"But starting in 1671, the French settlers of Canada began to acquire Amerindian slaves. It is true that once the French acquired these Amerindians, they do not always seem to have formally regarded them as slaves. What matters is that these slaves were given to the French as slaves, and that the French accepted them as such, at least for a time." (p 21)
The first two Amerindian slaves to come to Quebec were Pottawatomie girls in 1671, who were later given to nuns and raised. Some would come from as far as Mississippi. (p 22, 23)
"Trafficking of Amerindian slaves truly began in earnest in 1687: it was on a modest scale at first, but then became more and more generalized and continued until the early nineteenth century.
... How long had these slaves been living among the French? It is impossible to say. It is clear however that they only appeared in the civil registry after arriving in the colony. The Panis Louis, for example, must have been living in French society for a fairly long time because he could not be confirmed before learning adequate French as well as the catechism.
By the end of the seventeenth century, Amerindian slaves turn up almost each year in historical records." (p 23, 24)
"If we bring together a list of the Amerindian slaves who lived among the French population at the end of the seventeenth century, we find twenty-nine Amerindian slaves over a twenty-nine year period ...
Our list of seventeenth-century slave owners in Canada thus includes colonial officials, military officers, explorers and fur traders: indeed, these are the key groups that defined the heyday of slave-owning, and they were also the groups most intimately involved with Native Amerindian nations.
We are talking about slaves. Aside from men, women, and children explicitly identified as slaves or said to belong to an owner, it is not certain that the other Amerindians who entered New France as slaves actually appear as such in historical documents." (p 26)
"For example, before 1790, when Intendant Raudot intervened to provide a legal basis for slavery, civil registries rarely used the word "slave"; in the fifteen civil acts of this period relating to slaves, only one directly used the word "slave" ... This was the first time prior to 1700 that civil registries used the word slave; up till then, those maintaining records had usually written "savage belonging to ..." a specific free person." (p 27, 28)
"Give Us Negroes!" (Chapter One)
"Blacks were needed to harvest sugar cane in the Carribbean, and the labour supply argument was also put forward in Canada. In 1688, the governor of New France Brisay de Denonville and Intendant Bochart de Champigny wrote to the king that workers and servants were so hard to find in the colony, and so expensive, that they ruined anyone engaged in any enterprise: the best way to remedy this situation would be to introduce black slaves." (p 29)
In 1689 the king would grant authorization for slave shipments, but wrote of his concerns about blacks and their sustainability in the "climate" of Canada.
On May 17, 1689 war broke out between France and England. Under the League of Augsburg, [a coalition of countries and colonies against France and Louis XIV] slaves could only be sent to Quebec from trading posts in Guinea when the war was over. (p 33)
The war would last eight years, preventing black slaves from coming to Canada; only four are confirmed during that period.
"With the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697, the war came to an end after eight long years. Did this mean prospective slave owners could finally take advantage of the royal authorization granted in 1689? The next mention in the royal mail of the problem of sending blacks to Canada was in 1701 ... "His Majesty has no objection to granting the people of Canada permission to own Blacks, but as the only way to effect this is to bring in a ship laden with Blacks, they must give assurances they will pay the costs of transportation..." (p 34)
"To minimize any losses, it had to be made clear first of all whether Canadians were actually in a position to pay for goods from abroad, and the authorities of New France had to ensure "that precautions are taken to make this happen." There was no question of a ship bearing Negroes to Quebec for the time being. In any case, war broke out again ... This incurred further delays, and it would be eleven years before a new peace treaty was signed." (p 34)
"Given the uncertain supply of black slaves, prospective owners naturally turned to Amerindians, who continued arriving in the country as slaves, slowly at first, but then at an even greater pace from 1700 ...
Amerindian slavery stood at a relatively high level from 1710 onwards, largely because of an ordinance issued by Intendant Raudot in 1709, to the effect that people who bought Panis and blacks as slaves owned them outright. Given the proximity to the Amerindian slave market, this ordinance was likely to encourage people who needed slaves, but it could do nothing for the prospective owners who preferred blacks. Canadians who preferred ebony slaves had to wait till the war was over: added delays came when metropolitan authorities in France had to figure out how to ship slaves to Quebec." (p 35, 36)
Generally speaking, most average citizens couldn't afford slaves personally, or the colony as a whole to pay for shipments outright.
"Taking up the same arguments that had worked in the past, he wrote: "There are few inhabitants in Canada, and many enterprises suffer from the difficulty of finding workers and day laborers whose wages are excessively high." Importing blacks would "lead to an increase in the colony and its trade." Why not use this resource profitably, the way the English colonies did? ...
Word from the French government came back: "it does not seem appropriate at present to send Negroes to Canada." ... it is worth noting that the government refused to send a shipment of blacks to Canada, while continuing to allow Canadians to own slaves." (p 38)
The Regent demanded full payment from Canadians before any slaves were sent. Intendant Begon then compiled a list of proposed purchasers and their requests. He continued to urge for black slaves citing many reasons, including: working the land, as well as caring for widows and the elderly.
Begon submitted his arguments in January 1721, and a shipment of black slaves was agreed to. The shipment was postponed for a year, and then never fulfilled (due to the company's loss of its monopoly among other factors). (p 38 - 41)
Despite receiving authorizations in 1689, 1701, and 1721, no slave shipment could be bothered to make the longer and more expensive trip to Quebec, so the wholesale buying of black slaves was avoided. (p 42)
Legalization (Chapter Two)
Prior to 1709, there was no document outlining the legality of slavery.
"However, starting in 1689, owners of blacks could rest easy: Louis XIV had authorized Canadians to import blacks for the purposes of working and clearing the land. This royal authorization served as a guarantee of ownership of blacks, but could not be applied to Amerindians held in bondage, even though most slaves in New France were actually Amerindians." (p 44)
On April 13, 1709 - Intendant Raudot issued an ordinance, which included in part:
"We, at His Majesty's pleasure, order that all Panis and Negroes who have been bought and who shall be bought hereafter shall belong in full ownership to those who bought them as their slaves; and we hereby forbid the said Panis and Negroes to leave their masters, and anyone else to tempt them away, under a penalty of a fine of fifty livres." (p 46)
The tribes allied with the French (Algonquins, Montagnais, Abenakis, Iroquois) were left alone and for the most part not seized as slaves.
In 1733 a civil lawsuit brought up a dispute: a slave had been obtained as 'payment' for owed debts; the first owner argued that as his slave had been baptized the seizure of a "Christian" was unlawful, but the judge ruled against him and upheld the sale. (p 48, 49)
The King was petitioned to clarify statutes on Amerindian slaves, but refused to do so, simply recommending that colonists follow "customary practice". This seems to have been a way to sidestep delicate issues regarding alliances with certain Amerindian tribes; and France's hopes for further expansion and cooperation. (p 50, 51)
When contacted regarding the sale of Amerindian slaves outside the colony (to the Carribean for example), Intendant Raudot decided they could not be transported elsewhere, since their slavery was to "benefit" the colony itself. (p 52)
However this ordinance was ignored, and slaves that proved troublesome or were needed for cash were in fact sent to the Caribbean. Amerindians particularly were noted for running away and being disobedient.
"This practice of sending slaves of unhappy masters to the Carribbean became so popular that... proposed to the king that it be done systemically.
... In 1747, Canadian authorities therefore proposed to the king that owners should not keep these Amerindians beyond the age of sixteen or seventeen years, after which they should be sold in the Caribbean, where they obviously had no means of escape." (p 54)
There is no further record regarding the matter; no formal dictates, it was simply done in practice. Some slaves were transported to France, where they could legally be brought over on certain conditions, despite slavery being "illegal" in the country itself (while legal in its colonies).
According to English and French custom: "A black is a slave wherever he may be found." Black slaves could not be "free" in France or its colonies, nor having fled from another nation, unless they had been formally emancipated. (p 56, 57)
So while slavery was illegal in France, slaves could be sent there or could travel there with their masters, provided they were from the colonies. Slaves who escaped to France hoping for emancipation by reaching it, were not entitled to their freedom by virtue of living in the country proper.
After the British takeover:
"When the Articles of Capitulation were signed in Montreal in September 1760, they reasserted the legal character of Amerindian and black slavery, and extended it under British rule. Governor Vaudreuil-Cavagnial made a special request relating to slavery which became Article 47:
The Negroes and Panis of both sexes shall remain in their qualify of slaves in the possession of the French and Canadians to whom they belong; they shall be at liberty to keep them in their service in the colony or to sell them; and they may also continue to bring them up in the Roman Religion.
... And so the institution of slavery in Canada was first recognized and amply protected by French law, and was then extended under the British regime by another statute, the Articles of Capitulation of 1760." (p 57)
Nearly 4200 Slaves in Quebec (Chapter Three)
The author had issues with finding full records and documentation. His slave sourcing came from Catholic and Protestant records: civil registries, patient and death records, census roles, notarial records, wills, inventories, etc. They counted only the slaves they could formally confirm, 2700 of which were Amerindians, and 1443 blacks.
"But of 4200 slaves, we found that only 456 Amerindians and 228 blacks were either indicated as slaves or were subject to a commercial transaction. In Quebec, people were reluctant to use the term "slavery" although the reality was there for all to see. The priest making entries in the civil registry hesitated to use the word "slave" or could not be bothered to use it. We repeatedly found cases where an Amerindian or black was baptized and had been acquired by purchase, but was nonetheless still not specifically referred to as a slave. In most cases, the record-keeper merely noted that a given Amerindian or black belonged to a given owner." (p 61)
"There had been petitions in New France calling for shiploads of black slaves, but nothing of the sort ever took place. Instead, black slaves were obtained in the Thirteen Colonies as war booty or through smuggling." (p 73)
"The number of new slaves appearing in the historical record only begins to be significant after 1709, the year in which Intendant Raudot legalized slavery. Then, in the last two decades of French rule, the total number of slaves reached 400 and 500, due to the importance of the fur trade, which made it easier to acquire Amerindian slaves. With the decline of the fur trade, the number of Amerindian slaves then quickly fell off, whereas the number of blacks rose suddenly to well over 600 as Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution brought their black slaves up to Canada." (p 76)
"Of this grand total of 4185 slaves, 2683 Amerindians make up 65.1% or two-thirds of the 4124 slaves whose origins are known, whereas 1443 blacks account for 34.9% or just over a third.
We are convinced that our seventeenth-and eighteenth-century Canadian ancestors had more slaves than the 4185 identified in the Dictionnaire. We say this because, from the eighteenth-century onwards, owners complained how hard it was to hold onto their Amerindian slaves; moreover, given that Amerindian slaves were often baptized later in life ... it follows that many of these slaves died before being baptized and therefore do not appear in the civil registry." (p 77)
The Slave Market (Chapter Four)
"There was practically an equal number of male and female slaves: males represented 1973 slaves (47.8%), while females represented 2151 slaves (52.2%). However, if we break down each of these two groups separately, the result is not so evenly matched. There were more women than men among Amerindian slaves (1543 or 57.7% were women), whereas there were fewer women than men among black slaves (608 or 42.2% were women)." (p 84)
"Was there a public slave market in Canada the way there was in the Thirteen Colonies and Caribbean? And if there was such a market, was it in continuous operation, or only occasionally? The historical record does not enable us to provide a satisfactory answer to these questions ...
Public sales of slaves at auction definitely occurred in Canada. We only know of one such case under the French regime, when in 1733 the merchant ... bought a Paducah on the market square ... Several more public slave sales took place under the British regime. In Quebec City in 1778, Captain Thomas VEnture offered his mulatto slave Isabella at auction ..." (p 90, 91)
"Moreover, these public sales and auctions were regularly advertised in newspapers. Between 1767, when the first slave sale ad appeared, and 1798, when the last such ad came out, there were at least 137 advertisements for thirty different slaves..." (p 91)
"It is clear that slaves were indeed put up for auction in Quebec and Montreal, and sold to the highest bidder. Slavery was legal in Canada, so why would slaves not have been sold at auction here, as they were in other colonies?
We know of an oral tradition concerning the slave market. In his memoirs ... Dandurand wrote: "I can state quite definitely that in my early childhood, a full-fledged slave market existed in Montreal..." (p 92)
"The average Amerindian cost only 400 livres, whereas the average black cost 900. Another way of putting this is to say a black slave was worth twice as much as an Amerindian slave. This should come as no surprise, since New France was close to the market in "savages", but far from the market in black ebony, and the additional cost of acquiring black slaves was passed on to the purchaser." (p 97)
While most owners were wealthy or relatively well off, some citizens went into debt to purchase slaves.
Owners at All Levels of Society (Chapter Five)
"Our history of slavery can conveniently be divided into two traditional periods, the French regime and the British regime.
... Our study of Quebec slavery ... has enabled us to establish that owners of French origin were the leading slave owners, given that they accounted for 2858 or 86.6% of all known owners. Even more significant is the fact that these slave owners of French origin owned 79.1% of all Amerindian slaves. Evidently, once the British settled in Quebec following the Conquest, it was much harder for them to acquire Amerindian slaves than it had been for the French prior to 1760, given the rapid decline of the fur trade.
During the colonial period, French-speaking owners held almost all the Amerindian slaves we have identified in official records, and they even held 596 black slaves, far outnumbering the 301 black slaves held by English-speaking owners." (p 103, 104)
Slaves were held by the highest authorities of the French regime, and senior British officials. Generally speaking however, French Canadians had more slaves than British Canadians.
"It cost an average of 900 livres to buy a black slave, and 400 livres to buy an Amerindian one..." Merchants were leading slave owners, then military officers; other owners included physicians, surgeons, followed by notaries and then tradesmen.
"Printers also owned slaves. The first printers operating in Quebec were William Brown and Thomas Gilmore, who printed the Quebec Gazette: they owned black slaves, at least from 1767.
... Fleury Mesplet had at least one black slave when he published the Gazette de Montreal (now the Montreal Gazette)." (p 110)
Other owners included: bishops, priests, religious orders (including nuns) and the State itself.
"In fact, slavery in Quebec was not some economic imperative, but rather a form of public extravagance which conferred prestige on to members of high society but also on to all other levels of society indulging in it." (p 118)
The Living Conditions of Slaves (Chapter Six)
In March 1685, Louis XIV issued an edict of sixty articles, the Code Noir, instructing on issues dealing with 'the condition and quality' of slaves. These included stipulations on marriage, religion, cohabitation, slave children, penalties and punishments, etc. One example:
"... the slave who has drawn the blood of his master, mistress or their children, shall be punished by death; slaves who assault free persons, and also some cases of robbery, shall be subject to severe penalties or even the death penalty. The fugitive slave shall have his ears cut off, and shall be branded with the fleur de lys on the shoulder; if he commits the same infraction a second time, he shall have his hamstring cut; the third time, he shall be put to death." (p 121)
The Code did have some "humane provisions" such as: demanding minimum living conditions, instruction in religion, families could not be separated by sale, and old slaves could not be abandoned.
The Code Noir was specifically written for the Caribbean, and later amended slightly to apply to Louisiana. No specific code was ever written for, or legally binding in Canada, although colonists followed the Code generally in most matters.
"As a result, we do not need to ask whether a slave owner was complying with a law of Canada, in granting a particular privilege to his slave, or in imposing a condition: in fact, no such law existed in Canada. It is interesting to note however that slave owners generally complied with provisions of the Code Noir of the Caribbean or Louisiana, even when not required to do so." (p 122)
Punishments in the colony appear to have been 'lighter' than suggested (by the Code) in most cases. Main punishments (confirmed) included: flogging, imprisonment, hanging, branding with fleur de lys, deportation to the galleys, and in the case of Marie-Joseph-Angelique - torture. This can be attributed to the relatively small percentage of slaves: limiting fear of an uprising or reprisals, which could take place in areas such as the Caribbean. (Chapter 8: p 161 - 178)
Some slaves were able to take part in civil cases and legal proceedings, since the Code Noir was not followed to the letter or formally implemented. (Chapter 9: p 179-200)
Canadian men slept with both Amerindian and black female slaves, having many illegitimate children out of wedlock. Children of female slaves were automatically considered slaves, even when the father was a free man.
Slaves were allowed to marry, on the condition they had the permission of their owners. (Chapter 10: p 201 - 219)
Marriages (Chapter Eleven)
"Charlevoix noted that many white Canadian men had a pronounced liking for "savage women", and while many such men were quite content to have sexual relations with "savage women", some nonetheless felt the need to marry such women before God; some Amerindian men also formed permanent unions with white Canadian women." (p 220)
In 1648, Jesuit Pierre de Semaisons recommended to the Pope that the men of New France be allowed to marry 'savage women':
"This will diminish the number of savages while increasing the number of Christians... These marriages will greatly promote the peopling of this great country where God is not [currently] well served, since French men will marry here, and will no longer return to France in order to take wives, which in turn hinders them shortly afterwards from coming back to the colony ... These reasons seem pressing enough to incite His Holiness to allow the French who live in New France to marry savage girls ..." (p 220, 221)
The minister Colbert advocated a policy of mixing. In a letter to Intendant Talon in 1667:
"You have started to address this long-standing neglect, and you must try to attract these [Amerindian] people to those who have embraced Christianity in the vicinity of our homes, and if possible to mix them together so that over time, living under only one master and one system of law, they will form only one people and one blood." -(p 221)
"But these marriages were not without serious drawbacks ... French men were likelier to become "savage" than "savage" women to become French. Husbands had to be prevented from giving themselves up to the savage lifestyle ..." (p 222)
In 1706 Governor Vaudreuil ordered that French men be prevented from marrying Amerindian women:
"as he is convinced that bad blood should never be mixed with good, given the experience we have in this country, where all French men who married savage women have become lazy libertines, and unbearably independent, and the resulting children have proved just as lazy as the Amerindians themselves, and we must not allow these kinds of marriages to take place." (p 223)
Slaves Disappeared One by One (Chapter Twelve)
"Already by 1787, it was clear owners feared the more or less imminent abolition of slavery. Was the Legislative Council of Quebec serious about abolishing slavery or was it only rumored to be concerned about the matter? We found no documentary evidence either in or before 1787 that would help answer this question... By 1787, there had been no public campaign in Quebec against slavery: newspapers were silent on the issue." (p 233)
In April 1791 a debate was held in the British House of Commons, but the majority of MPs voted against abolition. The next year on April 2, 1792 MPs in the House of Commons voted for gradual abolition of the slave trade.
"... but the Canadian press campaign was of an episodic character. Coverage depended on events taking place in Europe: the subject of slavery could disappear from the press for months, then suddenly regain importance before retreating from public view once again. We should note there was nothing original about the anti-slavery press campaign, nothing relating explicitly to slavery in Canada: newspapers reprinted the text of debates taking place in London as foreign news, without any accompanying comment relating these debates to the practice of slavery in Canada itself." (p 235)
On January 28, 1793 Pierre-Louis Panet asked to bring in a bill to abolish slavery in Lower Canada, which was approved, but later killed off by Debonne and McBeath.
"The vote on April 19, 1793 showed that a large majority of members of the House of Assembly favored maintaining slavery. Of these proponents of slavery, we know that at least twelve were then, or were about to become, slave owners ..." (p 237)
"The Consitutional Act of 1791 divided Canada into two distinct provinces: Upper Canada and Lower Canada. Upper Canada, which eventually became Ontario, was the first of these provinces to adopt legislation specifically on slavery..." (p 238)
Upper Canada adopted The Act Against Slavery bill in 1793 'to prevent the importation of slaves to the province, and to determine the conditions needed to bring an end to slavery'. Slaves already in the province would continue to be enslaved, and children of slave mothers would continue in enslavement until the age of twenty-five. Those born before the Act had passed would continue to be slaves indefinitely. (p 239)
"But the Act also had the longer-term effect of turning Upper Canada into a "land of liberty" for runaway slaves. Indeed, the Act of 1793 prohibited that any black or Indian slave entering the province of Upper Canada should be treated as a slave: as a result, any fugitive slave seeking asylum in the province would be released from bondage....
Fugitive slaves reaching the province saw Upper Canada as an international place of refuge, but slaves already established before 1793 continued to toil in servitude." (p 239, 240)
Meanwhile in Lower Canada, the status quo continued. By 1794, a Court Justice in Montreal would set precedent by allowing runaway slaves seeking refuge to not be prosecuted or returned. "Still no law in Lower Canada explicitly prohibited slavery: existing legislation remained in force." (p 244)
In April 1799, a group of Montrealers had Joseph Papineau (House Assembly member) put forth a petition on their behalf extolling the legality of slavery as according to French and British laws previously established. Since opinions varied by judge and citizen, they asked that a clear decision be applied: either the continuation of slavery, or formal abolition so that the legal limbo many found themselves in would be halted.
A second petition was put forth on April 18, 1800 which quoted the Raudot Ordinance of 1709 which was "never altered or repealed". This resulted in the creation of a five member committee to oversee the matter. Yet nothing was accomplished and decisions were deferred several times.
"Indeed, after all these unsuccessful attempts to get the House of Assembly of Lower Canada to enact legislation on slavery, nothing further was done: after 1803 the question of slavery never appeared in the agenda of the House of Assembly. Ultimately, no Act specifically addressing the condition of slaves was ever adopted in Lower Canada." (p 250)
"Historical records indicate the presence of a few slaves every year until 1808, but then there is a gap of thirteen years until 1821, when the last historical document mentions an individual slave." (p 251)
"It is hard to say exactly how slavery ended in French Canada ... Did the history of slavery in Lower Canada end because of a law enacted in Britain? On August 28, 1833, the British government voted to put an end to slavery throughout the British Empire. The Slavery Abolition Act came into force in 1834 ...
Were there any remaining slaves in Lower Canada to take advantage of this legal emancipation?"...
It appears there were no Amerindian slaves left to be emancipated by this time, and very few blacks, many of whom were aged. And so:
"Suffice it to say that in Quebec, slavery withered away on its own, and no date can be assigned to its final disappearance." (p 252, 253)
Conclusion
"Throughout this work we have been dealing with a historical territory which does not quite occupy the same space as present-day Canada. Our study establishes that slavery had an official, legal existence over two centuries, that is between 1632 and 1834...
However, slavery here remained on a relatively small scale... it was not until the last years of the seventeenth century that slave ownership in New France, whether Amerindians or blacks, became a regular feature of society ...
The original colonists of Quebec wanted to import massive numbers of black slaves into the colony.... No massive importation of black slaves took place, but Canadians were able to draw off a few black slaves while warring against the Thirteen Colonies, and to exploit increasing numbers of Amerindian slaves who were brought back from the Midwest to Montreal as a result of the fur trade." (p 254, 255)
"Slavery was an economic imperative in colonies where sugar and tobacco were grown, whereas in French Canada no economic activity required the presence of slave labour.." (p 257)
"How can slavery in Canada have been virtually forgotten? Historians are surely to blame, whether because they did not examine slavery or because they failed to even notice it. Despite the fact the historian Francois-Xavier Garneau was born in 1809, when slavery still existed in Lower Canada, he completely misinformed his readers about slavery ... Garneau dug himself deeper into a hole by claiming that "the government and Canadian clergy should be honored for consistently opposing the introduction of Blacks into Canada." (p 268, 269)
Writing about slavery was nearly non-existent, aside from a handful of authors over a century. As a result:
"And yet, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the phenomenon of Quebec slavery seems still relatively unknown ... Although we have put a lot of energy into establishing rigorous historical facts about slavery, we are still met with surprise and especially disbelief: "What! Do you mean slavery actually existed in Quebec?" ... in point of fact, our colonial past can be likened to the Thirteen Colonies of America. (p 270, 271)
There you have it folks ... the hidden history of slavery in Canada. This issue is so little known, that I have angry Canadians writing in to me claiming that there WAS NO SLAVERY in Canada!
Writer, historian and poet Afua Cooper tells the astonishing story of Marie-Joseph Angélique, a slave woman convicted of starting a fire that destroyed a large part of Montréal in April 1734 and condemned to die a brutal death. In a powerful retelling of Angélique’s story—now supported by archival illustrations—Cooper builds on 15 years of research to shed new light on a rebellious Portuguese-born black woman who refused to accept her indentured servitude. At the same time, Cooper completely demolishes the myth of a benign, slave-free Canada, revealing a damning 200- year-old record of legally and culturally endorsed slavery.
