Emancipation Day and its relevance to Canada

The First Baptist Church was founded in 1826 in Toronto by 12 fugitives from slavery seeking freedom. They arrived on the Underground Railroad a few years back from August 1, 1834—the day slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire, including Canada.

It’s a day that historian Rosemary Sadlier says Canadians still know very little about.

“There (are) people in this country who don’t realize that black people have been here since before Confederation,” said Sadlier, the former president of the Ontario Black History Association. “In the lands we now call Canada, slavery began in 1628, the enslavement of Africans. It was not finished until August 1, 1834.

The passage of the Slavery Abolition Act freed more than 800,000 people throughout the Caribbean, South Africa and Canada, initiating Emancipation Day celebrations in Ontario in places such as Windsor, St. Catharines, Collingwood, Woodstock, Amherstburg and Toronto.

“The people who were celebrating Emancipation Day were black people who were freed and were in Canada, or newly arrived freedom seekers,” Sadlier said. “Early celebrations … were all about immediate joyous expressions that were spiritual, that were cultural, that involved dance and prayer, that involved speeches.

“Initially, it was probably more about building and celebrating identity, but it also took on an element of advocacy for the end of slavery” — because slavery wasn’t over for everyone.

The US would wait another 30 years before ending the practice, during which time tens of thousands fled to Canada to enjoy emancipation.

On their journey to freedom, many African Americans would stop and settle in Owen Sound, Ont. – the northernmost part of the underground railway. The courage and experiences of these pioneers are commemorated in Harrison Park.

“A lot of them went out on the Bruce Trail and ended up right here at the north end, or the cairn,” said Jeffrey Gordon Smith, an organizer of the Owen Sound Emancipation Day Festival.

In Owen Sound, Emancipation Day has been celebrated for 160 years, the longest in North America. Smith, a descendant of the formerly enslaved people who settled there, says it all started with a family picnic by freedom seeker Thomas Henry Miller.

“This is where they met every year at Harrison Park,” Smith said. “It was all about a joint gathering at the party: ‘Now we are free, now we are emancipated!’

Today, Emancipation Day celebrations continue around the world with carnival celebrations in the Caribbean and Canada, all rooted in August 1st.

But despite its long history in Canada, only recently did the country officially recognize this day. In March 2021, the House of Commons voted unanimously to designate August 1 as National Emancipation Day.

A descendant of freedom seekers herself, Sadlier, who was instrumental in pushing the motion forward, says Emancipation Day is as important to Canadians now as it was then.

“I think this is also a time of not only reflection, but also a time of planning for the other things we need to do to make things better for ourselves and for future generations, for people of color and for everyone Canadians,” Sadlier said. “Because what makes things better for people of color ultimately makes things better for society as a whole. “