August 1st is Emancipation Day in Canada. August 1st, 1834 marked the end of slavery across the British Empire – stressing that only those under the age of six were free. Enslaved people older than six years of age were re-designated as “apprentices” and required to work 40 hours per week without pay, as part of compensation to the enslavers. Full emancipation was not achieved until midnight on July 31, 1838.
Emancipation Day officially became a federal day in Canada, after members of parliament in the House of Commons voted unanimously in March 2021 to designate it nationwide.
Emancipation Day is about learning Canada’s collective history and telling a more complete history that includes the history of slavery. It’s about the past, but also reflecting on our present. Taking time to examine the current circumstances, remembering why Black lives matter and recognize intergenerational trauma within African Canadian families. Consolidating our present to our past is a way of recognizing how slavery and segregation are the roots of anti-Black racism.
The United Nations Decade for People of African Descent calls for recognition, justice and development. Within the recommendations for recognition, the United Nations suggests that communities “... promote greater knowledge and recognition of and respect for the culture, history and heritage of people of African descent, including through research and education, and promote full and accurate inclusion of the history and contribution of people of African descent in educational curricula...”. It also recommends that schools “ensure that textbooks and other educational materials reflect historical facts accurately as they relate to past tragedies and atrocities, in particular slavery, the slave trade, the transatlantic slave trade and colonialism, so as to avoid stereotypes and the distortion or falsification of these historic facts, which may lead to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, including the role of respective countries therein...” Emancipation Day is a direct outcome of this as we prepare for the future.
As a member, please take time to continue to educate yourself and support our Black members through the Black Class Action | Fight for Canada and visit The Josiah Henson Museum of African-Canadian History.
“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.”
-Bob Marley’s Redemption Song
Cece Cameron & Bernadette D'Souza (she/her/elle)
Ontario Regional Human Rights
and Race Relations Representatives