The shared history between Canada and the United States intricately ties the histories of Black Canadians and African Americans. Throughout the 1700s and into the early 1800s, the majority of people of African descent in Canada came from the United States. In the middle of the 19th century a large wave of African Americans sought freedom in Canada from slavery. At the same time free Blacks, men and women who were born free or received their freedom from enslavement, also decided to settle in Canada. ;xNLx; ;xNLx;While thousands of Blacks from the U.S. came to Canada seeking freedom and equality, they also faced racism in Canada. In many parts of Canada Black people were forced to live in segregated communities, given the poorest farm land, limited to service sector jobs, and in some provinces educated in segregated schools. In the early 1900s, Canada also brought in immigration policies to restrict migration of African Americans. ;xNLx; ;xNLx;Despite these obstacles, many Black communities survived and thrived. Today, Black communities in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario trace their roots back to these early settlements in Canada. This timeline covers 300 years of migration of people of African descent into Canada and some of the communities they established.;xNLx;
An African, Mathieu de Costa, is contracted to accompany Samuel de Champlain on an excursion to Acadia (Nova Scotia) in 1605.
The first shipload of enslaved Africans arrives in British North America through Jamestown, in what is now Virginia.
The first recorded African slave is purchased in New France.
Slavery was practised by a number of Aboriginal tribes in what is now Canada. Slavery by Europeans may have begun with the enslavement of about 2,000 Aboriginal men and women by Portuguese explorer Gaspar Corte-Real.
Code Noir is decreed by France's King Louis XIV. This defines the conditions of slavery in the French colonial empire.
King Louis XIV of France gave limited permission for the colonists of New France to continue the enslavement of African and Pawnee people.
King Louis XIV formally authorizes slavery in New France.
Marie-Joseph Angélique was an enslaved Black woman owned by Thérèse de Couagne de Francheville in Montréal.
In 1759 and 1760 the English conquer New France. Under the Articles of Capitulation the French are allowed to continue to enslave peopl (Article 47).
The first official record of Africville is 1761. The population is increased after the War of 1812 when Black Loyalists and Refugees arrive.
The Thirteen Colonies fight against Britain for independence.
Richard Pierpoint was born around 1745 in the West African kingdom called Bondu (now Senegal).
During the American Revolutionary War, American Revolutionary forces regularly invade Nova Scotia by both land and sea.
Birchtown was founded in 1783 by Black Loyalists.
When the soldiers of Butler's Rangers are disbanded in 1783, Richard Pierpoint and other Black soldiers begin farming near Niagara, making them some of the first Black settlers in the Niagara Region.
After the American Revolutionary War, at least 3,500 Black Loyalists come to Canada.
After the American Revolutionary War, approximately 30,000 United Empire Loyalists leave the U.S. for Canada. They bring about 2,000 enslaved Africans with them.
Sixteen enslaved Africans arrive with the United Empire Loyalists.
After the Revolutionary War, the Black Loyalists are among the first settlers in Shelburne, Nova Scotia.
The Northwest Ordinance is signed into law. The Ordinance creates the Northwest Territory (the territory of Michigan). The law prohibits slavery in the new territory.
Black Loyalists face discrimination in Nova Scotia and find it hard to support themselves.
Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe passes the Anti-Slavery Act which bans the importation of enslaved people. It also frees the children of current enslaved people once they reach age 25.
Most of the enslaved Africans in Canada resided in Montreal.
Chloë Cooley, an enslaved girl in Upper Canada is beaten and bound by her owner and sold to an American.
On July 22, 1796, a group of 600 Maroons, from the Jamaican community of escaped enslaved Africans, arrive in Halifax.
In 1799 in the town of York fifteen Blacks were enumerated by the Census.
In 1799, Joseph Papineau presents a citizens' petition asking the government to abolish slavery.
In 1806, the British House of Lords passed an Act for the Abolition of The Slave Trade throughout all British colonies. This law becomes effective February 23, 1807. It doesn't ban slavery, but prohibits the transportation of African slaves across the Atlantic ocean.
President Thomas Jefferson signs a bill approved by Congress the day before “to prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States.” It becomes effective January 1, 1808.
Americans declare war on Britain and attack its closest colony - British North America.
Americans declare war on Britain and attack the closest English colony – British North America.
In the summer of 1812, Black Loyalist Richard Pierpoint petitions the government of Upper Canada to raise a company of Black troops to help protect the Niagara frontier.
British Vice-Admiral Alexander Cochrane offers transportation for anyone wanting to leave the United States to settle in Nova Scotia.
In 1815, Lieutenant Governor Peregrine Maitland of Upper Canada began to offer Black veterans of the War of 1812 grants of land in the Township of Oro.
Amherstburg is settled by Black veterans of the War of 1812 who grow tobacco.
In 1815, after escaping the war in Virginia and Maryland, three hundred Black Refugees arrive in Saint John harbour on the H.M.S Regulus. They eventually settle near Loch Lomond and Willow Grove.
Escaped enslaved Africans from the southern U.S. as well as northern free African Americans begin settling in the Windsor area shortly after the War of 1812.
Building on Simcoe's early efforts to abolish slavery, the Attorney General of Upper Canada declares in 1819 that residence in Upper Canada makes all Africans free.
The Underground Railroad was a network of activists and safe houses that assisted runaway enslaved people in their journey toward freedom in the northern American states or in Canada.
As early as 1830s, the Town of Oakville becomes one of the gateways to Canada for many African Americans. Ship captains assist stowaway African Americans escape to freedom aboard their ships.
Author. Abolitionist. Minister.
From about 1830 to the end of the American Civil War, escaped enslaved African Americans settled in the Village of Sydenham (Owen Sound), a terminal of the Underground Railroad.
The British Imperial Act abolishes slavery across the British Empire. It is passed in 1833 and becomes effective August 1, 1834. The Act frees those who remained enslaved in British North America.
Conductors on the Underground Railroad. Entrepreneurs.
Built around 1827, Griffin House is purchased by Enerals Griffin in 1834. Enerals and his wife Priscilla came to Canada to escape slavery in the United States. Griffin House is designated a National Historical Site in 2008.
Wilson Abbott was born in Virginia to a free Black woman and a Scottish-Irish father.
In 1841, the former enslaved person, Josiah Henson, buys 200 acres to found the Dawn Settlement, near present-day Dresden, Ontario.
Built in 1841 by Josiah Henson, the cabin provides refuge to former enslaved people coming to Canada from the United States. It was formally known as Uncle Tom's Cabin, through his connection to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 anti-slavery novel.
Blacks have lived in the Yukon since 1848, when Perro Lenoire worked for the Hudson's Bay Company as a hunter and labourer. By 1901, a community of 99 Blacks had settled in the Yukon Territory during the Klondike Gold Rush.
In 1848 Nazrey AME Church is built by African Americans who escaped slavery to serve their growing community.
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