Canadian Series Of North American Negroes - CSONAN

Important Events in Canadian Black History

In the 400 years that we have lived in Canada, Blacks have been part of many important milestones in Canada's history and culture. The following is a list of highlights.

1604-06 Mattieu da Costa travels with the Champlain expedition to Port Royal. He serves as an interpreter between the French and the Micmac Indians of the area.

1628 Olivier Le Jeune, an 8-year-old boy from Madagascar, arrives in Quebec. He is the first recorded slave purchase in New France. Le Jeune is probably the first person of African origin to live most of his life in Canada.

1709 In New France, slavery becomes legal.

1734 A Montreal slave named Marie-Joseph Angelique learns that she is to be sold to someone else. In an attempt to escape, she sets a fire in her mistress's house. The fire can not be contained, causing damage to half of Montreal. She is caught, tortured and hanged, bringing attention to the conditions of the slaves.

1783 More than 5,000 Blacks leave the United States to live in the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario. Having sided with the british during the American War of Independence, they come to Canada as United Empire Loyalists, some as free men and some as slaves. Although promised land by the British, they receive only varying amounts of poor-quality land, and, in fact, some receive none at all.

About 1783 in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Rose Fortune becomes Canada's first policewoman.

1792 A large number of the Black Loyalists in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia migrate to Sierra Leone in West Africa, mainly because the promises of land in Canada were not kept by the British.

1793 Under the leadership of Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe, Upper Canada passes a law to stop people from bringing slaves into Upper Canada. The law also frees slaves who are 25-years old or more. With this act, Upper Canada becomes the first British territory to bring in legislation against slavery, although it does not abolish slavery entirely.

1796 About 600 Blacks from Jamaica are deported to Nova Scotia. Known as Maroons, they help rebuild the Halifax Citadel. In 1800, most of them leave for Sierra Leone, Africa.

War of 1812 Fighting on the same side as White militia and Mohawk Indians, a group of Black soldiers forces American invaders to retreat in the Battle of Queenston Heights. Some 2,000 Blacks come from the United States to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick during the War of 1812.

1834 At midnight July 31, slavery comes to an end in all British territories, including British North America. To honour this important event, August 1 is celebrated as Emancipation Day in Windsor, Ontario, and elsewhere.

1837 Black militia units participate in putting down the rebellion in Upper Canada.

Early-mid 1800s More than 30,000 American Blacks escape slavery in the United States and come to Canada. In the United States, the Fugitive Slave Act is passed in 1850. It provides that even free persons can be made a slave if suspected of being a runaway. As a result, more fugitive slaves and free Black persons come to Canada.

1841-42 The Dawn Settlement in what is now Dresden, Ontario, is established to provide self-help for Blacks in agricultural communities.

1850s From her home in St. Catherines, Ontario, Harriet Tubman makes 19 trips into the United States to help slaves escape to Canada.

In Ontario, the Common Schools Act is passed providing for separate schools for Blacks and Roman Catholics. This results in the creation of separate schools for Blacks, leading in some cases, to Whites refusing to have their children attend schools with Blacks. In Hamilton, Ontario, there are riots as some parents try to prevent Blacks from attending schools with White children. 1853 Mary Ann Shadd becomes the first woman in North America to become a editor of a newspaper. Working out of Chartam, Ontario, she publishes, edits and writes in the Provincial Freeman, a newspaper serving the Black community in Ontario.

1854 Establishment of the African Baptist Association of Nova Scotia.

1856 Formation of the British Methodist Episcopal Church (BME), an all Black church.

1858 About 600 Blacks from California move to Victoria British Columbia. One of them, Mifflin Gibbs, later plays a key role in persuading British Columbia to become part of Canada.

1859 Abraham Shadd is elected to the town council in Raleigh, Onatrio and beocmes the first Black elected to public office. William Hall, born in Hants County, Nova Scotia, becomes the first Nova Scotian and the first Black to win the Victoria Cross for Bravery in the war. The Victoria Cross is the highest military honour in the British Commonwealth.

1860 The all-Black Victoria Pioneer Rifle Company is formed to defend British Columbia.

1861 Dr. Anderson Fuffin Abbott becomes the first Canadian Born Black to graduate from medical school.

1872 Elijah McCoy, born in Colchester, Ontario, invenets the first of his many devices to oil engines used on trains and in factories. His inventions are so good that many people refuse to buy imitations of his work. They insisted on having "The Real McCoy".

1882 John Ware, a Texas cowboy, moves to Alberta. He introduces longhorn cattle into Canada and pioneers the development of rodeo.

1909 Black farmers from Oklahoma start settling into Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

1914-18 Black Canadians join combat units and a construction battalion, is formed as a segregated unit in the First World War. They serve with great loyalty, even though the Government of Canada tries to keep Blacks out of the Armed Forces, and even though Black soldiers are abused, and sometimes physically attacked just because of their skin colour.

1939-45 In the Second World War, authorities again try to keep Blacks out of the armed forces, but Blacks insist on serving their country. Eventually, they join all services of the war, often serving with distinction.

1946 Carrie Best, of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, starts publishing a newspaper called The Clarion. Later its name changes to The Negro Citizen. It continues publication for 10 years. As a publisher and writer, Carrie Best shows that Blacks are often not treated fairly in Nova Scotia. She shows how they are not served on restaurants, and kept out of theatres. Best helps to get rid of those practices, making Nova Scotia - and Canada - a better place to live.

1954 Segragation ends in Nova Scotia schools with the advent of changes to the law that permitted Segragation. 1955 The Canadian Pacific railway finally starts ot let some Blacks work as railway conductors. Before that time, many Blacks worked on the railway, primarily as porters, but none were allowed to be conductors.

1950-60 New laws make it illegal to refuse to let people work, to be served in stores or restaurants or to move into a home because of race.

1960s Large nimbers of people from the Carribean start settling in Canada.

1962 Daniel G. Hill, an American born Black who moved to canada in 1950, is made the first director of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, the first government agency in Canada set up to protect citizens from discrimination. Hill later becomes chairman of the Commission. Later still, he serves as the Ombudsman of Ontario. He also writes three books, including The Freedom Seekers: Blacks in Early Canada.

The Canadian immigration policy changes, emphasising that education and skills of the applicant are to be the main criteria for entry into Canada. This leads to the "Points System" in 1967, which is considered more equitable for Blacks.

1963 Leonard Braithwaite is elected to the Ontario legislature, and is the first Black to serve in a provincial legislature in Canada.

1964 Harry Jerome of Vancouver, British Colombia, wins a bronze medal in the 100-metre dash at the Tokyo Olympics. Earlier he has run the distance in the world record time of 10.0 seconds. In 1971, he is awarded the Order of Canada "for excellence in all fields of Canadian life."

Segragation becomes against the law in Ontario, bringing an end to racially separated classrooms in Ontario. I did not know that starting school in 1965, that I would be a part of the first non-segregated classrooms in Toronto.

1972 Rosemary Brown of Vancouver, British Columbia, becomes the first Black woman elected to a provincial legislature in Canada.

1974 Dr. Monestime Saint Firmin is elected Mayor of Mattawa, Ontario, making him Canada's first Black Mayor.

1979 Lincoln Alexander, of Hamilton, Ontario, becomes Canada's first Black cabinet minister. He serves as Minister of Labour in the federal government. from 1985 to 1991, he serves as the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.

1984-88 Daurene Lewis serves as Mayor of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. She is the first Black woman to be elected Mayor of a Canadian city.

1988 Ben Johnson, a Canadian Olympic 100 meter runner shatters the 100 meter sprinting record. Although later disqualified for steroid use by the IOC he was for a short time the fastest man ever to run that distance in all of history.

1990 Afican National Congress leader Nelson Mandela, who has just been freed from South African jail, visits Canada. He speaks to huge crowds in Montreal and Toronto.

1991 Jean-Bertrand Astride, the President of Haiti, who was forced out of his country when the military seized power, visits Canada. He meets with Prime Minister Mulroney and is warmly welcomed by the large Haitian community in Montreal, where he had studied at the University of Montreal in the 1980's.

Julius Alexander Isaac, a native of Grenada, is named Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Canada. He becomes the first Black Chief Justice in Canada and the first to serve on the Federal Court.

1996 Donavan Bailey, of Oakville Ontario becomes the fastest man in world by taking the 100 meter sprints, at the Atlanta Olympic Games. Donavan broke both the Olympic and World records.