Slavery in Canada
Slavery in Canada was first practised by the aboriginal nations, who routinely captured slaves from neighbouring tribes as part of their accepted laws of war. Among the white settlements, slavery appeared soon after the colonies were founded in the early 1600s. Most of their slaves were used as domestic house servants, although some performed agricultural labour.The first recorded slave purchase occurred in New France in the region known today as Quebec; the year was 1628. The purchase was of a young boy from Madagascar, who was given the name Olivier Le Jeune. By the early 1700s, Africans began arriving in greater numbers to New France, mainly as slaves of the French aristocracy. When the British took over in 1759, there were more than 1,000 slaves living in Quebec. Of course the British aristocracy had African slaves also. Just after the American Revolution ended in 1783, British Loyalists brought over 2,000 African slaves to British Canada. Approximately 1,200 of the African slaves were taken to Nova Scotia, 300 to Quebec (Lower Canada) and 500 to Ontario (Upper Canada). A few others were taken to Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton Island, and Newfoundland.
Historian Marcel Trudel has recorded 4092 slaves throughout Canadian history, of which 2692 were Indians, owned mostly by the French, and 1400 Blacks owned mostly by the British, together owned by approximately 1400 masters.
The region of Montreal dominated with 2077 slaves, compared to 1059 for Quebec City overall and 114 for Trois-Rivières. Several marriages took place between French colonists and slaves: 31 unions with Indian slaves and 8 with Black slaves.
In 1793, under the leadership of Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe, a bill had been passed by the Legislature of Upper Canada making it illegal to bring a person into the colony to be enslaved. Slavery formally ended in the two Canadas in 1834 after the British Parliament passed an act abolishing the institution throughout the Empire.