February Is Black History Month: Oliviere Le Jeune

Canadians have a somewhat disconnected view of the history of slavery in their own country, believing that we were somehow different than the United States and were a sanctuary for slaves, when quite the opposite is true.

The sale of slave Oliviere Le Jeune image is courtesy of "The Kids Book Of Black Canadian History"  and artist Wang Oijun

Slavery of conquered tribes was practised amongst the indigenous people of Canada, though typically those people were usually not considered property of the slavers in the manner in which we associate most (chattel) slavery. 

No doubt that slavery existed previous to the event I am about to mention, but to establish an official date of slavery being an accepted practice here we can look at the case of  Oliviere Le Jeune, the first documented black slave in Canada. 

Le Jeune was a 6 or 7 year old boy from Madagascar, taken from his homeland and transported across the ocean by naval commander David Kirke, who then sold him to a French clerk in the employ of the British when they conquered "New France" (Quebec) in 1629.

Oliviere Le Jeune did eventually become a free man

Considering that it took 174 years for the the "Act To Limit Slavery" legislation to be enacted in what was then a British colony, we have a very long history of either exploiting people as slaves, or at the very least, tolerating this abhorrent practise. 

And please note, "The Act To Limit Slavery" was designed to do just that, limit slavery and not abolish it entirely. Britain did not officially abolish slavery until 1834, whereas several of the northern states in the U.S. had done so in 1787. 

Yes, it's great that we had many people fighting to abolish slavery, and that we helped support the Underground Railroad before the U.S., as a country, abolished slavery in 1864. But don't let that fool you into thinking there wasn't some shameful behaviour in Canada and know that we're just as culpable as our southern neighbours when it comes to the enslavement of people.