Black Woman Ann Otherwise Called Nancy

Racial Discrimination in Canada: The Black Experience
By James W. St.G. Walker  

Historical perspective is an essential component in the analysis of any social situation, and this is especially evident in the case of racial discrimination. 

Following the British conquest, more black slaves entered Canada and enslavement became more exclusively a black condition, but a racial justification was still absent. The immediate effect of slavery was not a doctrine of racial inferiority, but a situation which subjected blacks to white authority as a result of their legal position as slaves. From slavery grew many of the stereotypical characteristics applied to blacks, particularly the notions of dependence, lack of initiative, and suitability only for service and unskilled employment. Even when slavery gradually died out in Canada, these images were nourished by the continued enslavement of blacks in the British Empire until 1834 and in the United States until 1865.

The legacy of slavery in Canada consigned the black migrants to a labouring and service role. At a time when social privilege was closely related to economic status, the distinctions affecting blacks in the workplace were almost automatically extended to other areas of life. By the time of Confederation, a colour line had been established in Canada, identifying all blacks as members of a specified class and setting them apart from mainstream society. This line was upheld by attitude rather than by law, justified by convention rather than by ideology. There was no logic or design in the process, for it was a product of history. 

The historical sequence began with the arrival of 3,500 free black Loyalists in 1783. Most of these people had been American-owned slaves who won their freedom by joining the British cause during the Revolutionary War upon the promise of the same rights and privileges as other Loyalists in reward for their services. But conditions in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, where most of them settled, operated to perpetuate many of the disadvantages derived from slavery. Confusion and delay in the allocation of Loyalist land grants meant that priorities had to be established, serving those with power and influence first while the group of former slaves was relegated to the end of the list. Few Black Loyalists received land grants at all, and those who did were placed on small allotments in the least desirable regions. As was usual with many Loyalist groups, the blacks were settled in distinct districts, often on the outskirts of major white centres, where physical separation accentuated their economic disadvantage. Unable to support themselves on their inadequate farms, the blacks were dependent upon the employment offered them by white landowners or by the government.

Marginal, segregated, and dependent, the free black group constituted a distinct caste which ranked beneath the lowest class whites. Occupational and residential exclusivity was matched in the churches and schools, where blacks were segregated or excluded. Although the whites’ acceptance of all blacks as lowly labourers and incomplete citizens was certainly defined in terms of colour, it was not yet explained in racist doctrine. It was their background as former slaves, and their consequent poor status in a highly status-conscious society, which served to justify their treatment. 

The historical record reveals that the basic issue in Canada has been racial stereotyping – the assignment of personal characteristics, economic opportunity, and social acceptance on the basis of perceived attributes – and, further, that those stereotypes were founded on ignorance, hearsay, and coincidence.