Ever since the discovery of the New World, black people have lived in Canada and have not been treated fairly. Slavery played an enormous role in the formation of Canada. Perhaps the first Black person to arrive in Canada was named Mattieu da Costa. He was a guide and translator with a French expedition led by Pierre de Gua, Sieur du Monts. This expedition established a colony called Port Royal in they year1605 and by 1613, it became a major urban center in the Maritimes. Another early arrival who came to Canada was a young Black boy who had been captured from his homeland in Madagascar. He arrived in New France in 1628 and was sold to a co

John Ware was a successful rancher and one of the prairies greatest horsemen. His skills in the saddle, straightforward honesty, and hard work earned John respect of fellow cattlemen at a time where racial minorities in Alberta was not widespread. He was a legend when it came to ranching and he was one of the first men to start rodeo.

The music rhythm and blues was formed by blending the style of boogie-woogie and blues together. Hip-hop and Rap are one of the latest forms of music that was invented by Blacks. Hip-hop is not sung and uses a strong beat as well as repetition and rhyme. This type of music often deals with social and political issues. Blacks also brought lots of music from their homes when they immigrated to Canada. Reggae and Calypso are two forms of music brought to Canada by its immigrants from the Caribbean. After World War 2 was over Caribbean musicians invented a new instrument called The Steel Pan and this type of music was very popular with the North American culture. Therefore, as you can see music is just one of the great things our Black Canadians have brought to our Country.

Blacks who live in BC usually came from California to escape slavery and they arrived in BC during the 1850’s. Blacks also came to BC because of the gold prospects and business opportunities. Blacks greatly took part in all aspects of the life on the west coast. Some Blacks even went as far as becoming politicians in a world full of racial hate and discrimination. A Black man named Mifflin Gibbs was even elected to the Victorian city council. BC was still not a racial free place though; it had its problems still with many racial incidents fuelled by the American immigrants. At some points during the twentieth century Blacks in BC experienced similar situations to those forced by blacks in eastern Canada during the 20’s to 60’s. There were many organizations set out that helped bring positive political changes for the West Coast, Black people were employed and they were at all sorts of different economic levels.

In Lower Canada, many loyalists and people who came to live there had Black slaves so in Canada at one point there was a time when both free and enslaved Blacks lived together in Canada. This happened because Colonel John Graves Simcoe was Upper Canada’s first lieutenant governor and he wanted to pass a law to ban slavery. On August 28th 1833 Britain passed a law freeing and ending slavery in all of its thirteen colonies freeing over 300 slaves. This law came into effect August 1st 1834.

In the early 1600’s, British, French, Spanish, Dutch and Swedish settlements dotted the east coast of North America. The Europeans fought with each other all the time and because of this the British was able to gain control of the Thirteen Colonies along the east coast. “By 1775, about 500 000 Blacks were enslaved in the Thirteen Colonies, making up approximately 20 percent of the total population.” (Carter, pg.21) In that same year, the Thirteen Colonies rebelled against the British rule. To weaken the rebel forces the British commander in chief offered freedom to all Blacks who could escape from the rebels and without the Blacks, the rebels would not be able to keep their plantations running. This attracted thousands of Blacks to the loyalist side. Although victory went to the rebels this was the start of a free nation for the Blacks because all the British forces and Black loyalists had to flee north to Canada. Of the thousands of Black loyalists, only a small number kept on going and moved to Upper Canada, which became the province of Quebec.

There were Blacks all over Canada. In the prairies, the majority of Blacks who homesteaded did so in Alberta. The largest rural black community in Alberta was Amber Valley, which is 275km north of Edmonton. In Saskatchewan blacks lived in an area known as North of the Gully. The Eldon district in Saskatchewan was the place that housed the

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