Not many people know the history of Africans in Canada, but to start off let me introduce you to a man named Mathieu Da Costa.Da Costa is the first black man, a free African, who visited Canada in the early 1600s (at least that's the first records of his visiting the North). He was employed as a translator by Dutch and French explorers/traders. He was extremely cultured, speaking not only Dutch and French but also Portuguese. It was also noted that he was able to communicate with First Nations peoples, and it was believed that it may have been possible that Da Costa had travelled the Americas before and learned several aboriginal languages of the people (particularly Mi'kmaq which he was clearly able to speak). More of his later time in Canada brought him to the French settlements in Eastern Canada, more specifically in Nova Scotia, where he befriended Samuel de Champlain and Pierre Du Gua de Monts.
From looking at the story of Da Costa, one gets the impression that Canada has a fine, rich history with Africans and people of African descent.
Then, you take a longer look.
Racial segregation in Canada, particularly in British Columbia, was widespread during colonial times and continued on into the 1950s (even longer in some areas). Fish canneries and coal mines were both highly segregated workplaces. In coal mining operations such as the one at Cumberland in Vancouver Island, there were separated China Towns, "Jap" Towns and white towns. After the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War (which I'll discuss in Part 2, my next post), the Japanese workers were removed from the canneries and mines as more First Nations peoples were hired.
Many locations had whites-only bathrooms and water fountains, as well as segregated schools across the country.
Indigenous and Native peoples were prohibited from using the same rail cars and accommodations on steamships as white people; it wasn't until 1960 that they were granted the right to vote in federal elections. Native peoples were also prohibited from entering pool halls and bars, and were not allowed to own logging licenses which are required to do any legal logging.Lots of Canadians lay in a daydream world, where they think we were the great Canadians who helped with the Underground Railroad (granted that is a true fact).. that we are the true Land of the Free, where any person from any race or culture can come and seize the opportunities of a free life. They believe that we are better than the Americans because of our history, because we aren't racially biased like they are. These people are the ones who constantly refer to Southern America as racist and bigoted states, as they hold their head high and say they're proud to be Canadian. I am a very proud Canadian, but I find just as much shame in my ancestors here as should the people of America whose ancestors enslaved people of different cultures.
The most hurtful of it all is that the good people who did help African-Americans escape from slavery through the Underground Railroad into Ontario had their work undone by those other Canadians who exploited those same people into working for the lowest wages and under heavy racial discrimination. This obliterates all the hard work the true citizens of Canada did to help these escapees with a mark of shame.
And if you think that it was just the World Wars, the early beginnings of the 1900s that brought all this hatred, this bigotry, this disgusting racism... then consider the fact that the last Black school in Ontario was finally closed only in 1965, following the concerned lobbying of African-Canadians to close it down. Segregated schools were being phased out but that also didn't stop the last segregated school in Canada, located in Nova Scotia, from keeping it's doors open until closing in 1983.
