Black Canadians in Ontario

Black Canadians migrated north in the 18th and 19th centuries from the United States, many of them through the Underground Railroad, into Southwestern Ontario, Toronto, and Owen Sound.

[2] Word had spread through the United States that there were free black soldiers who served in the War of 1812 from British North America, which resulted in more African American immigrants.

[2] John Beverley Robinson, Attorney General, issued an order that freed all black residents in Upper Canada in 1819.

[1] There was not a major influx of black people into Canada until the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 in the United States.

The law made it easier for slave catchers to apprehend African Americans, and freedom seekers planned to settle in what is now Ontario.

[3] They also settled in Sandwich (now part of Windsor), Niagara Falls, Hamilton, Buxton, Brantford, and Oakville.

[3] Josiah Henson came to Canada with his wife and four children and founded the Dawn settlement in a rural area near Dresden in 1841.

[3] Black Canadians volunteered and fought during the War of 1812 to protect their new country and to ensure that they were not returned to slavery in the United States.

For their service, Lieutenant Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland provided many black people with land grants in Oro Township in 1815.

During the Rebellions of 1837–1838, they served in separate "Colored Corps" units and fought to protect the rights of African Canadians and defend the government.

African Americans were declared free due to the Emancipation Proclamation, and slavery was officially abolished in the United States by the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1865.

Buxton National Historic Site and Museum , South Buxton, Ontario
Fugitive Slaves in Canada poster for Rev. William King
Free Black family in front of home in Ontario
A group of mostly black Canadians pose with Premier Ernest C. Drury and Sir Henry Pellatt on the steps of the Ontario Legislature in Toronto . The photograph was taken at the dedication of a plaque in memory of the members of the No. 2 Construction Battalion , an all-nlack non-combat battalion that served in World War I . The plaque is in the main hall of Queen's Park . Rev. Mrs. H.F. Logan and Rev. H.F. Logan , who spearheaded the campaign for the plaque, are at left of centre. Also included in the photograph is Rt. Rev. Samuel R. Drake , General Superintendent of the British Methodist Episcopal Church Conference