Slavery in Canada includes historical practices of enslavement practised by both the First Nations until the latter half of the 19th century,[1] and by colonists during the period of European colonization.

[2] The practice of slavery in Canada by colonists effectively ended early in the 19th century, through local statutes and court decisions resulting from litigation on behalf of enslaved people seeking manumission.

[10] Some of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, such as the Haida and Tlingit, were traditionally known as fierce warriors and slave-traders, raiding as far as California.

[14] In the 1870s, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Israel Wood Powell, freed slaves on their appeal to him during his trips to the west coast of Vancouver Island.

[20] Around two-thirds of these slaves were of Indigenous ancestry (2,700 typically called panis, from the French term for Pawnee)[21] and one third were of African descent (1,443).

[24] People of African descent were forcibly captured by local chiefs and kings as chattel slaves and sold to traders bound for southern areas of the Americas.

[27] According to Afua Cooper, author of The Hanging of Angélique: The Untold Story of Canadian Slavery and the Burning of Old Montréal, this was due to the relative ease with which New France could acquire First Nations slaves.

By 1688, New France's population was 11,562 people, made up primarily of fur traders, missionaries, and farmers settled in the St. Lawrence Valley.

To help overcome its severe shortage of servants and labourers, King Louis XIV granted New France's petition to import Black slaves from West Africa.

More commonly, they were of Fox, Dakota, Iowa, and Apache origin, captives taken in war by Indigenous allies and trading partners of the French.

In the afternoon of the day of execution, Angélique was taken through the streets of Montreal and, after the stop at the church for her amende honorable, made to climb a scaffold facing the ruins of the buildings destroyed by the fire.

Shawnee, Potawatomi, and other western tribes imported slaves from Ohio and Kentucky and sold or gifted them to allies[33] and Canadian settlers.

[34] Black slaves lived in the British regions of Canada in the 18th century—104 were listed in a 1767 census of Nova Scotia, but their numbers were small until the United Empire Loyalist influx after 1783.

[36] As under French rule, Loyalist slaves were held in small numbers and were used as domestic servants, farm hands, and skilled artisans.

Because they did not appear to pose a threat to their masters, slaves were permitted to learn to read and write, Christian conversion was encouraged, and their marriages were recognized by law.

[37] The Quebec Gazette of 12 July 1787 had an advertisement: For sale, a robust Negress, active and with good hearing, about 18 years old, who has had small-pox, has been accustomed to household duties, understands the kitchen, knows how to wash, iron, sew, and very used to caring for children.

In 1772, prior to the American Revolution, Britain outlawed the slave trade in the British Isles followed by the Knight v. Wedderburn decision in Scotland in 1778.

[42] Historian Robin Winks writes it is "the sharpest attack to come from a Canadian pen even into the 1840s; he had also brought about a public debate which soon reached the courts".

Led by Richard John Uniacke, in 1787, 1789 and again on 11 January 1808 the Nova Scotian legislature refused to legalize slavery.

[44][45] Two chief justices, Thomas Andrew Lumisden Strange (1790–1796) and Sampson Salter Blowers (1797–1832), were instrumental in freeing slaves from their owners in Nova Scotia.

Justice Alexander Croke (1801–1815) also impounded American slave ships during this time period (the most famous being the Liverpool Packet).

During the war, Nova Scotian Sir William Winniett served as a crew on board HMS Tonnant in the effort to free slaves from America.

They created a settlement in the existing colony in Sierra Leone (already established to make a home for the "poor blacks" of London) at Freetown in 1792.

[53] By 1800, the other provinces of British North America had effectively limited slavery through court decisions requiring the strictest proof of ownership, which was rarely available.

[55] In Nova Scotia, former slave Richard Preston established the African Abolition Society in the fight to end slavery in America.

Preston was trained as a minister in England and met many of the leading voices in the abolitionist movement that helped to get the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 passed by the British Parliament.

[58] Human trafficking in Canada is a legal and political issue, and Canadian legislators have been criticized for having failed to deal with the problem in a more systematic way.

[64] One current and highly publicized instance is the vast disappearances of Aboriginal women which has been linked to human trafficking by some sources.

[68] Obokata's report found many instances of debt bondage, wage theft, lack of personal protective equipment, abuse, and sexual misconduct.