Juno News - August 04, 2020


The actual history of slavery in Canada


Episode Stats

Length

5 minutes

Words per Minute

148.40144

Word Count

868

Sentence Count

49

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

2


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 The Trudeau government would like us to have an honest conversation about the history of slavery
00:00:09.520 in our country. And yet, Trudeau officials themselves aren't even being honest with
00:00:14.460 Canadians about the basic facts when it comes to our history. First, check out this tweet from the
00:00:19.840 Minister of Infrastructure, Catherine McKenna. She writes, today is Emancipation Day. On August 1st,
00:00:26.120 1834, slavery was abolished in Canada. We need to keep having honest discussions about our past in
00:00:32.440 order to build a more inclusive Canada, free of racism and discrimination. First, it's a little
00:00:38.640 rich to hear from McKenna and hear her talk about wanting to build a, quote, more inclusive Canada,
00:00:44.140 given that she's the one with the bad habit of pitting Canadians against each other
00:00:47.560 and dismissing her critics, calling them deniers, racists, bigots, etc. Remember this interview
00:00:54.780 when she said she didn't have time for Canadians who she disagreed with?
00:00:58.200 Let's be clear, like, climate change has huge costs now. I have no time for folks who are like,
00:01:02.680 you know, we shouldn't take action.
00:01:04.660 Second, yes, August 1st is Emancipation Day across the entire Commonwealth,
00:01:08.680 where we acknowledge and even celebrate the fact that the British Empire was the first to take the
00:01:13.980 remarkable step in 1834 to abolish slavery throughout the empire. It was 40 years before the American
00:01:21.260 Civil War and leaps and bounds before other countries and other cultures finally took the
00:01:26.220 step to abolish the despicable slave trade. Great Britain showed tremendous leadership during that
00:01:31.660 era to end a deeply egregious and immoral practice. McKenna should acknowledge that one month earlier,
00:01:38.680 July 1st, we celebrate Dominion Day, honoring the creation of the Dominion of Canada in 1867.
00:01:44.900 Slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1834. Canada was created in 1867. Therefore,
00:01:52.660 there was no slavery technically that ever happened in Canada. Sure, that's semantics,
00:01:57.540 but it's McKenna herself who's saying that we should have an honest conversation.
00:02:01.240 She should also include the facts if she wants to have an honest conversation.
00:02:05.920 Now, McKenna was not the only liberal pushing this division and revisionist history trying to make
00:02:11.180 all Canadians look bad. Parks Canada's official Twitter handle also claimed that Canadians were
00:02:17.620 complicit in slavery. They tweeted this. Between 1629 and 1834, approximately 4,000 people of African
00:02:25.740 descent were enslaved across Canada. This left a legacy of discrimination and systemic racism that
00:02:31.060 Black Canadians still feel today. Learn more about this shameful period in our history, and it includes
00:02:37.040 a link that goes to a press release for a bunch of liberal cabinet ministers and officials are
00:02:42.500 basically condemning Canada and saying how awful of a country we are. Well, of course, this was a
00:02:48.740 shameful period in world history. And keep in mind that it was world history. The slave trade spanned
00:02:53.560 across the entire globe and included slaves and slaveholders from all different races. But here in
00:02:59.120 Canada, these liberal officials left out a few very important and very relevant details. For instance,
00:03:05.500 on August 1st, 1793, Upper Canada, the territory that's now known as Ontario, the governor, John
00:03:12.880 Graves Simcoe, issued the Act Against Slavery, banning the import of slaves and providing freedom
00:03:18.880 to the children of slaves. In fact, Upper Canada was the very first British colony in the entire world
00:03:26.520 to ban slavery, a remarkable sign of leadership at the time. Canadians should, of course, be aware that
00:03:33.320 there was slavery here before Canada became a country. But the story is far more complicated
00:03:38.040 than these banal messages from liberal officials suggest. While historians do believe that there
00:03:43.200 was a total of about 4,000 enslaved people in New France, which became British North America,
00:03:49.420 which became Canada, Parks Canada is wrong to say that there were 4,000 people of African descent
00:03:56.260 enslaved here. I've looked through a lot of records. I've looked at a lot of historical accounts,
00:04:00.660 and every record I saw that showed that 4,000 figure said it applied to all slaves in Canada.
00:04:07.640 And the majority of slaves in this territory were indigenous. Only a small fraction were of African
00:04:13.640 descent. It's important to note that slavery was common practice among First Nation tribes
00:04:19.060 before Europeans arrived in North America. They used to take prisoners of war. They were either killed
00:04:24.980 or they were kept as slaves. And also compare that total of 4,000 slaves that were held in New France
00:04:31.600 and British North America. Compare that to what happened in the 19th century in Canada. Canada was
00:04:37.520 refuge to 20 times that many freed slaves who left the United States, fled the United States,
00:04:43.960 came to Canada through the Underground Railroad. As many as 100,000 Africans, former slaves,
00:04:50.960 found freedom in Canada because of this remarkable network. So sure, there are aspects of our history
00:04:56.320 that are shameful, and we should acknowledge that. But there are also many things to be proud of.
00:05:01.220 Instead of sowing division and trying to push misinformation about Canada's past,
00:05:05.820 the Trudeau government should brush up on its own history, learn the facts, and stop hectoring
00:05:10.740 Canadians with their divisive, anti-Canadian, woke rhetoric. For True North, I'm Candace Malcolm.
00:05:20.960 For True North, I'm Candace Malcolm.