During the years following the Second World War, Blacks in Canada had little or no political, economic or cultural impact on the Canadian landscape. Few in numbers, they populated mainly cities or lived near urban areas. As was the case for much of their existence in Canada they were often not seen, seldom heard or acknowledged outside their own communities. It was because of their invisibility and tiny demographics that not only were they ignored, but too, the Dominion Government of Canada could easily introduce policies and directives to deter large scale black immigration into its provinces and territories.
Despite their small numbers black Canadians or African Canadians as they are now called, had a long history in what after 1867 became Canada. Canadian historians have made much of the country's "Two Founding Peoples" the English and French, by ignoring the fact that when Europeans arrived on Canada's shores, and advanced westwards, the land was occupied by various peoples who had been there much longer than anyone else. And while people of African descent, few in number, arrived with early Europeans, little in the way was done by historians to acknowledge their presence.
Strange thing about some historians and the filters they utilize. They are manipulated to serve this or that interest to include, either eurohegemony, or deliberate types of racism bundled within a white dominant framework and myth. So it was that only white-skinned people were elevated to the level of being called “explorers" in a land that had already been discovered and occupied. Everyone else had to make do without any recognition for their contributions. First Nations have been severely impacted by this neglect. Others, like African Canadians have also felt the sting of being relegated to the status of second class citizens.
Be that as it may, after their early arrival in the early 1600s, initially as free people, then as slaves and freed people, or as ones in flight from American slavery their numbers were relatively small. But by the later 17th-century and into the early 18th-century as a consequence of having little choice, other persons of African descent arrived in the Atlantic region, mainly Nova Scotia. Later on because of the Under Ground Rail Road and their flight from heinous American slavery, more of them settled primarily in Ontario, and some of them fearing for their safety left California for British Columbia.
African populations in Canada would be seriously undermined by state-encouraged expanding European immigration. The aforementioned when combined with the start of the American Civil War, and the movements of black people back into the US, either to fight on the side of the Union Army, or just to abandon a life they never liked to begin with reduced what was always an uncertain presence. Such leavings would mirror earlier ones. Some pioneers of African descent who had previously arrived from the US and Jamaica left Nova Scotia and ventured to Sierra Leone; much lesser numbers went later on to Trinidad.
Indeed, the number of people of African descent was much higher just before the outbreak of the American Civil War. The erosion of the black population set in motion a trend that remained into the 1950s. The declining numbers were part of a pattern of arrival and leaving. Ironically, not just for immigrants coming forth from the US and the Caribbean, but too, for black people born and bred in Canada.
Not being able to handle subtle, yet pernicious racism caused them to gladly relocate to places south of the Canada-US border which they labeled: "moving beyond the line." It was only after a supposedly more liberal Canadian immigration policy was introduced that larger numbers of black immigrants arrived mainly from the Caribbean. Some Caribbean immigrants who had migrated to Britain chose to resettle in Canada in the 1960s. It was at this point that black Canadian communities began to grow and thrive.
It is important to note that until this newer and sustainable wave of immigrants most African Canadians resided in various parts of Nova Scotia, to a lesser degree Ontario. This is a rather important point since without their staying power black communities would have remained relatively smaller to nonexistent on Canadian soil. Their invisibility had already provided justification for those people who were uncomfortable with a black presence in Canada. An even smaller presence of Blacks would have made their detractors happier, and with time would have supported the lie that racism was not a dominant feature in Canada long before the country was dissected into provinces and territories.
To this point, a brief overview of the black presence in Canada has been provided. Mainly, the idea of black people living in relatively small communities and being affected by racism and neglect has been discussed. This discussion will now take a brief look at people of African descent living in contemporary Canada. Continuously they are being affected by deliberate neglectful public policies that on the whole are injurious to them.
Nearing the mid-1990s, I had the occasion to visit the Canadian Embassy located in The Hague, Holland. As I sat in the waiting room my eyes caught collections of books that were displayed on shelves. Venturing closer to peruse them, I glimpsed through ones filled with a variety of compelling subjects about Canada; save one. There was no mention of the black experience, African Canadians, or about any sort of black legacy located in what Canada's National Anthem and Canada's current Prime Minister, Stephen Harper refer to as: "The True North Strong and Free."
While in Europe, I was asked by some people I met: "Where do you live?" "Canada," I would respond. This provoked both surprise in their eyes and further discussions with me. In sum, they were politely asking: "How could you, a black-skinned person be living in Canada? If this was true, their gestures indicated, we would have heard of your people’s existence there."
But even as the twenty-first century is in its second decade many people around the world know little if anything about Canada's black population. Go south of New York city as I did when I took my exhibition, Many Rivers To Cross: The African-Canadian Experience to Macon, Georgia, and you discover like me, talking about Canada's black historical experience elicits a "huh?!" as in disbelief, when Americans hear of black people living in Canada since the early 1600s.
But, yes, as has been discussed before people of African descent have a longstanding legacy in a country that has not been as welcoming to them as many members of its so-called majority population have been to others. Their numbers increased with postwar immigration, particularly after 1960 with anxious arrivals from the Caribbean and South America. The African presence was further expanded with significant numbers of East and West Africans after 1980, and soon greater numbers from Central and South America followed.
As this is being written the short 2011 census form has been distributed. Yet with each census taking no one has been able to really determine how many people who identify themselves as black or Africans and have dark skin or an African heritage reside in Canada. Their numbers have always been a point of contention which unfortunately will not be resolved here. But theirs is a presence especially, in Nova Scotia, parts of Quebec and Ontario, to a lesser degree elsewhere in Canada that is observable to anyone whose eyes are open.
So if you didn’t know before and your eyes are directed to the words here you are now aware that there are black-skinned people in Canada and the size and make-up of this population is varied in terms of its continental African and diasporic compositions. The late 19th-century Canada Census figures recorded far less than 30,000 persons of African descent. At present that figure depending on who is doing the consolidation of the many statistical components, and, taking into consideration all of the nuanced factors, black Canada may have around 800,000 persons. Other estimates claim somewhere closer to 1,000,000 persons out of Canada's total population of 33,000,000 plus individuals.
Suffice it to say that this population is significant enough, and in the under 30 age category is sizeable too going forward to have an impact in the coming years on Canada's social and public policies. Yet given policy-makers and politicians’ attitudes to people of African descent, one would think they matter little. There are many cases-in-point to underscore this behaviour, but the example to be used here is how black children are neglectfully treated in various education systems in Canada. The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) is an example that has become part of the popular discussion on the subject. To the extent that this is true has had the Board take some nominal remedial actions by implementing specific strategies to address the disturbing gap between expectations and outcomes of many of its black learners.
Admittedly, within Canada's federal political system, jurisdictional responsibility for education is a provincial mandate. Education however impinges on both quality of life variables and the future direction of any given society. The criminal justice system, safety and security and business enterprise are all affected by the educational standards of a country’s population. The old BNA Act (1867) makes clear that the Government of Canada is responsible for “peace, order and good government.” So it is unfortunate that the current conservative government in Ottawa under the leadership of Stephen Harper has decided to be front and center in its neglectful lack of support for programs that would help to improve the educational standards of black learners in Toronto for example.
In the 2011 election the Prime Minister of Canada did all he could to avoid discussing effective social programs that would address his government’s shortcomings. His coded comments had less to do with tangible plans and strategies for disadvantaged youth, and more to do with appealing to his ultra right base of support by promising more prisons. This neglect of black and other disadvantaged youth is discernible not just at the federal level, but the provincial and municipals levels too. However, when youth are not effectively educated everyone pays the price. Which begs the question: Why are what appears on the surface to be a growing number of youth and young adults of African descent being marginalized in some urban areas of Canada? Simply put, it is as a consequence of the failure of the communities they identify with to coalesce into effective political and economic forces that cannot be ignored.
So the solution being put forward by the decision-makers in Ontario for these miseducated black and other disadvantaged youth is to LOCK THEM UP in the criminal “justice” system? In other words, increasing numbers of these youth and young adults find their way to prison, and insufficient numbers of them are making the grade in school. It is ironic that governments at all levels of Canada’s political system in partnership with the country’s business and commercial elites would rather import high priced workers than train young people born and bred in Canada to take their rightful place in the existing trades and professions.
What does making the grade mean? The writer means, a high percentage of black youth are early school leavers; many of them drop out at or before grade 10. And for those who continue beyond this point, they are still not achieving educational outcomes that would identify Ontario’s education system as a fair and equitable institution. The TDSB with more than 420 schools under its jurisdiction would argue differently. Its administrators could boldly claim many black learners while they are not overachievers do make it to the point of graduation.
In Ontario they make it to grade 12 and can or do graduate. But making it in this sense is seen as achieving an average of just beyond 50%. So in a world with a global reach, one that is highly competitive and results driven 51% in the eyes of education administrators is making the grade. Schools in Toronto serve as a warehouse for many black learners. Once they have dropped out or completed school, the criminal justice system takes over and growing numbers of them rot in prisons for petty crimes.
Accepting lower passing grades as a sign that it is doing its job for so many black students mean the TDSB is wrong in its approach to them. For in Ontario, students are unlikely to receive a beckoning call from postsecondary institutions unless their final marks conservatively speaking are in the high 70% or more. To receive even a partial scholarship, a student needs to have better than 85%. This is so even in cases where these scholarships are dispensed by organizations in communities where the demand is greater and resources are scarcer.
Neglect of black learners in Canada is almost as old as the country’s history. The impact of Supreme Court decision Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896) is well known as far as sanctioning race-tainted institutions including schools as part of the separate but equal doctrine in existence in the US until 1964. Not known is Hill vs. Camden School Zone which had the same impact in Ontario in the mid-18th-century and into the 20th-century. Again, many black learners in Toronto as elsewhere are discovering a two-tiered education system; one for other students and one for them that is poorly administered with little or no expectations and lower investment in their educational growth and citizenship development.
The institutional neglect of black learners is part of an overall attitude held by many Canadians in positions of authority and influence. African Canadians in their minds are a bothersome lot. Thus from the Prime Minister of Canada on down subtle signals indicate: in order to keep the dust settled, while making sure that nothing is done to help them be darned sure nothing is done to outwardly disturb them. Such an employed methodology allows for these neglectful and injurious policies toward Canada’s African Canadian population to remain bundled in the age-old claim that there is no prejudice and racism in Canada.
African Canadians owe it to themselves, their legacy and their children’s future in Canada to raise their voices in protest. This is especially important since the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982) makes no exceptions in guaranteeing equal protections for all Canadians. And what is being done to people of African descent in Canada should merit a constitutional review via a series of court challenges.
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