海角大神

With charges of racism raining down on the British monarchy after Oprah Winfrey鈥檚 interview with Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, Canada鈥檚 relationship to the crown 鈥� and its own legacy of racism 鈥� swiftly came under the microscope, too.

In one Canadian television news segment wrestling with the implications for a Commonwealth country, a panelist fell back on one of the more common refrains when it comes to Canada鈥檚 history with slavery: its role as the destination of the Underground Railroad for enslaved people in the United States.

But that only tells the nice part of the story, says Charmaine Nelson, Canada Research Chair in transatlantic Black diasporic art and community engagement at NSCAD University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

She says Canada has essentially erased the 200 years of slavery that came before 1834, when the British Empire abolished slavery across its territories. That鈥檚 the driving force behind the university鈥檚 new Institute for the Study of Canadian Slavery, where she is founding director.

鈥淲e constantly teach the part of slavery that makes us look and feel good, that positions us as benevolent abolitionists,鈥� says Dr. Nelson. But that deficit of knowledge has implications for the way race relations are understood, policy is penned, and justice protests are perceived. 鈥淚t fits with this false narrative that we鈥檙e multicultural, we鈥檙e race-blind, we鈥檙e colorblind, we have no racism.鈥�

It鈥檚 not that the history of slavery here is hidden; it just hasn鈥檛 been robustly told. Protests against streets or institutions bearing slave owners鈥� names have grown over the years, and after a long push by advocates, the House of Commons voted unanimously Wednesday to recognize Emancipation Day on Aug. 1.

鈥淐anadian folklore鈥�

But Erica Ifill, a columnist for Ottawa newspaper The Hill Times and podcaster in Canada, says mainstream society has preferred to reduce the topic to the 30-some years that Canada was a safe haven from the southern U.S. The inequities the pandemic has exposed between races, however, and the Black Lives Matter protests that a locked-down world watched last summer, have placed a limit on the tolerance for this kind of 鈥淐anadian folklore,鈥� as she calls it.

Ms. Ifill was one of the guests on the CTV 鈥淧ower Play鈥� show addressing the revelations shared by Harry and Meghan that someone within the monarchy questioned how dark their yet-to-be-born son鈥檚 skin tone would be.

She was joined by David Onley, the former lieutenant governor of Ontario, who turned the discussion toward the 鈥渞ich history鈥� of Ontario, formerly Upper Canada, when it came to聽taking the first legislative steps to free enslaved individuals. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why the people from the southern United States with the Underground Railroad, that鈥檚 why they moved to the north.鈥�

Ms. Ifill called him out for 鈥渃herry picking鈥� history, at a time when colonial powers were stealing land from Indigenous people and life was hardly easy for those of African descent here.

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 pick and choose which parts you like,鈥� she says.

Most of what Canadians 鈥� and the world 鈥� know of transatlantic slavery is about tropical plantations, through movies like 鈥淒jango Unchained,鈥� 鈥�12 Years a Slave,鈥� or 鈥淟incoln,鈥� says Dr. Nelson. There is no film on Canadian slavery. Academics don鈥檛 even have an estimate of the size of the enslaved population brought to the French and English colonies that spanned from what is now Ontario to the eastern coast.

Dr. Nelson hopes that through the new institute鈥檚 work, the world will begin to understand slavery of temperate climates 鈥� how enslaved people adorned themselves or how they lived, for example. That鈥檚 why the institute is working out of NSCAD University (formerly Nova Scotia College of Art and Design), she says: so that the work they produce 鈥� academic research, and arts and popular visual culture 鈥� might reach a bigger audience.

The institute, whose construction has been delayed because of the pandemic, will include space for visiting scholars, a screening room where films will be discussed and conferences held, and a reference library. They hope to invite their first visiting fellows for the upcoming academic year, including two graduate students and two artists-in-residence. It鈥檚 touted as the first of its kind.

A more urban slavery

The site of Nova Scotia is key to understanding northern slavery, says Yvonne Brown, who works at Saint Mary鈥檚 University in the department of social justice and community studies. Maritime Canada was central to trading slave-produced commodities such as sugar, molasses, and rum in exchange for salted and canned fish, and lumber from the area enabled the shipbuilding and lumbering industry that facilitated enormous imperial international trade, she says.

In Canada, the number of enslaved people would have been much smaller because agriculture is not year-round. But that means they would have lived inside slave-owner homes, instead of distinct slave quarters, leading to less autonomy and more surveillance. Slavery here was more urban, and enslaved people stood out more. That slave numbers were smaller has fed into notions that slavery was gentler than in the U.S., Dr. Nelson says, a current that runs through U.S.-Canadian comparative history.

She says in nearly two decades teaching the visual culture of slavery, only one student of hers raised a hand when asked whether they knew that there was slavery in Canada. Plenty of them, however, are aware of America鈥檚 history of slavery and how that affects race relations in the U.S. through the present.

鈥淲e dichotomize ourselves with the U.S.; we blame all colonial baggage of North America on Americans, or say, 鈥楧on鈥檛 import the racism of America.鈥� No, no, no, this is homegrown racism,鈥� she says. 鈥淔or me, the reason this institute is so important is there鈥檚 almost no racial injustice that happens today that you can鈥檛 draw a line straight back to slavery.鈥�

She connects the hyper-surveillance of enslaved people in Canadian households more than 200 years ago to the hyper-surveillance of Black Canadians by the police, to name one example.

And she says it鈥檚 time that more Canadians start making those same connections.