You're probably aware that February is Black History Month, a recognition of both the contributions of Black persons to every aspect of society, and the historic and current inequalities and wrongs perpetrated against the Black community, including by religious institutions. Traditionally Canadians have been rather smug about being different than our American neighbours on issues of race, citing Canada as the terminus for the Underground Railway and home to a number of free Black settlements. In recent years we've come to realize that our assumptions of superiority are simply false.The month has been recognized in Canada since 1996.
The United Church of Canada is committed to honouring Black History Month, or African Heritage month as it's also known. Again this year links to resources have been shared and the link is below. I was aware that slavery existed in parts of Upper Canada (including Ontario) but not so close to home. I did some research after looking at the link and discovered this in the Canadian Encyclopedia:
Although the practice of enslavement had decreased considerably by the 1820s, it remained legal in British North America. The children born in 1793, when the Act to Limit Slavery in Upper Canada took effect, turned 25 by 1818. Therefore, they were no longer slave property and their children were born free. However, a very small number of Black people — less than 50 — remained in bondage. In March 1824, in one of the last recorded sales of a slave in Upper Canada, Eli Keeler of Colborne sold 15-year-old Tom to William Bell in Thurlow (now Belleville). In his 1871 obituary, John Baker was recognized as the last surviving enslaved Black person born in Canada.
Belleville is where we have lived for nearly nine years and where I served my final congregation in ministry. Bridge St. Church, which was Methodist until United Church Union in 1925, is an impressive stone building in the heart of the city and traditionally a Protestant home to "movers and shakers" in the town, people of influence and wealth -- it's still living down that reputation. In 2015 the congregation celebrated it's 200th anniversary and as I now do the math I wonder if some of those early members, who certainly employed servants, were also slave owners
Captain John Meyers,one of the United Empire Loyalists who left the United States for Canada, has been a celebrated historical figure in this community. There is a plaque in his honour along the Moira River which we have cycled past on many occasions and which doesn't mention that he was once a slave owner. During our time here in Belleville there have been objections to the renaming of a high school after Meyers because of this, and requests to remove his name from other sites. I only recently discovered that UEL people were given special dispension to bring slaves with them to Canada despite the Act to Limit Slavery.
While Meyers did free his slaves before his death, its still a shameful and hopefully now instructive part of our history. It certainly didn't occur to us to explore this possibility in congregational history in 2015, and perhaps nothing would have come from it if we had. We do know that Bridge St. was involved in the Grape Island mission established for Indigenous people which had overtones of colonialism and we recognized this during the anniversary year.
We continue to learn about our past, including those aspects for which we need to repent. Honesty is essential for the community of Christ, even when it reveals a painful past.
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