441-02393 (Social affairs and equality)

We the undersigned residents of Canada, draw the attention of the Government of Canada to the following:

Whereas:

• African Canadians are owed an apology for over 200 years of chattel enslavement in Canada;
• It is right and just that a genuine apology be given for grievous wrongs and the pursuant racist legacy committed and condoned by successive Canadian Governments;
• Whether the Canadian Governments role was intended, implicit or indifferent, a racist legacy ensued; the Canadian Government must take responsibility for their role in Chattel enslavement and its racist legacy;
• Chattel Enslavement was initiated over 400 years ago to assemble a cheap, ready, usable work force who were dehumanized, dispersed globally and used as the low cost machinery of the day;
• African peoples were targeted to be used in this ugly capacity, because of their abundance and skills, but most specifically because of the colour of their skin, which forestalled escaping and blending into neighboring communities;
• The linguistic skills of a free Black man, Mathieu DaCosta, opened North America for colonization by the French in 1605;
• In Colonial Canada, the 'Code Noir', a 1743 ordinance decreed by King Louis XIV, stipulated that both Indigenous and Black slaves brought to the French colony would be considered the possession of those who purchased them;
• Great Britain continued to condone and practice chattel enslavement after defeating the French at the Plains of Abraham in 1759;
• Post the Slavery Abolition Act, 1834, The Dominion of Canada, created 1867, continued systemic racism developed during slavery, perpetuating and practicing discriminatory beliefs in society, institutions, organizations and legislations effectively treating Blacks as marginalized inferiors;
• Black Canadians social, political, cultural and economic contributions to the progress of this country deserve to be acknowledged, embraced, genuinely respected, and dignified, appropriately redressed and celebrated; and
• Indigenous peoples, Chinese, Italians, Japanese and Jewish people have received official apologies and compensation, but Blacks request for an apology and redress is sidelined/trivialized.

Therefore, your petitioners (those who are impacted by these circumstances, or who are relatives, friends, or neighbours of those impacted by these circumstances) call upon the Government of Canada to:

• Apologize for its role in Chattel Enslavement in Canada;
• Address the generational disadvantageous effects of enslavement and its systemic racist legacy;
• Commit to undertaking inputs for judicial, educational, fiscal and cultural equity, with Black Canadian collaboration, so that they can take part in "The Canadian Dream" equitably; and
• Officially recognize pre-abolition act Pioneering African Canadians as a distinct culture in Canada.