Black migrations to Sierra Leone recognized as event of national historic significance

Black Migrations to Sierra Leone has been recognized as an event of national historic significance under Parks Canada’s National Program of Historical Commemoration.

Arielle Kayabaga

In announcing the decision, Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment said “Recognizing the national historic significance of the Black Migrations to Sierra Leone acknowledges the frustrations of the Black Loyalists and Jamaican Maroons after facing an inhospitable reception in the Maritimes. The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring that we have opportunities to learn about the full scope of our history, including the tragic and shameful periods that are part of our collective past. Commemoration is about recognizing the many diverse aspects of our history and committing to do better in the future.”

The migrations of Black Loyalists and Jamaican Maroons to Sierra Leone exemplified the frustrations and disillusionment of self-emancipated and free people of African descent in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The first to leave in 1792 were 1,196 formerly enslaved people of African descent who settled in Nova Scotia after supporting Britain during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). More than 500 Jamaican Maroons, who had been exiled to Nova Scotia after the second and final Maroon War, followed the Black Loyalists to Sierra Leone in 1800.

Both groups endured hardships and discrimination while in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick including unequal treatment under the law and constant threats of mob violence and (re-)enslavement. Many of the Black Loyalists had been promised farmland that they never received, forcing them into exploitative wage labour, sharecropping, or indentured servitude. The Jamaican Maroons faced significant pressures to abandon traditional Akan social, spiritual, and cultural practices, and undertake hard physical labour on building projects and farms. Ultimately, their rejection of long-term settlement had a lasting impact on diasporic African communities in the Maritimes, not least by significantly reducing the number of free people of African descent in the colonies.

Afua Cooper

Afua Cooper of Dalhousie University underlined the importance of designation, said, “This designation honours the memory of those ancestors who made the momentous journeys, and is truly a milestone in the history of Canada, Sierra Leone, and the Black Atlantic. It recognizes the vision, steadfastness, and courage of the Black Loyalists and Maroons to carve out for themselves spaces of freedom and self-actualization.”

Approximately 3,500 Black Loyalists were evacuated to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick after the American Revolutionary War. This represented the largest influx of self-emancipated and free people of African descent those British colonies had ever experienced.

While most of the Jamaican Maroons left Nova Scotia for Sierra Leone in 1800, it is widely believed that a few individuals stayed behind. Their continued presence is suggested by the surnames, accents, idioms, customs, oral histories, and traditions of African Nova Scotians.

Arielle Kayabaga, MP London West, added, “The designation of the Black Migrations to Sierra Leone as an event of national historic significance allows us time to reflect on some of the injustices that have been experienced by Black people in Canada but also their unwavering strength and endurance. I encourage everyone to learn more about this designation and its important place in the history of Canada.” and Chair of the Black Caucus.