The migrations exemplify the hardships many Black Loyalists and Jamaican Maroons faced in the Maritimes
June 14, 2023 Gatineau, Quebec Parks Canada
National historic designations encourage us to acknowledge both the triumphs and the struggles that helped define Canada, and help us reflect on how to build a more inclusive society for present and future generations.
Today, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, announced the designation of the Black Migrations to Sierra Leone as an event of national historic significance under Parks Canada's National Program of Historical Commemoration.
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.
The Government of Canada, through the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, recognizes significant persons, places, and events that have shaped Canada. Sharing these stories helps foster understanding and reflection on the diverse histories, cultures, legacies, and realities of Canada's past and present.
