With dark skin, plump lips, and thick 3C hair, I fit the description of a Black person. Yet after moving to Quebec from the Caribbean at the age of 8, I lost my Jamaican accent, and with that, my Jamaican identity was replaced by a Canadian one. Living beside the St. Lawrence River, my school trips were mostly visiting historical landmarks of New France such as the Plains of Abraham, the Samuel de Champlain monument, and Le Château Frontenac. As a child, I loved Canadian history. I still do. In hindsight, elementary history glossed over a few crucial details; but I knew it well, more so than the history of my country of birth. 

However, that history was nothing but propaganda: that Canada was peaceful, far more noble than its brutal and cruel neighbour. 

When it came to Black history, most of it was “borrowed” by American history. Events such as slavery, had an American focus, demonizing the actions of the South. Any mention of Canada mostly surrounded the Underground Railroad and how Canada became the “North Star,” the “Land of the Free.” Through my elementary lessons, there seemed to be a whitewashing of the fact that Canada enslaved about 1,443 Africans between 1650-1831 and traded timber and fish for tobacco and sugar. I learned that Canada had no ‘Cash Crops’ such as tobacco, sugar or cotton, so there was no need for implementing a plantation economy; as a result, slavery didn’t become as prominent. But it did happen in Canada. Even after abolition, Black people were still treated less than through segregated education, and labor exploitation.

I can list several Black American historical figures such as Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks. Yet the only Black Canadians in history I know, I don’t even know by name. The “Black Loyalists” were former slaves who managed to escape to Nova Scotia and were loyal to the British Crown. The phrase has been burned into memory after my drama teacher asked me to be the Black Loyalist in a play because I was the only Black kid. 

One would assume when moving to a diverse place such as the GTA, the diversity would be reflected in the history that is taught in school. At first the only difference between my elementary school in Quebec and my middle school in Ontario was simply language. In high school, I learned more about slavery, looking more into the darker elements. But at the same time, it was refreshing to see a mention of the first successful slave revolt in history — Haiti, my heritage shown in a more positive light. However, there were only brief mentions to Black history, so brief that it didn’t stick. Instead, my grade 11 experience was dominated by Indigenous studies. Because of a new policy that was introduced at the time, Toronto school boards encouraged the “proper education” of Indigenous history. This was important as it corrected many of the gaps and assumptions I had about Indigenous peoples. But when it came to Black history, all I can remember is simply a mural of Martin Luther King Jr. — which stood abandoned at our school’s entrance for the rest of the semester. 

Of course, if I had lived in Black dominated communities, I probably would have learned more about Black Canadian history, legends, figures, and lore. From what I was exposed to in the mostly-white French and English educational system, it is shameful that there hasn’t been a bigger push to teach this history in the mainstream. If I, a Black person, had such rudimentary knowledge, imagine what white Canadians know. Only now in university have I been given the opportunity to interact with other Black students as a member of the Black Student Experience Work Group at Innis College and take courses that are specific to the Black experience.

My experience is not unique. According to the Toronto Star, it is clear that Canadians are simply not taught this. It would not be until Pierre Elilot Trudeau, who encouraged diversity and multiculturalism within his policies, that things changed. After 1971, stories about Black people entering white spaces filled the news cycle, giving the false impression that Canada, being diverse, is not racist. It’s about time Canada gets off its high horse and recognizes that they are, in fact, not better than the US when it comes to revealing the truth about its Black history. Only through recognition can we expect changes in our educational system.