Why do Canadians ignore their slave past?

Question

I constantly hear Canadians talk about how tolerant, accepting, and diverse their nation is. I've seen many cases where Canadians say that Canada is so much greater than the US because they do not have a history of slavery. Why do Canadians not teach their history of slavery that ended just a few years before it did in the US? Why are Canadians so ignorant to the fact that part of Canada had slaves just like part of the US did? I know, Canadians will say they had less slaves than America...well, your population is like 1/10th of the US, so that makes sense. Why can't you guys just be honest with your own history instead of denying it ever existed and constantly bashing the US to make your own country look important? It's getting pretty sad.

Answer 1

I don't think I have ever denied that Canadians owned slaves.  Why do you think the underground railroad came to Canada?

Answer 2

Actually, the British government abolished slavery in its colony of Canada in about 1817....not 'just a few years' before the U.S. The fact it was done voluntarily holds a much higher premium than the fact a war had to be fought to end slavery as in the U.S.

As it was still a colony of England...and not a sovereign state making its own decisions....the matter cannot be entirely linked to Canada alone. Again...unlike the U.S. which was a sovereign state since its war of independence. The war was finished some 45 years before Canada's slavery ended...and almost 100 years before the American civil war began.

Get you history straight.

Answer 3

The past is the past. Let it go and move on into today

Answer 4

Well, just as in the US, not all Canadians have manners, just as not all of them are so rude. Unfortunately, the world over is infested with ignorance. We as Canadians should be ashamed of our part in the slave trade. It was atrocious! I don't see it being swept under the rug though and I did take it in Maritime Studies in high school years ago. But I live in the Maritimes where the story of the blacks in Halifax is common knowledge, so I can't say it's like that the rest of the country. All we can do now is to make sure we take care of each other here and now.

We also have the Ukrainian concentration camps to be shamed of, the Acadian deportation, the Japanese internments, and our treatment of Aboriginals...

I'm still proud to be Canadian, not because of the injustice done or because I'm apathetic but because our system is a little more humane. It's easier to have things changed here, like legalizing marijuana and same-s*x marriages, for instance. And it's true, in this part of the country we don't lock our doors. I use my key when I go on vacation.

I think foreigners dislike Americans because, well let's face it, your foreign policies are really oppressive. I'm not 100% behind the decisions made by own government either, backing out of the Kyoto Prtocol and getting involve in Afghanistan were bad ideas in my opinion. I haven't travelled to the states extensively, just to the New England area, but it seems to me that the American government's code of behaviour doesn't reflect its citizens.

Just something to think about. Have a good day! ;)

Answer 5

Well, that's the first I've ever heard that there was slavery in Canada--mind you, every country in the world has had slavery, we just abolished it earlier than some, apparently, and we didn't have a civil war over it to get it done, either. It was almost 200 years ago, maybe it just isn't an issue any more. Sheesh. Maybe we're ignorant of it because it was abolished and done with and has created no fallout like it has in the US, which fallout is still very much around.

Answer 6

Um how come the Americans Bash  Canadians? They Burned our flag once on the news

Answer 7

Canadians bash the US for many things... most of them valid.  However, I've never heard or seen a Canadian bashing the US for slavery that ended almost 150 years ago.

There are plenty of current problems with the US for Canadians to bash us for rather than having to dig up something over a century old.

Answer 8

why does it bother you so much? dont you think your own country is in enough sh+t right now to be worrying about canadian slaves?

Answer 9

Well canadians have gotten over slavery !!

HAve you heard of the undergrounf railway .?/? read up on that

In canada its not a black and white issue as it is in the states!

it is not a shock to see inter racial couples no one blinks an eye here ! you had segregated schools and buis laws that was never in Canada .YOur schools even today people group themselves in racial groups your prisons are even like that .

we never had signs that said white water drinking fountains or blacks drink at another fountain or blacks must be at the back of the bus or ding dong protestting black children in schools

I have travelled and lived in both places.In the states today you have all black neighbourhoods get lost and even the police wonder what you are doing in the wrong neighbourhood and pull you over !!!