Guelph Black Heritage Society celebrates Emancipation Day

The Guelph Black Heritage Society (GBHS) celebrated its first Emancipation Day at Heritage Hall on Sunday after members of Parliament voted unanimously on March 24 to designate Aug. 1 as Emancipation Day. 

The day marks the passage of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 by the British parliament. The act was passed on Aug. 1, 1834, and marked the end of slavery in British territories.

For the GBHS, it was important to include key elements that are symbolic to the Black community in times of celebrations such as dance, music and food. It was also an opportunity for members of the Black community to share joy, spread community love and for allies to be present. 

"This is our day to celebrate and our day to embrace what freedom can look like, what our dream can look like 30 years, 40 years from now," said Kween, executive director and social justice initiatives coordinator at GBHS.

The celebration recognized the work that's been collectively done over the years and honoured the Pan-African flag that was raised in the city's downtown on Friday. 

"We wanted to take this time to honour this moment, to reflect [and] to remember all the work that we've done in this past year," said Kween. 

"Not just our ancestors but the ones currently doing the work, all our youth who have been pushing and advocating well at such a young age."

'It is definitely long overdue'

Kween said the day is significant for Black Canadians and "it is definitely long overdue."

"We have folks like Rosemary Sadlier, Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard who have been advocating the government for 30 plus years trying to get this acknowledgement," Kween said.

Thomas Bernaid, a Canadian senator from Nova Scotia, said in a tweet that she is grateful for the community activists who fought for the federal recognition of Emancipation Day for decades. 

Others at the Guelph event also recognized the work of Sadlier, a social justice advocate, author and past president of the Ontario Black History Society. Sadlier's been working since 1995 to have Emancipation Day declared across Canada as a way to enable more discussions about slavery and the legacy of slavery.  

Similar to Kween, Waterloo region educator Lorraine Harris said it's overdue, but it's also timely considering the massive movement of Black Lives Matter around the world following the killing of George Floyd. 

"It is timely, considering all of the things we have been experiencing in social media," said Harris. 

"The awareness worldwide of the unfair practices that have been going on with Black people for hundreds of years."

The fight for freedom continues

Despite the recognition of slavery in Canada, Kween said the fight for justice continues because more change needs to take place in communities that are subordinate to racism and injustices. 

"This fight for freedom is still continuing, there has been no acknowledgement of the genocides that have happened in Canada towards the Indigenous community," she said.

"There's still racism that continues to happen daily whether that be in the Black community, or whether that be with many of my community members from Muslim [communities], to our Palestine community, Asian community."

As part of that change, Harris said the development of her locally developed Black curriculum, My Place In This World: A Black Heritage Curriculum, with the support of the GBHS, is part of the change many are seeking. 

"People don't want to see lip service anymore. It's great we have this day but people want to see action," she said. 

Kween said it is an obligation to use Emancipation Day as a day to reflect, educate, engage and listen to the stories and histories of the ways enslavement has impacted the Black community and others. 

"There's history that has to be honoured that has been overlooked for centuries in Canada, and we must take action to continue this fight," she said. 

"It doesn't just end here."