Emancipation Day

On Emancipation Day, people around the world gather to recognize the incredible courage, determination, and resilience of Black communities who fought – and continue to fight – for freedom and justice.

The enslavement of people of African descent, who were stripped of their basic human rights, remains a dark chapter in Canadian history. On this day in 1834, the Slavery Abolition Act came into effect across the British Empire and laid a pathway to the liberation of over 800,000 enslaved Africans and their descendants in parts of the Caribbean, Africa, South America, and Canada.