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CA-K162History

Upper Canada’s 1793 Act against slavery

The statue of John Graves Simcoe at Queen’s Park, Toronto, photographed in 2008.
The statue of John Graves Simcoe at Queen’s Park, Toronto, photographed in 2008. John Graves Simcoe statue at Queens Park · User:Saforrest · Photo source · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 3.0. Resized for display; item previews may be cropped. The image remains under the licence shown.
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Upper Canada’s 1793 Act against slavery, passed under Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe, prohibited the importation of enslaved people. It did not free people already enslaved, but provided that children subsequently born to enslaved mothers would become free at age 25. Slavery in Upper Canada ended in 1834.

Scope & context

The 1793 Act and its limits, not the full history of enslavement of Black and Indigenous people in Canada.

Sources behind this record

1