It's time for Canada to apologize for slavery, says N.S. senator
CBC
In every speech Nova Scotia Sen. Wanda Thomas Bernard makes for Emancipation Day this year, she'll ask the same question: what's next?
It's a question she's posing to federal and provincial governments, as well as individual Canadians, as the country marks the day slavery was abolished in the British Empire.
Federal politicians voted unanimously last year to recognize Aug. 1 as Emancipation Day in Canada. It was on that day in 1834 that the Slavery Abolition Act came into effect, freeing about 800,000 enslaved people in most British colonies.
But recognizing the day nationally was only a first step, Thomas Bernard said. This year, she's renewing calls for an apology for the intergenerational harms of slavery and for reparations.
"The apology for the historic harm is really, really important and it also would signal to African Canadians a recognition that our presence and our contributions and the harms that we've experienced over the years, that there's some ownership … there's some responsibility taken for that," she told CBC Radio's Mainstreet this week.
Listen to Sen. Wanda Thomas Bernard's full interview:
In July, the federal government apologized to the descendants of the No. 2 Construction Battalion for the systemic anti-Black racism they faced during the First World War.
Thomas Bernard spoke at the historic event in Truro about the history of slavery, and how after it was officially abolished, "anti-Black racism took root" in this country.
She said the lack of an official apology for slavery is among the Canadian government's "unfinished business."
"There was very clearly a signal there that more apologies are due and more reparations are due, and that's the next step of this journey," she said.
Mary Desmond, a municipal councillor in Guysborough County, hopes the second Emancipation Day is a chance for Nova Scotians to deepen their understanding of the history of slavery, and its lasting legacy.
The municipality is hosting six days of events this year, from emancipation-themed bingo to a gospel concert and a seniors' tea.
Listen to Mary Desmond's full interview:
Desmond said she was shocked to learn that there was a whipping post in the town, and an auction block where enslaved people were sold.