page_title: United Empire Loyalist
section_title: Slavery
hierarchical_section_title: United Empire Loyalist / History / Resettlement / Slavery
caption_attribution_description: English: An Act to Prevent the further Introduction of Slaves and to limit the Term of Contracts for Servitude within this Province
context_page_description: United Empire Loyalists is an honorific which was first given by the 1st Lord Dorchester, the Governor of Quebec, and Governor-General of the Canadas, to American Loyalists who resettled in British North America during or after the American Revolution. At the time, the demonym Canadian or Canadien was used to refer to the indigenous First Nations groups and the French settlers inhabiting the Province of Quebec.
  They settled primarily in Nova Scotia and the Lower Canada. The influx of loyalist settlers resulted in the creation of several new colonies. In 1784, New Brunswick was partitioned from the Colony of Nova Scotia after significant loyalist resettlement around the Bay of Fundy. The influx of loyalist refugees also resulted in the Province of Quebec's division into Lower Canada, and Upper Canada in 1791. The Crown gave them land grants of one lot. One lot consisted of 200 acres per person to encourage their resettlement, as the Government wanted to develop the frontier of Upper Canada. This resettlement added many English speakers to the Canadian population.
context_section_description: Slave-owning Loyalists from across the former Thirteen Colonies brought their slaves with them to Canada, as the practice was still legal there. They took a total of about 2,000 slaves to British North America: 500 in Upper Canada (Ontario), 300 in Lower Canada (Quebec), and 1,200 in the Maritime colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The presence and condition of slaves in the Maritimes would become a particular issue. They constituted a larger portion of the population, but it was not an area of plantation agriculture.
  The settlers eventually freed many of these slaves. Together with the free Black Loyalists, many chose to go to Sierra Leone in 1792 and following years, seeking a chance for self-government. Meanwhile, Britain passed an imperial law in 1790 that assured prospective immigrants to Canada that they could retain their slaves as property. In 1793, an anti-slavery law was passed, in the 1st Parliament of Upper Canada. The Act Against Slavery banned the importation of slaves into the colony, and mandated the emancipation of all children born henceforth to female slaves upon reaching the age of 25. The Act was partially introduced due to the influx of the number of slaves brought by Loyalist refugees to Upper Canada. The slave trade was abolished across the British Empire in 1807. The institution of slavery was abolished Empire-wide by 1834 (except in India, where it was considered an indigenous institution).
caption: The Act Against Slavery, 1793, an anti-slavery act passed in Upper Canada. The Act was created partially in response to Loyalist refugees who brought slaves with them.
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