�����


In the eight years that followed the Black Loyalist settlement in Lower Canada, the communities suffered...harsh climactic conditions, soil unsuitable for cultivation, high unemploment, and unfair treatment from authorities...were some of the hardships endured.

Either Black Loyalists were located in exclusivly Black settlements with farms too small to ensure self-support, or they were scattered as landless members of the white Loyalist settlements. Many Blacks were able to work as day workers for Whites. In desperation their employers easily exploited the Blacks. Wage rates for blacks averaged one-quarter of what was acceptable for Whites. Shelburne saw the violent outcome of this system as it became the location of the first race riot in North America as disbanded white soldiers drove Blacks out of their homes in order to secure employment for themselves.

When the Sierra Leone Company entered the scene in 1791, it is unsurprising that Nova Scotia and New Brunswick saw the exodus of almost half of the Black Loyalist community. The British formed company offered blacks more land, and a chance to establish their own governing policies in the West African country. Dissatisfied with the Canadian Government's failure to provide land, support, and equality amongst the races, 1,200 Blacks boarded ships for Sierra Leone. The Black Loyalists who stayed in British North America, numbered approximately 2,500. Economically , the Black Community's position showed improvement within the decade. Many Blacks completed their indenture terms and more Blacks working as apprentices began to qualify for trades. By 1812, employers could not find enough Blacks to fill available work and wadges rose accordingly. During the war of 1812, Blacks volunteered in militia and formed three seperate Black Corps. The Black Loyalists, although still a disadvantaged class, were watching as slavery and racial distinctions were begining to erode and economic advance was in sight.

History Society