Before anything I just want to say I am a Canadian (immigrated from India as a child). I’m not Black, and not American.
But Juneteenth is a fascinating and wonderful day to exist. So I wrote this to remind my fellow Canadians that just because Black slavery was officially abolished that day in USA, that didn’t mean our history is squeaky clean on the subject.
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So today is June 19th. Juneteenth, also known as Juneteenth National Independence Day. It is a federal holiday in the USA and in fact many of my American friends have the day off (enjoy y’all).
A quick recap for my fellow non-Americans, the reason for this holiday is to commemorate the “official” end of slavery in the United states, when Major General Gordon Granger gave the order for the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas (June 19th, 1865). This marked the end of the American Civil War.
Today, the holiday is a day of festivities and remembrance. Mitch Kachun, a famed historian, defined 3 goals for celebration of Juneteenth: to celebrate, to educate, and to agitate (Kachun, 2006; Hume & Arceneaux, 2008).
To celebrate: often including barbecue, athletic games, dancing, music, drinking, parades, baseball games, rodeo, etc.
To educate: learning about the African-American experience. This often includes reading the original proclamation by General Granger.
To agitate: seeking attention or legal action for some cause that might benefit African-Americans — this includes raising awareness for the issue of slavery reparations
Now there is certainly more that could be discussed about Juneteenth but as neither an American nor a Black person, I feel like this is where my commentary should stop. However, I live in Canada and I’m constantly aware of the fact that Canadian history is not perfect. So I’m going to try and contribute to goal 2 of Juneteenth, with a Canadian spin on the subject.
(I've put the remaining under a read more because it's long, but at the end there are references for everything. I really recommend you read the entirety of Cooper's "The enslavement of Africans in Canada" because it is chilling to see how much Canadian history was erased from our textbooks)
The first reported Black slave in Canada (British North America at the time, BNA) was named Olivier Le Jeune. No, to be specific, following the kidnapping of a 9-year old boy from Madagascar and his enslavement, he was forcibly converted to Catholicism, baptized and given this name. We don’t have documents of his original name. This occurred in 1629 (Cooper, 2022). Slavery became the predominant role for African Canadians between 1629-1834. Comparatively, in the USA (and also during its role in the BNA), slavery was practiced form 1526 - 1865.
In Canada, part of our history lessons as children, we’re taught that southern USA was pro-slavery, northern USA was mostly anti-slavery, and that Canada was the free land. That many of the slaves who escaped from the south would eventually make their way to Canada to be considered free men and women.
But we still had slaves. And in fact, both the French and British colonial regimes legalized slavery and fully gave enslavers property rights in and over Black bodies. “A central component of this arrangement is that the stolen person, the slave, becomes the property of the enslaver. As property, the enslaved is objectified and commodified, like a horse, piece of furniture, or livestock” (Cooper, 2022).
To note - certain regions of Canada (i.e., New France near the St. Lawrence colony) had slaves with more than 50% being Indigenous rather than Black. However, across the board, between 1760-1834, nearly 100% of the enslaved men, women, and children in Canada were Africans.
During the 18th century, more than 3.4 million captive Africans were brought to BNA by British slaving ships. In fact, the labour of these slaves gave so much power to the British that it made the empire the “most powerful and richest realm in modern history.”
And for the record, there are historians who will claim that the numbers of enslaved Black people were lower in Canada compared to Southern USA, Brazil, or the Caribbean but what is not accounted for is the fact that Canada’s economy at the time was built on trade and migration. The maritime colonies relied on the sugar trade from the West Indies, a major hub of enslaved Africans. So either directly, or indirectly, Canadian households were dependent on slavery.
In 1793, following the creation of Upper and Lower Canada (in 1971), Upper Canada introduced a statute law banning the “importation of new slaves into the colony.” This was specifically due to the valiant resistance of an enslaved woman, Chloe Cooley, who resisted her sale and travel to New York. The level of violence she caused against her enslaver caused the new governor of Upper Canada to want to protect his people and prevent the harm by new slaves. This did not lead to abolition and ending of slavery, but it began the process of it within Canada. In fact, children born to enslaved mothers after 1973 were eligible to receive their freedom at 25, and the subsequent children would be born free.
Chloe Cooley was also the reason for Upper Canada being eventually considered “free soil” and the later development of the Underground Railroad. Much would have been different without her sacrifice.
The Slavery Abolition Act, passed by the British Parliament on August 1st, 1833, was what ended Slavery formally in Canada. But similar to USA, that didn’t mean that Black Canadians were suddenly considered equivalent to White Canadians. Segregation was prevalent in the same way as it was down south.
Canadian confederation occurred on July 1st, 1867. The new Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald? Well he was had famously said that he did not desire Black immigrants in Canada. That the country was formed for the White man, with no Black immigration allowance for 100 years. In fact, in 1911, an order-in-council prohibited Black people from immigrating to the country based on the paltry excuse of “climatic unsuitability and inassimilability,” regardless of the fact that their people had been forced to adjust and assimilate to Canadian climate/culture for well over 200 years.
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Expanding the topic a little, it is important to consider the right of voting in Canada and the difficulty for women and BIPOC to vote historically. It is well known that in nearly all Western nations, the Women’s suffragist movement was required for women to be even considered people, let alone vote (timeline).
In Canada, certain British colonies had allowed women to vote for various reasons, including women with no criminal record being allowed to vote in 1792 in Lower Canada. But by 1834, the UK’s Imperial Reform Act had led to the restriction of the women’s vote on the basis of polling stations being “dangerous conditions.” By 1867, all 5 of the original signing provinces that led to Canadian confederation had banned women from voting.
Interestingly, when Black slaves were freed by the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833, they were considered British citizens and entitled to vote. Now obvious racial discrimination impeded their ability to exercise their right often, particularly for Black women who had to fight based on race and sex. in 1848, Black men in Colchester, Canada West (later Ontario), attempted to vote in the electiosn for the parish/township officers. They made up only a third of the town’s population but were physically blocked by the white men present (Henry-Dixon, 2016).
In 1872, Chinese Canadians were banned from voting in BC - prior to that they had made up a majority of the voters in some BC districts. It should be noted that the majority of Chinese immigrants during this period were hired as labourers for the Canadian Pacific Railway. To be specific, they were hired as cheap labourers (often paid less than 50% of their White counterparts). They were not given adequate housing or medical care. This mass entrance of Chinese immigrants to BC and the areas around the Trans-Canada railway, have resulted in the large Chinese communities in the country.
Returning to the vote, the Indian Act was passed on April 12th, 1876 as a way to eradicate Indigenous culture, force assimilation into the White-Euro-Canadian society, and required status Indians to voluntarily give up their status/treaty rights to vote. Regardless, Status Indian women were barred from the vote.
Japanese Canadians lost the right to vote in BC, in 1895.
In 1907, all “Hindus” referring to anyone originating from the Indian subcontinent were disenfranchised in BC.
It took years of Suffragist movement across the provinces before the first province, Manitoba, allowed women of British descent/citizenship, 21 years+ to vote. In 1916. Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Yukon, follow suit across the next few years.
In 1918, most Canadian women are allowed to vote in federal elections, however Indigenous women must give up their status/treaty rights to do so.
1929, Women were legally considered “persons” and could hold seats in the Canadian Senate.
1924 - Status Indians who were veterans of WWI were allowed to vote federally. 1931, Japanese Canadian veterans were given the same right (these were the first Japanese Canadians with the right to vote).
1947 - Chinese and South Asian Canadians gain the right to vote federally and provincially (ex: Indigenous and Japanese Canadians).
1988 - People with intellectual disabilities are granted the right to vote.
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Overall it takes until 1988 for every group of people in Canada to be allowed to vote. Some of us were alive when not everyone was allowed to vote in Canada. And to this day, BIPOC individuals face racial discrimination in the work place, in society, in the government, and online. So it is important we don’t erase Canadian history because the USA is so much louder about its story. We’re not “better” than them.
While Juneteenth is a day for Black Americans to celebrate, educate, and agitate, its also a day for the rest of us to let them celebrate, to learn, and to support the agitation.
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References:
1. Janice Hume & Noah Arceneaux (2008) Public Memory, Cultural Legacy, and Press Coverage of the Juneteenth Revival, Journalism History, 34:3, 155-162, DOI: 10.1080/00947679.2008.12062768
2. Stuckey, S. (2005). Mitch Kachun. Festivals of Freedom: Memory and Meaning in African American Emancipation Celebrations, 1808–1915. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. 2003. Pp. xi, 339.
3. Cooper, A. (2022). The enslavement of Africans in Canada. Canadian Historical Association with the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage, Government of Canada
4. The Enslavement of African people in Canada (c. 1629-1834) (https://www.canada.ca/en/parks-canada/news/2020/07/the-enslavement-of-african-people-in-canada-c-16291834.html)
“Nori-senpai - you’re fighting with us aren’t you?” How dare you make me cry at 5AM Daiya? I know they can’t do merch for everyone- the cast is too big but that’s ok - I’ll create for you my sweet squirrel son.
At some point after the cottage but before the public outing TMZ does an article on “Ilya Rozanov’s most high-profile hookups” which is essentially just a list of Instagram models with paparazzi shots and blurry cellphone pics of Ilya at the club. Shane scrolls through it, absolutely seething, because he is Ilya’s most high-profile hookup - maybe not by their metric, which seems to be Instagram followers, but Shane hasn’t heard about a single one of these women, apart from Svetlana whom he wouldn’t have recognised if not for Ilya talking about her. The guys are talking about it in the locker room, as if Ilya’s a legend for getting with all of these supposedly very desirable women (although that is decidedly not the way the guys phrase it) and Shane is absolutely furious because he can’t tell anyone that none of these women got to keep him. He is the only one who’s gotten to call Ilya his. He is the only person Ilya’s been in love with.
Anyway, after the next Boston/Montreal game Ilya shows up to practice genuinely looking like he’s been mauled. His entire body is covered in hickeys and bruises that look suspiciously like bite marks - his neck is basically covered in purpling marks with a fair few centred on his chest but a couple of the bruises trail further down, one on his pubic bone, a couple on his thighs, and the darkest one on his hip, a large circle of clear teeth marks - not only that but his back has been practically scratched to ribbons. Ilya is basically a walking sign spelling out “TAKEN - BACK OFF” and when the gossip of Ilya Rozanov apparently having been locked down by a wild animal reaches the Montreal locker room Shane can’t help the proud little smile that blooms on his face because, yes, that’s his man.
Never thought I'd have the opportunity to say this again: Reducing women and girls to their vaginas and then forcing them to show those vaginas to strangers is not a feminist ideal.
three person poly relationship made up of two people who are already dating trying to coax someone with horrific self worth issues into a loving relationship. stray cat style
they’re all laying together in bed and the couple are both thinking to themselves like good, he stayed the night to cuddle and talk when we offered, he should know that we genuinely care for him and want this to be more then a handful of one night stands. and the stray cat guy is like wow this sure is nice i think i’m falling in love with them. it’s really too bad that they don’t actually give a fuck and hate me and probably want to kill me with hammers for no reason
feeling unreasonably amused and fond about the idea of bb shane figuring out that timeout=having to go sit somewhere quiet and not have anyone talk to him
and thus putting HIMSELF in timeout especially at family events with a frequency that has other family members pulling yuna and david aside to be like, "he really didn't do anything wrong, he doesn't need to be in timeout. it's okay." and them having to figure out a way to explain that yeah, they know. this wasn't their call. he is free to leave whenever he wants. he's literally not in trouble for anything. he went up to yuna, said "mommy, i need a timeout" and then walked himself off to go sit in the guest room looking SO pleased at this loophole out of having to talk to people when he's tired of it.
If the bellboy scene taught me anything, it's that hollanov are always down for some silly impromptu roleplay action. Shane reads a Buzzfeed listicle about Top Ten Fun Questions To Ask Your Partner that he stores away in his brain until one day he randomly asks Ilya If I was an animal, what animal would I be? and Ilya immediately answers Bunny. Itty bitty bunny rabbit who runs very very fast. And Shane huffs and kicks him because No, I mean like a serious answer, actually think about it. And Ilya grabs the foot that Shane tried to kick him with by the ankle and says I am serious. It is very serious matter. I would not lie about bunny Shane. And Shane's rolling his eyes but his mouth is twitching when he says What does that make you, then? A wolf? and Ilya slooowly grins his most devious grin before he rolls over and pounces on Shane, grappling him onto his back as he says, Oh, yes, yes I am big bad wolf and you are cute little bunny. And Shane is squirming and flushing in that way he always does when he tries to wriggle his way out from under Ilya and Ilya just holds him down harder, but then he's biting his lip and going lax because: Oh, Mr Wolf, what big teeth you have~ and Ilya's grin gets even bigger (and, okay, maybe it IS a little wolf-like) and he makes his voice go all deep and growly as he says: All the better to eat you with. And then he's attacking Shane's neck with great sucking kisses mixed in-between small sharp nips that make Shane giggle and thrash and yelp, ankles kicking against the mattress as he tries to wrestle Ilya off of him, but the big bad wolf has got the little rabbit in his jaws now and he's not letting go.
Patrick Swayze, specifically in Dirty Dancing because his mom would watch that movie whenever it came on and nine year old Shane would join her, watching with an innocent but fixed fascination he usually only ever showed for hockey related things.
Li Shang in Mulan.
An 8th grade classmate who occasionally told the other boys to knock it off when they made jokes at Shane's expense. He had that 90s popular boy curtain bangs haircut and Shane would sometimes fantasize about brushing the hair away from his face.
The boy who was the Captain of his U15 team the year he joined. Confused it for hero worship. He had a habit of ruffling Shane's hair and of teasing him in a way that sometimes crossed the line from affectionate to mean. Both gave Shane butterflies.
Scott Hunter, also confused for hero worship.
A 12th grade classmate who was on the basketball team and who always stood just a little bit too close whenever he talked to Shane, forcing Shane to crane his neck to look up at him.
Ilya Rozanov, unfortunately.
Carter Vaughn. He's cute, he's friendly, and he throws his arm around Shane's shoulders whenever they meet.
Ilya Rozanov, still.
A photographer who takes Shane's pictures for one of his many brand deals and is a little more hands-on than most, without touching Shane in any way that could be construed as inappropriate. Tells Shane "good job, kid, you're a natural" once the shoot is over, his voice warm and deep.
His boyfriend, Ilya Rozanov.
J.J. Boiziau, after J.J. takes him out to a gay club post Shane coming out and forces him onto the dancefloor with him. This crush is swiftly snuffed out the next week when J.J. tosses his socks at him in the locker room and the smell nearly knocks Shane out cold.
what if we stopped making Ambiguously Brown Character and started actually thinking about the race and ethnic features of the characters we made? what if instead of drawing a character that looks like you painted a white character brown, we started varying noses, lips, eyes, and hair? just a thought
Canon divergent AU where Shane is a little more paranoid and when Hayden first comments on "Boston Lily", he decides he has to do something to break up the pattern and make it not so noticeable that he's got someone on Boston.
Not seeing Rozanov is not an option, so instead Shane picks out a few other cities to regularly go out by himself in. He'll go for a long walk, maybe sit down somewhere for a drink, and then catch a taxi back to the hotel an appropriate amount of time later. It's honestly pretty nice, unwinding by himself in this way, and now disappearing after games is not a thing specific to Boston! It's just another strange Hollander quirk!
Unfortunately, he fails to account for the guys on the team jumping on the most obvious explanation for all these disappearances, which is that Shane now has a girl in every port.
Word about this starts to spread quick, because it is so out of character for Shane, and pretty soon half the league is under the impression that he's some secret playboy.
