Emancipation Day has a deep history in Windsor — and new federal recognition is being celebrated
House of Commons voted unanimously to recognize Aug. 1 as Emancipation Day
The Black community in Windsor is applauding the federal government formally recognizing Aug. 1 as Emancipation Day.
The motion drew 335 votes in favour on Wednesday, with no abstentions or nay votes.
The date marks the anniversary of when Britain's Parliament abolished slavery in the British Empire in 1834.
"It gives us an opportunity to bring to light a lot of this history and education that people simply aren't aware of," said Bradley Wade Jones, president of the Emancipation Day Committee of Windsor.
"Recognizing Emancipation Day at the federal level is a step forward in acknowledging the multi-generational harms caused by slavery and recognizing the heritage of people of African descent in Canada and the many contributions they have made and continue to make," said Emelyana Titarenko, the spokesperson for Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth Bardish Chagger.
The motion was introduced by the Liberal MP for Richmond Hill, Majid Jowhari. It also called on the federal government to recognize "the heritage of Canada's people of African descent and the contributions they have made and continue to make to Canada."
From the Depression era until 1967, annual Emancipation Day celebrations on Aug. 1 in Windsor drew big acts, such as the Supremes, Duke Ellington and Stevie Wonder.
The festival was popular enough to temporarily double the city's population and draw politicians and civil rights activists from all over to hear people talk about the struggle for equality.
While Jones is hopeful the new recognition by the federal government will help boost the popularity of the celebrations, which have been held in Lanspeary Park since 2014, he says it would take "several years" to bring the celebrations back to some semblance of the huge event it once was.
"A great start is in the federal government recognizing Emancipation Day as more than a civic holiday. Just to open up a calendar to look at August 1st and see Emancipation Day would mean so very much for me," said Jones, adding he wishes the day to bring together all people of African descent and others.
"Emancipation Day is not just a Black thing, a Black holiday, that even if you want to look at the Underground Railroad, none of this would have been possible without the support of of white people along the way," said Jones.
Irene Moore Davis, the president of the Essex County Black Historical Research Society, would love to see the Emancipation Day celebrations grow in popularity, but also to recognize it's importance.
"It meant that people who are enslaved here in what's now Canada at the time finally had their freedom, but it also paved the way for a lot of people, thousands of individuals of African descent to make their way here from the United States and to really create new Black communities across Canada and to have such an important role in the development of this nation," said Moore Davis.
Bradley said that although the celebrations were cancelled last year due to COVID-19, the break gave them time to reflect on how to improve the event. But he regrets that it won't return again until next year due to the pandemic because of the many months it takes for planning.
"And I would expect that we're going to pick up exactly where we left off — 500 people in one day. I think that's wonderful. It's taken a while to build it up to what it is, and I don't see regressing whatsoever," he said.
Jones is in favour of continuing the tradition of having the first Monday in August as a statutory holiday because he says Emancipation Day celebrations will still be held on the first weekend of the month, regardless of when Aug. 1 falls.
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
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