Slavery was legal in Canada until 1834, when it was abolished by the British parliament. Upper Canada, now the southern part of Ontario, had limited slavery in 1793, when it passed an act that stopped the importation of slaves into Upper Canada, and freed the children of enslaved people when they turned 25, but one source I read said there were still were some enslaved people in Upper Canada until August 1, 1834, still celebrated as Emancipation Day in Canada. I first heard about this from Canadian singer Faith Nolan in Hamilton, Ontario in 1987 at the Festival of Friends in Gage Park - I never learned about this in school.
Listen to Emancipation Day by Faith Nolan , I finished writing my last exam I would ever have at the University of Guelph and walked across Gordon Street and stuck out my thumb and hitchhiked down it as it turned into Highway 6 and then to Gage Park.
John Baker was born into slavery in Lower Canada (now the southern part of Quebec), and was brought with his mother into Upper Canada. Baker had been freed in the will of his enslaver, and he joined a Canadian regiment and fought against American invaders during the War of 1812, notably at the Battle of Lundy's Lane in Niagara Falls, and the Battle of Waterloo against Napoleon. When Baker died in 1871, he was the last known surviving person to have been enslaved in Upper and Lower Canada.
Text on sign by historian Natasha Henry-Dixon and can be read here:
One too many.
