# Runaway Slaves Who Escaped to Canada **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 15, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/runaway-slaves-who-escaped-to-canada/578520 "2011-04-15T17:57:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/runaway-slaves-who-escaped-to-canada/578520/1 "2011-04-15T17:57:12Z")
What happened to them once they got there? Did the Canadian government and/or citizenry reach out to help them with getting jobs or land or housing or whatever? Were they basically considered illegal aliens and were on their own? Something in between? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/runaway-slaves-who-escaped-to-canada/578520/2 "2011-04-15T18:23:05Z")
Well, there really wasn’t much of an “illegal alien” idea back then, which is to say that there really weren’t many restrictions on immigration in either the US or colonies in Canada. Of course, along with that, there wasn’t much government assistance either. If the escaped slaves were lucky, they were able to get help from the churches or from the Canadian black community, but they were largely on their own. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/runaway-slaves-who-escaped-to-canada/578520/3 "2011-04-15T19:01:38Z")
Is there a distinction population of people descended from those slaves in Canada today? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/runaway-slaves-who-escaped-to-canada/578520/4 "2011-04-15T20:00:41Z")
There are a lot of varied answers to “what happened to them”. Many “black Canadian” communities were established. During the Civil War, many of them enlisted in the Union Army. After the war, some stayed in Canada (and to answer Derleth’s question those communities do still exist today), some returned to the U.S. but stayed in the north, and others returned south, either to be re-united with lost family or hoping for work and a better way of life during reconstruction. Wikipedia’s article on black Canadians: > **[Black Canadians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Canadian)** > > Black Canadians (French: Canadiens Noirs), also known as Afro-Canadians (French: Afro-Canadiens), are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean and African immigrant origin, though the Black Canadian population also consists of African American immigrants and their descendants (including Black Nova Scotians). Black Canadian migration from Africa has risen substantially since 2 Black... Many found that while slavery had been abolished in Canada, blatant racism hadn’t, and in many cases the escaped slaves found that work was difficult to find and that living conditions for blacks weren’t necessarily all that great. This is why many ended up returning to the U.S. after the war. There were cases where citizens would reach out and help the slaves. For example, the Society of Friends (aka Quakers) purchased several hundred acres of land in Canada, helping to form the Wilberforce Colony. Wikipedia’s article here: [Wilberforce Colony - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilberforce_Colony) ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/runaway-slaves-who-escaped-to-canada/578520/5 "2011-04-15T21:17:59Z")
Some did stay and settle in Canada. From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Canadians#The_Underground_Railroad): > [@](#): > > There is a sizable community of Black Canadians in Nova Scotia and Southern Ontario who trace their ancestry to African American slaves who used the Underground Railroad to flee from the United States, seeking refuge and freedom in Canada. From the late 1820s until the American Civil War began in 1861, the Underground Railroad brought tens of thousands of fugitives to Canada. While many of these returned to the United States after emancipation, a significant population remained, largely in Southern Ontario, widely scattered in both rural and urban locations, including Toronto. As an example, [South Buxton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Buxton,_Ontario) was a terminus of the Underground Railroad that was founded in 1850 for freed slaves who made it to southern Ontario.