“I’m a Slave

From a land so far

I was caught

And brought here from Africa” – (The Slave (sung) by The Mighty Sparrow.)

Alberta is home to many African, Caribbean and Black people – approximately 177,945, according to statistics Canada (2021). Yet, our histories are far more than numbers; they remain hidden and too often forgotten, excluded from the stories told about this province and its people.

Join us this February to learn about the Development of Alberta’s Black Community with Deborah Dobbins and Donna Coombs-Montrose, as they share the history of the pre and post – emancipation experiences of Black people’s arrival in Western Canada from the Southern United States. This session will explore the realities of illegal detention, the establishment of settlements and communities in the early1900’s/1920s, exploitation and labour faced by many and the ongoing development of the African Descent Diaspora.