By Staff
August 3rd, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
This article focuses on what Oakville North Burlington MP Pam Damoff, who has announced tha she will not run in the next federal election.
In her constituency newsletter she told of how Oakville and then the federal government decided to make what was once known as Simcoe Day -it was to be called Emancipation Day
Oakville North Burlington MP Pam Damoff
“On Thursday, we commemorated Emancipation Day. On this day in 1834, the Slavery Abolition Act came into effect across the British Empire and laid a pathway to liberation of 800,000 enslaved Africans and their descendants in parts of the Caribbean, Africa, South America, and Canada.
“In 2015, I put forward a motion when I sat on Oakville Town Council, which named the August Civic Holiday as Emancipation Day in Oakville. The motion passed unanimously.
On March 24, 2021, the House of Commons designated August 1st as Emancipation Day to acknowledge the dark chapter in Canada history and the lasting impacts that slavery has had including intergenerational trauma and ongoing racism.
