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I posted in the thread years ago when it started, but wanted to note that since then, I've discovered I have ancestors who moved to Ontario, Canada - the Chatham-Kent area in the early to mid 1850s and I still have black Canadian cousins in Ontario.
Most of the family moved back to the US following the Civil War but some stayed there and I've connected with members of my extended family via social media who are black Canadians.
I've researched a lot about black Canadians over the last 5 years since this thread started and discovered as well that a substantial amount of free black people moved to Canada during the era mentioned above due to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and free blacks in various states feeling threatened by attempted kidnappings in certain states after that law was passed.
A woman considered to be a famous black Canadian - Mary Shadd Cary lead the movement to encourage free blacks to move to Ontario. One of her sisters married into my family and my family lived near the Shadds in Ontario.
People also forget that Canada did import African slaves in the 1600s and early 1700s and had a system of slavery until it was outlawed by Britain. The descendants of those African slaves and servants (like the US many of them were also indentured servants) are still in Canada as well. EdwardA mentioned the Nova Scotia black inhabitants and many of them are descendants of blacks who fought with the British in the War of 1812. There was a series made about that community called "The Book of Negroes."
I agree that most black Canadians today are descendants of recent immigrants from the African diaspora, but Canada has a very deep, interesting history of black Canadians, especially so in specific geographic regions. Also all of the blacks who moved to Canada in the 18th and 19th centuries were not runaway slaves. Some wrote about their reasons to move to Canada and basically those reasons were because in the USA, no matter how prosperous a black man became, he could not be assured of his rights in 18th and 19th century America would be protected by our government. In Canada they were more assured that their rights would be protected, even though most of the narratives and writings I've gone through regarding black Canadians in my research has shown that blacks in Canada were also viewed through a racist and stereotypical lens by many whites in their communities, however, those whites could not and did not attempt to victimize the blacks because Canadian law protected all citizens. Social racism was easier to deal with than the systematic racism endemic in the USA during those times.
On the original question, my original answer still stands. I don't think anything in particular about black Canadians. I've met a few over these last 5 years in person, in Canada. They are just people like everyone else.
I don't think it's something most black Americans really consider at all. A black person with a thick Canadian accent like Vegan Gains might stick out in the US. If they're more like Tristan Thompson, most people will just assume they're African American. I guess Drake is a constant cultural reminder that there are black people in Canada, but for the most part, it's a nonentity. I think black people in Canada think a lot more about black people or the black experience in the US than vice versa. And just in general, Canadians of all colors pay more attention to the US than the inverse.
Haha, aboot if I recall correctly is an American pronunciation used by people from the New England region but it's very rare to hear it from a person in Canada. Our accents are not much different than American accent in the northern states. If you go to the Maritime provinces in Canada you will hear different accents than the other provinces.
I'm a native New Englander and no, we don't pronounce it that way. I realize that the typical Canadian pronunciation of about sounds more like "a boat" than "a boot".
You probably watch too much "South Park" because they pronounce aboot just to make fun of us.
I live in Ontario and I never say aboot nor I ever heard anyone say it. If you heard other Canadians say it then they must have accents.
Most canadians say aboot/aboat. Fact. Even I say it after so much time here !
I'm a Black Canadian. Most of us are either from Africa, Caribbean, Europe, and some are from America. Also, we make up a small percentage of the population in Canada. So we don't make as much of a impact on society or our media as a group. Many people believe Black Canadians don't act like Black Americans. I mean can you tell the difference? Other ethnic people can add their opinions as well.
I'm half black, half white and from the US. My general impression of black Canadians is that they seem more "American" than white Canadians. I grew up in the Boston area, and one of our local sports stars at the time was Rick Fox. I'd say his accent sounded more American to my ears than Canadian. I think you'd have an easier time differentiating between white Canadians and white Americans than black Canadians and black Americans. I've heard few black Canadians with a more "typical" Canadian accent and I found it to be kind of funny and unexpected.
Interview with black Canadian Tristan Thompson. He uses the American pronunciation of process (praw-cess) rather than the Canadian pronunciation (pro-cess) and just generally sounds more American than Canadian to me. Even the "bold" way he acts seems more stereotypically American than Canadian to me:
Interview with white Canadian Shane Smith. I realize his accent is more specific to the Ottawa Valley than to all of Canada, but regardless, his accent stands out from white American accents. Few people would confuse him with an American:
Interview with white Canadian Jordan Peterson who grew up in Alberta and has resided in Ontario for a long time. Has an accent that is strongly identified as Canadian, few would confuse him with an American:
Interview with black Canadian Richard Burgess aka Vegan Gains. He's a YouTube/online personality that has the most stereotypically Canadian accent I've heard on a black person. He was born and raised in the Toronto area and still lives there.
Note: I kept the videos short so they could gave an adequate but not overly long sample of their voices and accents for comparison. Almost all of the videos are less than 5 minutes, and ALL of them are less than 10.
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