

A number of volunteers were organized into the "Company of Coloured Men," which played an important role in the Battle of Queenston Heights. This tradition of military service did not end there, with some Black soldiers seeing action in the War of 1812, helping defend Upper Canada against American attacks. American slaves had been offered freedom and land if they agreed to fight in the British cause and thousands seized this opportunity to build a new life in British North America.


Indeed, many Black Canadians can trace their family roots to Loyalists who emigrated North in the 1780s after the American Revolutionary War. The tradition of military service by Black Canadians goes back long before Confederation.
