Emancipation Day will be held virtually again this year in Owen Sound, but the turnout will likely be a big one as a new milestone will be celebrated.
While the festival picnic has been ongoing in this region for 159 years celebrating Owen Sound as the northern terminus of the Underground Railroad, 2021 will be the first year Emancipation Day is officially recognized across Canada.
Bill M-36 was unanimously passed in the House of Commons on March 24th, 2021. It designates August 1st of every year as ‘Emancipation Day’ in Canada and also recognizes the British Parliament abolished slavery in the British Empire as of August 1, 1834 and that slavery existed in British North America before its abolition in 1834. It also recognizes abolitionists and those who struggled against slavery have historically celebrated August 1 as Emancipation Day.
While next year’s festival is planned as an in-person festival, this year’s event will be streamed at 1 p.m. on YouTube and will include storytelling and entertainment. It will also be available online afterwards.
Guests will include a number of people who have spoken in support of the national recognition of the day including the Honourable Senator Wanda Thomas Barnard who in 2018 introduced a bill in support of Emancipation Day, Richmond Hill MP Majid Kowhai whose Private Member’s Bill successfully passed in 2021, Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MP Alex Ruff who spoke in support of the Bill in the House of Commons and Hamilton Centre MP Matthew Green who also spoke in support of the Bill and of his experience at the Emancipation Day Picnic in Owen Sound as a child.
Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy will also speak. City Council voiced its support for Bill-36 in the summer of 2020. Event speaker Dr. Afua Cooper is the founder of the Black Canadian Studies Association. Ontario Poet Laureate Randell Adjei will also take part. Adjei is also the founder of R.I.S.E.— an arts organization for young musicians and writers in the GTA.
Musicians will include Bobby Dean Blackburn, Brooke Blackburn, Harrison Kennedy, Michael Dunston, Eugene Smith, and Josh Ritchie.
The Emancipation Day Picnic in the Owen Sound area is the longest running festival in North America.