Navy Hall - NOTL



Wikimedia Commons photo by Yoho 2001
 


 


 


 

Black History Significance

Navy Hall served as the first seat of government for the Executive Council of Upper Canada. It was the location where the first legislative steps were made towards the eventual abolition of slavery in the British Commonwealth, making Upper Canada the first jurisdiction in the Commonwealth to disallow the heinous practice.

On March 21, 1793, Black Loyalist and former Butler's Ranger Peter Martin, a firsthand witness to the abduction and sale to slave traders of Chloe Cooley by Captain Adam Vroomond and his accomplices, apparently asked for and received an audience with the Executive Council of Upper Canada at Navy Hall,
"... including His Excellency John Graves Simcoe, Honourable William Osgoode Chief Justice and the Honourable Peter Russell. Unlike the full sitting council who sat at the Freemason Lodge in Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) the Executive Council met at Navy Hall. As a lowly member of the military establishment, Martin was making a presentation to the most powerful people in Upper Canada. After the presentation the council passed a resolution --

"RESOLVED: that it is necessary to take immediate steps to prevent the continuance of such violent breaches of the public peace, and that for that purpose that His Majesty's Attorney General be forthwith directed to prosecute the said [Vroomond]". (Black, 2009).





Sources


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