Initially, the flow of 'fugitives' into Canada was greeted relatively positively: they were a potential source of (cheap) labour and their choice of residence indicated Canada's alleged moral superiority over the United States. However, according to Winks, by the end of the 1830s, many White Canadians were concerned about the level of Black migration and, in the 1840s and 1850s, Black immigrants were distinctly unwelcome in many areas (Winks, 2000). By the 1850s, some Black individuals and communities complained that the level of prejudice in Canada equalled that in the United States; Reverend William King, who founded the Elgin settlement, said that they were unable to 'roll back the prejudice against them' (Drew, 1856; Winks, 2000, p. 144). Notwithstanding the fact that some Black people served in the provincial militias, that the Coloured Corps supported the Government in the Rebellions of 1837-1838, and that many commented on their loyalty, the Black community was increasingly 'the object of growing prejudice' (Winks, 2000, pp. 151, 148). ${ }^{8}$ Perhaps not surprisingly then, when the American Civil War started, tens of thousands of 'fugitives' returned to the United States to fight in the war, to find their families and to avail themselves of the sorts  
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[^0]:    8 According to Winks, when the rebellion in Upper Canada was launched in 1837, 'nearly a thousand Negroes volunteered for service within the month'. There were rebellions against the crown and political authorities in Upper and Lower Canada; the uprisings were put down but resulted in loss of life and the unification of the Canadas.  
of opportunities that some believed were not possible in Canada. After the Civil War, some 'fugitive' descendant Black Canadians moved to the United States in search of better educational and employment opportunities.