Two hundred and twenty-five years ago, black people held as slaves on plantations in the southern USA, began to hear stories of a country to the north where black people were free. The hunger for freedom moved some of them to slip away at night and begin the long journey north. Were they courageous or desperate? Some were caught, taken back to the plantation and whipped mercilessly. Those who escaped learned to sing “Wade in the Water” to remind them to walk in the rivers for long distances in order to conceal their scent from the hounds of the slave catchers.

Frustrated slave owners began to think there must be an underground railroad that whisked the escapees to a destination beyond their reach. The name caught on. The way some historians describe the underground railroad, it sounds like it was created by benevolent white people who encouraged and helped black people escape to freedom. There were benevolent white people, but they came on board after black people had pioneered the routes and proved that they did indeed lead to freedom. Some black people found refuge in the northern states, but their status was always precarious. Others pressed on to southwestern Ontario, Nova Scotia and Montreal.

What did they find when they made it to Canada? They found that this country was not heaven on earth, nor was it populated by angels, not then, not now. But the law in Canada said that one human being could not be the property of another human being. And that law was enforced. When slave catchers appeared with the intention of capturing and returning the property of the plantations owners, they were apprehended and hustled back across the border.

We in Canada have never come up with fine-sounding proclamations about liberty. We understand that there must be some limits to my liberty in order to ensure that others have liberty. My freedom to swing my arms about must end at least a foot from the nose of the person beside me. The rule of law provides the greatest liberty to everyone, great or small. In that setting black people, who had formerly been slaves, found jobs, established farms, built homes, sent their children to school, voted in elections, built churches, and put down roots.

There was of course a double meaning when people sang “I’m on my way to the freedom land, and I won’t turn back.” Heaven is the ultimate destination, Canada just a temporary stopping place. Are we still on that journey?