Black History Canada Black Canadians
The first recorded black person to set foot on land now known as Canada was a free man named Mathieu de Costa, who travelled with explorer Samuel de Champlain, and arrived in Nova Scotia some time between 1603 and 1608 as a translator for the French explorer Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts.

The first known black person to live in Canada was a slave from Madagascar named Olivier Le Jeune, who may have been of partial Malay ancestry. As a group, black people arrived in Canada in several waves. The first of these came as free persons serving in the French Army and Navy; some were enslaved. Later, some were indentured servants, as were some white immigrants.