Remarks by U.S. Consul General John R. Nay
Emancipation Day Celebration
Windsor, Ontario

Thank you so much for the kind introduction. I'm delighted to be here celebrating Emancipation Day with you, and I'd like to thank the organizers of this year's event for including the United States Consulate in Toronto. It also is an honor to be here with Rosemary Sadlier, of the Ontario Black History Society.

I am so pleased that the North Star Community has restarted and rejuvenated this event. One of the greatest things about Emancipation Day is the fact that it draws together community members from both the United States and Canada. I'm a native Michigander myself and, like so many Americans, I have Canadian relatives. I was nine years old when I first crossed the river to visit Windsor, and I still remember the excitement of visiting a foreign country. Since then I've served in several posts around the world, but serving in Toronto has felt like coming home, due to the close relationship and friendship that our two countries share. That friendship is on display in this room tonight, as people from Windsor and Detroit, from Michigan and Ontario, join together in celebration.

Windsor is an especially appropriate place to commemorate Emancipation Day, because it was such a vitally important station on the Underground Railroad for so many thousands of people. The volunteers, American and Canadian, white and black, who formed the Underground Railroad were bound by a common belief in the sanctity of freedom. Just a little way from here is an important memorial to the Underground Railroad that I hope you all will pause and contemplate at some point this weekend. And just across that river, in Detroit, is another such memorial. And in my hometown of Battle Creek, Michigan, just another two hours west of here, is the largest memorial to the Underground Railroad in the world, and again created by the same artist. And just about three miles from that memorial is the grave of that famous campaigner for freedom and equality - Sojourner Truth, a grave I visited several times as a child.

All of us owe a debt of gratitude to those who organized and staffed the Underground Railroad: they provide a priceless example of what people of good faith can achieve by working together. And we are indebted to those brave people who took the Railroad to freedom, for proving that the bonds of slavery are no match for the human spirit.

This is an appropriate year to commemorate our history, too. 2008 has such resonance for those of us who care about civil rights and the dignity of every person. This year is the 145th anniversary of the American Emancipation Proclamation, of course. Today is the kickoff of the 175th anniversary year of Emancipation in the British Empire. And this year is the Bicentennial of the United States' abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.

Few people know that the United States and Great Britain both passed laws prohibiting the transatlantic slave trade in the same month - March 1807. The British law took effect immediately, and the United States law took effect a few months later, on January 1, 1808 - 200 years ago this year. These steps led inexorably toward ending one of the great crimes of modern times.

Just this week, the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution apologizing for slavery and the legacy of Jim Crow. That apology was too long in coming, but it was the right thing to do, and I am glad they passed it.

There is still much to do, however, to help advance freedom, advance human rights, and reduce suffering in the world. Two great nations of the West took separate steps for good, 200 years ago, to right a wrong. They did not do it out of self-interest, but because it was the right thing to do. 200 years later the United States and Canada today share not only share a border, and much history, but also continue to uphold these same traditions of good throughout the world. Our shared values inspire us to fight trafficking in persons to uphold religious freedom; and to demand that women have the same right to an education, the right to vote and the right to freedom that men do.

I also had been going to recognize some of the dignitaries who are joining us today, but our emcee has done a great job of handling that, and there are too many for me to name in any case. I just want to bring to your attention one person here who I was honored to meet for the first time - a fellow American and a fellow Michigander, former Detroit Chief of Police Isaiah McKinnon.

Thank you again for having me here today, as we renew this grand tradition of cross border and cross river community celebration. I hope that we all have a wonderful Emancipation Day weekend.

Thank you.