There is a history of African/African American migration to and settlement in Canada IOTL: a few thousand were enslaved there. A few thousand more fled slavery from the Thirteen Colonies to serve Great Britain in the Revolutionary War in exchange for freedom, and, along with many slaves/servants of British Loyalists, were evacuated to Nova Scotia, known as the Black Loyalists. Most of them were resettled in Sierra Leone, England, and the Caribbean, but some stayed. They were recorded as having been very supportive of Britain, at least as a counterweight against existing slave power in the United States, even serving in the War of 1812. Their numbers were further bolstered by the movement of tens of thousands of runaway slaves from the American South. Racial segregation against Africans in education, employment, and housing was present and sanctioned at the whim of local and provincial authorities, but never imposed at the national level, and certainly not on the scale of what was faced by Native Canadians and Asian immigrants.
Suppose that coinciding with the Vietnam War draft and the movement of tens of thousands of American men, many of them Black, to Canada and Sweden to evade the draft, some African American activists and professionals became disillusioned with large sections of the Democratic and Republican Parties dragging their feet on civil rights legislation, on top of ongoing incidents of racial violence and police brutality. In that time, they could have read about the Black Loyalist experience in Canada: while the United Kingdom was known as the arrogant White empire that stomped around on the African continent and there is recorded history of discrimination and violence against Black Canadians, the UK did lead the fight in dismantling the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and Canada had a history of being ahead of/preferable to the United States in race relations for nearly 200 years.
Given some creative liberty, a few names like Bob Moses could have developed a rose-colored conception of Canada's treatment of Africans and made a great show of pushing toward Canada, circulating speeches and articles that encourage others to follow them north. From what I can read, Canada-United States movement of persons was easy even back then, and Canada was on the verge of establishing their points-based immigration system in which these American citizens would already have a head start as native English speakers. If a group like the Nation of Islam could claim tens of thousands of members in the 1960s, a movement to Canada could have attracted a few thousand African Americans in pursuit of permanent residency and citizenship.
The majority could only be those who could afford a drastic move in housing and employment, likely middle class Black Americans with some college education who only want a new chance at life, but intent on enjoying their rights to the fullest. Some of them could be true believers, making a big show of their movement and establishing a Black Loyalist Society, aping the name of the actual descendants of Freedmen soldiers and settlers.
Even after a large minority become disenchanted and either move back to or are deported to the United States, it becomes a political issue for Canada. IOTL, Canada didn't mind hosting the vast majority of American draft dodgers, and the US government understood that good relations with Ottawa were far more important than even raising the question of immigration enforcement and expatriation. The difference is that the Vietnam War resisters were mostly just young men who wanted to be ignored; this movement ITTL brings an all-Black crowd into their country, most of them seeking the rights of Canadian citizenship. Between local racial reaction and the need to not embarrass the United States on the domestic issue of civil rights, what is Ottawa's response to this migration movement?
Suppose that coinciding with the Vietnam War draft and the movement of tens of thousands of American men, many of them Black, to Canada and Sweden to evade the draft, some African American activists and professionals became disillusioned with large sections of the Democratic and Republican Parties dragging their feet on civil rights legislation, on top of ongoing incidents of racial violence and police brutality. In that time, they could have read about the Black Loyalist experience in Canada: while the United Kingdom was known as the arrogant White empire that stomped around on the African continent and there is recorded history of discrimination and violence against Black Canadians, the UK did lead the fight in dismantling the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and Canada had a history of being ahead of/preferable to the United States in race relations for nearly 200 years.
Given some creative liberty, a few names like Bob Moses could have developed a rose-colored conception of Canada's treatment of Africans and made a great show of pushing toward Canada, circulating speeches and articles that encourage others to follow them north. From what I can read, Canada-United States movement of persons was easy even back then, and Canada was on the verge of establishing their points-based immigration system in which these American citizens would already have a head start as native English speakers. If a group like the Nation of Islam could claim tens of thousands of members in the 1960s, a movement to Canada could have attracted a few thousand African Americans in pursuit of permanent residency and citizenship.
The majority could only be those who could afford a drastic move in housing and employment, likely middle class Black Americans with some college education who only want a new chance at life, but intent on enjoying their rights to the fullest. Some of them could be true believers, making a big show of their movement and establishing a Black Loyalist Society, aping the name of the actual descendants of Freedmen soldiers and settlers.
Even after a large minority become disenchanted and either move back to or are deported to the United States, it becomes a political issue for Canada. IOTL, Canada didn't mind hosting the vast majority of American draft dodgers, and the US government understood that good relations with Ottawa were far more important than even raising the question of immigration enforcement and expatriation. The difference is that the Vietnam War resisters were mostly just young men who wanted to be ignored; this movement ITTL brings an all-Black crowd into their country, most of them seeking the rights of Canadian citizenship. Between local racial reaction and the need to not embarrass the United States on the domestic issue of civil rights, what is Ottawa's response to this migration movement?
