In the article “Acts of resistance” many stories of individuals fighting slavery are told. There was a black Canadian woman by the name of Chloe Cooley who was tied up against her will, shipped overseas, and sold into slavery. Her master, William Vrooman was highly abusive towards her. He went on to murder her one day and because of her screams, the attention of Peter Martin and William Grisley was caught. As witnesses they brought this issue to court. They could not charge Vrooman for killing a slave for that was legal then, so the decided charges would be for disturbing the peace. Though this proved unsuccessful, it did incite John Simcoe to change things. He proposed a law to abolish slavery, or at the very least limit it. In the end, the law restricted importation of new slaves, and limited purchasing of slaves, but did little else. This compromise left Simcoe unhappy as it did not free any slaves. Though the change was small, it is still very significant as this change led to many other changes and eventually led to the abolishment of slavery altogether. Another case worth noting is the case of Henry Lewis, a slave to William Jarvis who was secretary of the province. Henry Lewis made an act of resistance by escaping to New York and purchasing himself. He wrote a letter back to Jarvis stating his opposition to slavery, and basically stated how Jarvis cannot legally do anything about him escaping, as slavery was outlawed in New York (and the other former northwest territories). Reading this article made me realize the true extent of the slave trade in Canada. I was under the impression that Canada was a safe haven for slaves to escape to and they’d be given their freedom as soon as they step foot in the country. Today I learned that this was not entirely the case, and that slavery used to be alive and rampant in the country, with black Canadians being traded and sold as property. I learned not only the extent at which slavery existed in Canada, but also just how poorly the slaves were treated.