“The French empire in the West Indies was built on sugar production and the labor of enslaved Africans. The Code Noir, a French legal code, regulated slavery in the West Indies. Though it was never made law in Canada, New France’s slaveholders applied the Code Noir when they thought it necessary. In 1685, when the Code was applied to the French West Indies, the governor of New France, the Marquis de Denonville, thought it might as well be applied in New France. Canada’s colonial officials therefore used the Code Noir to give legal foundation to slavery. Under the Code Noir, slaves were declared “movable,” that is, personal property, in the same category as livestock, furniture, and trade goods. The Code Noir regulated other aspects of slave life, such as relations between master and slave, the status of slave children, slave marriages, and so forth.

An important clause of the Code was that all slaves were to be baptized and instructed in the Catholic faith.” -From, “The Hanging of Angelique” By: Afua Cooper