Canfield Roots

You’d never know, but the sleepy hamlet of Canfield in Southern Ontario has a fascinating history hidden from view for years that local historians begin to reveal to Bill Douglas.

As Bill Douglas visits St. Catharines to learn more about freedom seekers in Ontario, his sister Betty Ann confronts her memories of Canfield.

One night in 1953, former Canfield resident Harry Lee was hung for murder in Hamilton. Seventy years later, former residents of Canfield reflect on the impact of Lee's hanging.

An ancestor of Harriet Tubman’s niece shares her family’s remarkable story with a collector researching an artist with a connection to the abandoned cemetery in Canfield.

Descendants of freedom seekers gather at an abandoned family cemetery to mark Emancipation Day and reflect on the struggles and successes of their ancestors.