The descendants of African American slaves are pressing on with what is being called an historic class-action lawsuit claiming 19 corporations profited from the forced labour of their ancestors.

The case, which has been splashed on television and newspapers in both the U.S. and Europe, is the first major effort to thrust the thorny issue of slavery reparations into the courts.

So far, it has garnered little or no mainstream attention in Canada despite the link to Montreal-based CN, the country’s largest railway.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs said they plan to refile a lawsuit claiming reparations against the companies. The amended suit will likely contain accusations certain companies, including CN, continue to hide their complicity in slavery to “maintain customer goodwill” and increase profits, said Diane Sammons, one of three lead attorneys representing the descendants.

The defendants include banks, tobacco companies and railroads. CN is the only Canadian company named. The original suit claimed no specific dollar value for damages.

“We want to take it as far as we can,” Sammons said. “What’s understated often is the connection of slavery to racism and how that exists in our country today. And particularly, the benefit that corporations derive from the transatlantic slave trade that is not visible today.

“That money and that wealth resides in banks and institutions that gained a benefit from it at the expense of the people who worked for it. It’s still an unrighted wrong.”

An Illinois court this week gave the attorneys 60 days to present the suit again. That follows a dismissal of the suit by a federal judge in Chicago in late January.

Judge Charles Norgle of the U.S. District Court ruled the original suit failed to link the defendant companies to slavery and profits from the slave trade. He also said the lawsuit failed because the statute of limitation for any crime has long since passed. It’s been more than 100 years since slavery was abolished.

Norgle said the descendants were free to file a fresh complaint. On Monday, he set a deadline of April 5 for a refiled suit.

The plaintiffs allege CN profited from the use of slaves to build or operate railways. They implicate CN through its link to seven predecessor rail lines absorbed by the company.

CN spokesperson Mark Hallman fervently denied Canadian National Railway profited from slave labour. He said the same goes for Illinois Central, a railway it bought in 1999 and has since been linked in published reports to the slave trade.

“Neither CN nor Illinois Central . . . ever employed slave labour,” Hallman said.

“This is not an issue that should be dealt with in the courts. We feel that the political arena in the United States is the more appropriate venue.”

Some critics charge that it’s a frivolous legal case and a waste of time and money because the American government created slavery, ended it, and should deal with its repercussions.

Others argue firms accused of profiting from slavery were not breaking U.S. law at the time because slavery was not a crime.

Opposition from some African Americans to the reparations case has also hurt its chances.

“None of the current companies did anything wrong,” said a prominent New York lawyer representing one of the companies, who spoke on condition he not be named.

“There’s no credible allegation that any of these companies, in the 20th century, have committed grievous wrongs against African Americans.”

Many legal experts say the reparations movement has zero chance of succeeding in court.

And if it’s public opinion that matters most in the end, even that is not assured. For any number of reasons, the case has not captured the imagination and attention of Americans.

The reputations of German, Austrian, French and Swiss companies were dragged through the mud in lawsuits brought forward by Holocaust survivors and others victimized by the Nazis.

Even though the suits were likely to fail, the possibility they could go on and on convinced the companies to settle for more than $8 billion U.S.

The companies now being named in the slave suit have learned from that, the New York lawyer said.

“They’ve hunkered down. They’ve kept their mouths shut so they’re not generating press. They moved as quickly as possible to dismiss the cases.”

Nicolas Van Praet, The Gazette (Montreal), February 12, 2004