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In 1804 , Dorinda Baker and her three children were the property of the Solicitor General of Upper Canada, Robert Gray.

Dorinda seemed destined to be a slave until she died, and her children would have remained Gray's property until they turned 25. However in that year Robert Gray made a will, in which he released . . .

. . . on his death. He also left the Baker family money and property to ensure that they would be financially secure, and even purchased the freedom of Dorinda's mother Lavine, who was a slave in the United States commenting . . .

Later that year, providence took another turn. Gray was drowned in a shipwreck and Dorinda and her family suddenly became free and prosperous.

The Upper Canada legislature passes the Slave Bill - "An Act to prevent the further introduction of slaves and to limit the Term of Contracts for Servitude within this province".
Although he would have preferred outright abolition, Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe makes compromises to satisfy the interests of fifteen members of the legislature who own slaves of belong to slave -owing families.

After proclamation of the Act . . .

• Slaves already in Upper Canada would remain the property of their owners for life.
• Children born to slaves were to be free at age 25.
• Children of children born to slaves were to be free at birth.
• No slaves could enter the province: any slaves brought into Upper Canada would be freed automatically.
• Owners of freed slaves had to provide for their security.

Robert Gray did more for his freed slaves than the law required whereas other slave owners found ways to keep their slaves dependent by employing them in renewable contracts.