Our August holiday’s namesake, Lt.-Gov. John Graves Simcoe, came to North America in 1771 after he joined the British Army. Simcoe commanded the Queen’s Rangers, a Loyalist corps that saw action during the American Revolutionary War. He was injured in 1781 and was sent back to England. Simcoe entered politics in 1790 and was appointed as the first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada (now Ontario) from 1791 to 1796. With the influx of Loyalists following the American Revolutionary War, the British government created Upper Canada as a separate province from the francophone Lower Canada (Quebec). During his time in office, Simcoe organized the first civil government and the courts of law, trial by jury and English Common Law. Most notably, he was able to pass the first anti-slavery legislation in the British Empire — the Act to Limit Slavery — in 1793 after the famous Chloe Cooley incident. Although Simcoe returned to Britain in 1796 due to poor health, his short five years here set the foundation of our provincial government and law system of today.