Americans that rejected the idea of the black community being on equal footing as whites and as a result left America for Canada. The chief actors in this riot, it is said, are the same group of white Americans, who actually forswore their allegiance as soldiers initially, and eventually left for Canada, because they did not believe in fighting to put the coloured race on a footing of equality Aftermath No black people remained in Oil Springs after the riot. It is also unclear where the black people ended up after fleeing. Papers in both Canada and the States condemned the rioters. The Sarnia Observer called the riot a “disgraceful incident” and the Montreal Commercial Advertiser called for the government to punish rioters. The Douglass Monthly, a black periodical in the States, published articles about the riot, as did the Detroit Free Press. Several constables were quickly appointed to arrest "the more active of the rioters." By the following Monday nine men were in custody. But some escaped, leaving four to face a justice of the peace who ordered them held in jail in Sarnia. On the way there, another two "managed to slip off their handcuffs and to make good their escape," In the four people that were captured for the riot, court records identify one of the parties involved. The riot of Oil Springs in 1863 did not escape the judicial system. One individual, John Lavins (or Lavius) from Lambton County was sent to jail for his crimes. Judge Charles Robinson at the Quarter Sessions of June 11, 1863, sentenced John R. Lavins for Felony and was received at Provincial Penitentiary of Upper Canada (today known as Kingston Penitentiary) on June 25, 1863. His term of sentence was 2 years, and he was discharged on June 10, 1865. His prison intake number is 5853, he was 37 years old and a widower from Ireland. References Race riots in Canada 1863 in Ontario