Slavery in the British and French Caribbean abolished the slave trade but the decree did not come into effect until 1826. France re-abolished slavery in her colonies in 1848 with a general and unconditional emancipation. William Wilberforce's Slave Trade Act 1807 abolished the slave trade in the British Empire. It was not until the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 that the institution finally was abolished, but on a gradual basis. Since slave owners in the various colonies (not only the Caribbean) were losing their unpaid labourers, the government set aside £20 million for compensation but it did not offer the former slaves reparations. With the abolition of the
Westminster Abbey (British Columbia) including Father Eugene Medved, later Prior and Abbot, were sent from Mount Angel Abbey, Oregon, to British Columbia in 1939 to found a priory and to take over the running of the Seminary of Christ the King, which was then located in Ladner, B.C.. The following year, the monks moved their new priory together with the seminary to Burnaby, near Vancouver, B.C., neighbouring New Westminster. It became a conventual (independent) priory in 1948. In 1953 the Holy See raised it to the status of an Abbey. Prior Eugene was elected as the first Abbot of the new abbey. The same