Irish Canadian
Encyclopedia
Irish Canadian are immigrants and descendants of immigrants who originated in Ireland
. 1.2 million Irish immigrants arrived, 1825 to 1970, at least half of those in the period from 1831-1850. By 1867, they were the second largest ethnic group (after the French), and comprised 24% of Canada's population. The 1931 national census counted 1,230,000 Canadians of Irish descent, half of whom lived in Ontario. About one-third were Catholic in 1931 and two-thirds Protestants.
The Irish immigrants were largely Protestant before the famine years of the 1840s, when the Catholics arrived in large numbers. However, most Catholic Irish after 1850 usually headed to the U.S., England, Australia and Scotland.
The 2006 census by Statistics Canada
, Canada's Official Statistical office revealed that the Irish
were the 4th largest ethnic group with 4,354,000 Canadians with full or partial Irish descent or 14% of the country's total population. This was a large and significant increase of 531,495 since the 2001 census, which counted 3,823,000 respondents quoting Irish ethnicity.
Irish have a long and rich history in Canada dating back centuries. The first recorded Irish presence in the area of present day Canada dates from 1536, when Irish fishermen from Cork
travelled to Newfoundland.
After the permanent settlement in Newfoundland by Irish in early 19th century, overwhelmingly from Waterford
, increased immigration of the Irish elsewhere in Canada began in the decades following the War of 1812
. Between the years 1825 to 1845, 60% of all immigrants to Canada were Irish; in 1831 alone, some 34,000 arrived in Montréal.
But the peak period of entry of the Irish to Canada in terms of sheer numbers occurred in the 1830-50 period when 624,000 arrived, or 31,000 a year; smaller numbers arrived in Newfoundland
. Besides Ontario
, Nova Scotia
, Prince Edward Island
and New Brunswick
, especially Saint John
were popular destinations.
During this time, Canada was the destination of the most destitute Irish Catholics cleared from land estates and leaving the crowded docks of Liverpool, numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Passage fares to Canada were much lower than those to the United States
, Australia
, and New Zealand
, due to such factors as distance and the use of empty, returning timber ships to transport the masses.
, an island in Quebec
in the St. Lawrence River, which housed the immigration reception station. Thousands died or were arrived sick and were treated in the hospital (equipped for less than one hundred patients) in the summer of 1847; in fact, many boats that reached Grosse-Île had lost the bulk of their passengers and crew, and many more died in quarantine
on or near the island. From Grosse-Ile, most survivors were sent to Montréal, where the existing Irish community mushroomed. The orphaned children were adopted into Québec families and accordingly became Québécois
, both linguistically and culturally.
Many of the families that survived continued on to settle in Canada West (formerly Upper Canada, now Ontario
) or the United States (many to Chicago and the Midwest).
Compared with the Irish in the United States or the United Kingdom
who fled famine, a good number of the Irish in Canada settled in rural areas and not in the cities, though there were many exceptions (especially in Quebec and New Brunswick
, see below for more information).
The Catholic Irish in Canada felt discrimination from Protestants, especially after the Fenian
raids—an attempted invasion by Catholics based in the U.S. in 1866 and 1870. Although the Irish Catholic community in Canada did in part condemn the attacks, many were torn between loyalty to their new home and the memory of harsh British rule in Ireland. There were violent clashes with the French Canadians in Ontario as well.
Thomas D'Arcy McGee, an Irish-Montreal journalist, became a Father of Confederation in 1867. An Irish Republican in his early years, he would moderate his view in later years and become a passionate advocate of Confederation
. He was instrumental in enshrining educational rights for minority Catholics in the Canadian Constitution. In 1868, he was assassinated in Ottawa
. It was claimed a Fenian named Patrick J. Whelan was the assassin, attacking McGee for his recent anti-Raid statements. This was later called into question, with many believing that Whelan was falsely accused as a scapegoat in the assassination.
After Confederation, Irish Catholics faced more oppression, probably because of their faith rather than their ethnicity. This was especially true in the mainly Protestant province of Ontario, which was under the political sway of the already entrenched anti-Catholic Orange Order
, Ottawa excepted. The anthem "The Maple Leaf Forever
," written and composed by Scottish immigrant and Orangeman Alexander Muir
, reflects the British Ulster loyalism
outlook of many Protestant Canadians of the time. However the tensions subsided by 1900.
.
Irish established communities in both urban and rural Quebec. Irish immigrants arrived in large numbers in Montreal
during the 1840s and were hired as labourers to build the Victoria Bridge
, living in a tent city at the foot of the bridge. Here, workers unearthed a mass grave of 6,000 Irish immigrants who had died at nearby Windmill Point in the typhus
outbreak of 1847-48. The Irish Commemorative Stone or "Black Rock," as it is commonly known, was erected by bridge workers to commemorate the tragedy.
The Irish would go on to settle permanently in the close-knit working-class neighbourhoods of Pointe-Saint-Charles
, Griffintown
and Goose Village, Montreal
. With the help of Quebec's Catholic Church, they would establish their own churches, schools, and hospitals. St. Patrick's Basilica was founded in 1847 and served Montreal's English-speaking Catholics for over a century. Loyola College (Montreal)
was founded by the Jesuits to serve Montreal's mostly Irish English-speaking Catholic community in 1896. Saint Mary's Hospital was founded in the 1920s and continues to serve Montreal's present-day English-speaking population. The St. Patrick's Day Parade in Montréal is one of the oldest in North America, dating back to 1824. It annually attracts crowds of over 600,000 people.
The Irish would also settle in large numbers in Quebec City and establish communities in rural Quebec, particularly in such regions as Pontiac
, Gatineau and Papineau where there was an active timber industry. However, most would move on to larger North American cities.
Many Irish immigrants would also assimilate into French-Canadian society. After the disaster at Grosse-Île (see above), many Irish children were left as orphans in a new country. The Catholic Church would arrange for these children to be adopted by French Canadians in Lower Canada
. Some of these children kept their Irish surnames (Caissie to Kessy, Riel to Reilly..). A common Catholic religion also allowed Irish immigrants to intermarry with French Canadians, and children would often speak French as a first language.
Today, many Québécois
have some Irish ancestry. Examples are Daniel Johnson
, Claude Ryan
, the current Premier Jean Charest
, and the late Georges Dor
(born Georges-Henri Dore). The Irish constitute the second largest ethnic group in the province after the French Canadians and one estimate suggests that as many as 40 percent of the French-speaking Quebecers have some Irish ancestry.
as missionaries, soldiers, geographers and fur trappers.
After the creation of British North America
in 1763, Protestant Irish, both Irish Anglicans and Ulster-Scottish Presbyterians had been migrating over the decades to Upper Canada
, some as United Empire Loyalists
or directly from Ulster
.
In the years after the War of 1812
, an increasing numbers of Irish, a growing number Catholic, were venturing to Canada to obtain work on projects such as canals, roads, railroads and in the lumber industry. The labourers were known as ‘navvies’ and built much of the early infrastructure in the province. Settlement schemes offering cheap (or free) land brought over farmer families. Munster (particularly Tipperary
and Cork) were frequent sources of these migrants. Peter Robinson organized land settlements of Catholic tenant farmers in the 1820s to areas of rural Eastern Ontario, which helped establish Peterborough
as a regional centre.
The Irish were instrumental in the building of the Rideau Canal. Along side French-Canadians, thousands of Irish laboured tirelessly in difficult terrain. Hundreds, if not thousands, died because of malaria.
, Cavan
, Dublin, Wicklow
, Limerick
and Cork
. Quarantine facilities were hastily constructed to accommodate them. Nurses, Doctors, Priests, Nuns, compatriots, some politicians and ordinary citizens aided them. Thousands died in Ontario that summer alone, mostly from Typhus
.
How permanent a settlement was depended on circumstances. Case in point, Irish immigration to North Hastings County, Canada West, came after 1846. Most of the immigrants were attracted to North Hastings by free land grants beginning in 1856. Three Irish settlements were established in North Hastings: Umfraville, Doyle's Corner, and O'Brien Settlement. The Irish were primarily Roman Catholic. Crop failures in 1867 halted the road program near the Irish settlements, and departing settlers afterward outnumbered new arrivals. By 1870, only the successful settlers, most of whom were farmers who raised grazing animals, remained.
An economic boom and rapid growth in the years after their arrival allowed many Irish men to obtain steady employment on the rapidly expanding railroad network, construction in the cities or in the logging industry, some venturing to the more remote parts of eastern, central and northern Ontario. Women would often enter into domestic service. Others farmed the relatively cheap, arable land of southern Ontario. There was a strong Irish rural presence in Ontario in comparison to their brethren in the northern US, but they were also numerous in the towns and cities. Later generations of these poorer immigrants were among those who rose to prominence in unions, business, law, the arts and politics.
Redclift (2003) concludes that many of the one million migrants, mainly of British and Irish origin, who arrived in Canada in the mid-19th century benefited from the availability of land and absence of social barriers to mobility. This enabled them to think and feel like citizens of the new country in a way denied them back in the old country.
Akenson (1984) argues that the Canadian experience of Irish immigrants is not comparable to the American one
. He contends that the numerical dominance of Protestants within the national group and the rural basis of the Irish community negated the formation of urban ghettos and allowed for a relative ease in social mobility. In comparison, the American Irish in the Northeast and Midwest were dominantly Catholic, urban dwelling, and ghettoized. There was however, the existence of Irish centric ghettos in Toronto (Cabbagetown
, Trinity Niagara
, the Ward
) at the fringes of urban development, at least for the first few decades after the famine and in the case of Trefann Court
, a holdout against public housing and urban renewal, up to the 1970s. This was also the case in other Canadian cities with significant Irish Catholic populations such as Montreal, Ottawa and Saint John but these ghettos, like the American ones, were not Irish in totality.
Likewise the new labor historians believe that the rise of the Knights of Labor caused the Orange and Catholic Irish in Toronto to resolve their generational hatred and set about to form a common working-class culture. This theory presumes that Irish-Catholic culture was of little value, to be rejected with such ease. Nicolson (1985) argues that neither theory is valid. He says that in the ghettos of Toronto the fusion of an Irish peasant culture with traditional Catholism produced a new, urban, ethno-religious vehicle - Irish Tridentine Catholism. This culture spread from the city to the hinterland and, by means of metropolitan linkage, throughout Ontario. Privatism created a closed Irish society, and, while Irish Catholics cooperated in labor organizations for the sake of their family's future, they never shared in the development of a new working-class culture with their old Orange enemies.
in 1867, Catholics were granted a separate school board. Through the late 19th and early 20th century, Irish immigration to Ontario continued but a slower pace, much of it family reunification. Out migration of Irish in Ontario (along with others) occurred during this period following economic downturns, available new land and mining booms in the US or the Canadian West. The reverse is true of those with Irish descent who migrated to Ontario from the Maritimes and Newfoundland seeking work, mostly since World War II
.
In 1877, a breakthrough in Irish Canadian Protestant-Catholic relations occurred in London, Ontario
. This was the founding of the Irish Benevolent Society
, a brotherhood of Irishmen and women of both Catholic and Protestant faiths. The society promoted Irish Canadian culture, but it was forbidden for members to speak of Irish politics when meeting. Today, the Society is still operating.
Some writers have assumed that the Irish in 19th-century North America as impoverished. DiMatteo (1992), using evidence from probate records in 1892 shows this is untrue. Irish-born and Canadian-born Irish accumulated wealth similarly, and that being Irish was not an economic disadvantage by the 1890s. Immigrants from earlier decades may well have experienced greater economic difficulties, but in general the Irish in Ontario in the 1890s enjoyed levels of wealth commensurate with the rest of the populace.
By 1901 Ontario Irish Catholics and Scottish Presbyterians were among the most likely to own homes, while Anglicans did only moderately well, despite their traditional association with Canada's elite. French-speaking Catholics in Ontario achieved wealth and status less readily than Protestants and Irish Catholics. Although differences in attainment existed between people of different religious denominations, the difference between Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants in urban Canada was relatively insignificant.
or "Irish language speaking area" outside of Ireland, as is recognized by the Irish government.
With the downturn of Ireland's economy in 2010, Irish people are again coming to Canada looking for work. Some are coming on work and travel visas.
There are many communities in Ontario that are named after places and last names of Ireland: Ballinafad, Ballyduff, Ballymote, Cavan, Connaught, Connellys, Dalton
, Donnybrook
, Dublin, Dundalk
, Dunnville, Enniskillen
, Erinsville, Galway
, Hagarty, Irish Lake, Kearney
, Keenansville, Kennedys, Killaloe
, Killarney
, Limerick
, Listowel, Lucan, Maguire
, Malone, McGarry
, Moffat, Mullifarry, Munster
, Navan
, New Dublin, O'Connell, Oranmore, Quinn Settlement, Ripley, Shamrock, South Monaghan
, Waterford and Westport
.
The Miramichi River valley, received a significant Irish immigration in the years before the potato famine. These settlers tended to be better off and better educated than the later arrivals, who came out of desperation. Though coming after the Scottish and the French Acadians, they made their way in this new land, intermarrying with the Catholic Highland Scots, and to a lesser extent, with the Acadians. Some, like Martin Cranney
, held elective office and became the natural leaders of their augmented Irish community after the arrival of the famine immigrants. The early Irish came to the Miramichi because it was easy to get to with lumber ships stopping in Ireland before returning to Chatham and Newcastle, and because it provided economic opportunities, especially in the lumber industry.
Long a timber-exporting colony, New Brunswick
became the destination of thousands of Irish immigrants in the form of refugees fleeing the potato famines during the mid-19th century as the timber cargo vessels provided cheap passage when returning empty to the colony. Quarantine hospitals were located on islands at the mouth of the colony's two major ports, Saint John
(Partridge Island) and Chatham
-Newcastle
(Middle Island), where many would ultimately die. Those who survived settled on marginal agricultural lands in the Miramichi River valley and in the Saint John River and Kennebecasis River
valleys, however, the difficulty of farming these regions saw many Irish immigrant families moving to the colony's major cities within a generation or to Portland, Maine
or Boston
.
Saint John and Chatham, New Brunswick
saw large numbers of Irish migrants, changing the nature and character of both municipalities. Today, all of the amalgamated city of Miramichi
continues to host a large annual Irish festival. Indeed, Miramichi is one of the most Irish communities in North America, second possibly only to St. Johns or Boston.
had been divided between Irish Catholics and British Protestants (which included Ulster Scots from Northern Ireland). In the latter half of the 20th century, this sectarianism diminished and was ultimately destroyed recently after two events occurred. First, the Catholic and Protestant school boards were merged into one secular institution; second, the practice of electing two MLAs for each provincial riding (one Catholic and one Protestant) was ended.
(BIS) was founded as a philanthropic organization in St. John's, Newfoundland. Membership was open to adult residents of Newfoundland who were of Irish birth or ancestry, regardless of religious persuasion. The BIS was founded as a charitable, fraternal, middle-class social organization, on the principles of "benevolence and philanthropy", and had as its original objective to provide the necessary skills which would enable the poor to better themselves. Today the society is still active in Newfoundland and is the oldest philanthropic organization in North America.
Newfoundland Irish Catholics, mainly from the southeast of Ireland, settled in the cities (mainly St. John's
and parts of the surrounding Avalon Peninsula
), while British Protestants, mainly from the West Country, settled in small fishing communities. Over time, the Irish Catholics became wealthier than their Protestant neighbours, which gave incentive for Protestant Newfoundlanders to join the Orange Order. In 1903, Sir William Coaker founded the Fisherman's Protective Union (F.P.U.) in an Orange Hall in Herring Neck. Furthermore, during the term of Commission of Government (1934–1949), the Orange Lodge was one of only a handful of "democratic" organizations that existed in the Dominion of Newfoundland
. In 1948, a referendum
was held in Newfoundland as to its political future; the Irish Catholics mainly supported a return to independence for Newfoundland as it existed before 1934, while the Protestants mainly supported joining the Canadian Confederation
. Newfoundland then joined Canada by a 52-48% margin, and with an influx of Protestants into St. John's after the closure of the east coast cod fishery in the 1990s, the main issues have become one of Rural vs. Urban interests rather than anything ethnic or religious.
To Newfoundland, the Irish gave the still-familiar family names of southeast Ireland: Walsh, Power, Murphy, Ryan, Whelan, Phelan, O'Brien, Kelly, Hanlon, Neville, Bambrick, Halley, Dillon, Byrne, Burke, and FitzGerald. Irish place names are less common, many of the island's more prominent landmarks having already been named by early French and English explorers. Nevertheless, Newfoundland's Ballyhack, Cappahayden, Kilbride, St. Bride's, Port Kirwan and Skibereen all point to Irish antecedents.
Along with traditional names, the Irish brought their native tongue. Newfoundland was one of the few places outside Ireland where the Irish language
was spoken by a majority of the population as their primary language. In fact Newfoundland Irish
is its own distinct dialect. While the Irish language has become very uncommmon in Newfoundland today, its influence on Newfoundland English
, both lexically (in words like 'angishore' and 'sleveen') and grammatically (the 'after' past-tense construction, for instance), is apparent.
Newfoundland is the only place outside Europe with its own distinctive name in the Irish language, Talamh an Éisc, "the land of fish". The family names, the features and colouring, the predominant Catholic
religion, the prevalence of Irish music – even the dialect and accent of the people – are so reminiscent of rural Ireland that Irish author Tim Pat Coogan
has described Newfoundland as "the most Irish place in the world outside of Ireland".
It should be noted that most of the Irish migration to Newfoundland was pre-famine (late 18th century and early 19th century), and two centuries of isolation have led many of Irish descent in Newfoundland to consider their ethnic identity as "Newfoundlander," and not "Irish," although they are aware of the cultural links between the two. It is estimated that approximately 80% of Newfoundlanders are of at least partial Irish descent.
Many Nova Scotians who claim Irish ancestry are of Presbyterian Ulster-Scottish descent. William Sommerville (1800–78) was ordained in the Irish Reformed Presbyterian Church and in 1831 was sent as a missionary to New Brunswick. There, with missionary Alexander Clarke, he formed the Reformed Presbytery of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in 1832 before becoming minister of the West Cornwallis congregation in Grafton, Nova Scotia, in 1833. Although a strict Covenanter, Sommerville initially ministered to Presbyterians generally over a very extensive district. Presbyterian centers included Colchester County, Nova Scotia
. Common surnames included Archibald, Barnhill, Bell, Blair, Brown, Campbell, Cameron, Carter, Chisholm, Clark, Cook, Corbett, Cox, Creelman, Crow, Davison, Delaney, Daly, Dickie, Dickson, Dunlap, Durning, Faulkner, Fisher, Fletcher, Fraser, Fulmore, Fulton, Gamble, Graham, Hamilton, Healy, Henderson, Higgins, Hill, Johnson, Johnston, Kennedy, Lahey, Langille, Lewis, MacAleese, Marsh, McBurnie, McCully, McCurdy, McDonald, McIntosh, McKay, McKenzie, McLaughlin, McLean, McLelan, McLellan, McLeod, McNutt, Miller, Moore, Morrison, Murphy, Murray, Nelson, Peppard, Ross, Rutherford, Savage, Smith, Spencer, Simpson, Staples, Stevens, Stewart, Sweeney, Taylor, Thompson, Vance, Williams, Wilson, and Wright. O'Brien and Ryan are also surnames from the period suggesting some of the families to arrive may have been Catholic. However, many Scottish immigrants who settled in that area are from the Highlands and many are Catholic making it hard to distinguish Irish and Scottish people.
Catholic Irish settlement in Nova Scotia was traditionally restricted to the urban Halifax area. Halifax, founded in 1749, was estimated to be about 16% Irish Catholic in 1767 and about 9% by the end of the 18th century. Although the harsh laws enacted against them were generally not enforced, Irish Catholics had no legal rights in the early history of the city. Catholic membership in the legislature was nonexistent until near the end of the century. In 1829 Lawrence O'Connor Doyle, of Irish parentage, became the first of his faith to become a lawyer and helped to overcome opposition to the Irish.
In addition there are also rural Irish
village settlements throughout most of Guysborough County, such as the Erinville (meaning Irishville) /Salmon River Lake/Ogden/Bantry (named after Bantry Bay
, County Cork
, Ireland
but abandoned since the 19th century for better farmland in places like Erinville/Salmon River Lake) district where Irish
last names are prevalent and the accent is strongly reminiscent of the Irish
as well as the musical culture (maritime traditional music being some of the most Irish
styles of music played in the world outside of Ireland
), food, Religion (Roman Catholic), language heritage (being that some can still understand parts of the Irish language
, the older generation being the most fluent thus the language weakening in this area), love of the drink and love for Ireland
itself. Some of the Irish
last names known or once known in the Guysborough County area are Barry, Brophy, Boone, Burke, Burns, Callaghan (From County Roscommon
, Ireland
) , Cashen, Cleary, Cochran, Cody, Coffey, Cohoon, Connoly, Costley, Curtie, Daley, Day, Doyle, Duggan, Dunbar, Dunn, Eagan, Egan, Farrell, Flaherty, Flynn, Gallagher, Gerry, Gough, Halloran, Hanifan (From Ventry
, Dingle Peninsula
, County Kerry
, Ireland
), Hanifen (From Ventry
, Dingle Peninsula
, Country Kerry, Ireland
), Hanifin (From Ventry
, Dingle Peninsula
, County Kerry
, Ireland
), Hannafin (From Dingle Peninsula
, County Kerry
, Ireland
), Hannifan (From Dingle Peninsula
, County Kerry
, Ireland
), Hogan, Hurley, Keef, Keefe, Kelly, Kennedy, Kenney, Kenny, Kent, Long, Lynes, Maguire, Malloy, McAllister, McCallum, McColl, McDonald, McDougall, McGuire, McIsaac, McKinnon, McNauten, Murphy, Neal, O'Connor, O'Donoghue, O'Gorman, O'Neal, O'Neale, O'Neil, O'Neile, Power, Russell, Shancy, Shaughnessy, Sullivan, Terry, Torey, Welsh, White along with others. In parts of Antigonish County there is also quite a few Irish villages such as Cloverville, Ireland and Lochaber as well as on Cape Breton Island
, in places such as New Waterford, Rocky Bay, the Lower Rover inhabitants area, and Glace Bay, all still very rich in Irish culture.
Murdoch (1998) notes that the popular image of Cape Breton Island as a last bastion of Scottish Highland and specifically Gaelic culture distorts the complex history of the island since the 16th century. The original Micmac inhabitants, Acadian French, Lowland Scots, Irish, Loyalists from New England, and English have all contributed to a history which has included cultural, religious, and political conflict as well as cooperation and synthesis. The Highland Scots became the largest community in the early 19th century, and their heritage in music, folklore, and language has survived government indifference, but it is now threatened by a synthetic marketable 'tartan clan doll culture' aimed primarily at tourists.
Irish migration to the Prairie Provinces had two distinct components: those who came via eastern Canada or the United States, and those who came directly from Ireland. Many of the Irish-Canadians who came west were fairly well assimilated, in that they spoke English and understood British customs and law, and tended to be regarded as a part of English Canada
. However, this picture was complicated by the religious division. Many of the original "English" Canadian settlers in the Red River Colony
were fervent Irish Loyalist Protestants, and members of the Orange Order. They clashed with Catholic Metis leader Louis Riel
's provisional government during the Red River Resistance, and as a result Thomas Scott
was executed, inflaming sectarian tensions in the east. At this time and during the course of the following decades, many of the Catholic Irish were fighting for separate Catholic schools in the west, but sometimes clashed with the Francophone element of the Catholic community during the Manitoba Schools Question
. After World War I and the de facto
resolution of the religious schools issue, any eastern Irish-Canadians moving west blended in totally with the majority society. The small group of Irish-born who arrived in the second half of the 20th Century tended to be urban professionals, a stark contrast to the agrarian pioneers who had come before.
About 10% of the population of Saskatchewan during 1850-1930 were Irish-born or of Irish origin. Cottrell (1999) examines the social, economic, political, religious, and ideological impact of the Irish diaspora on pioneer society and suggests that both individually and collectively, the Irish were a relatively privileged group. The most visible manifestations of intergenerational Irish ethnicity - the Catholic Church and the Orange Order - served as vehicles for recreating Irish culture on the prairies and as forums for ethnic fusion, which integrated people of Irish origin with settlers of other nationalities. The Irish were thus a vital force for cohesion in an ethnically diverse frontier society, but also a source of major tension with elements that did not share their vision of how the province of Saskatchewan should evolve.
The Orange Order, with its two main tenets, anti-Catholicism and loyalty to Britain, flourished in Ontario. Largely coincident with Protestant Irish settlement, its role pervaded the political, social and community as well as religious lives of its followers. Spatially, Orange lodges were founded as Irish Protestant settlement spread north and west from its original focus on the Lake Ontario plain. Although the number of active members, and thus their influence, may have been overestimated, the Orange influence was considerable and comparable to the Catholic influence in Quebec.
In Montreal in 1853, the Orange Order organized speeches by the fiercely anti-Catholic and anti-Irish former priest Alessandro Gavazzi, resulting in a violent confrontation between the Irish and the Scots. St. Patrick's Day processions in Toronto were often disrupted by tensions, that boiled over to the extent that the parade was cancelled permanently by the mayor in 1878 and not re-instituted until 110 years later in 1988. The Jubilee Riots of 1875 jarred Toronto in a time when sectarian tensions ran at their highest. Irish Catholics in Toronto were an embattled minority among a Protestant population that included a large Irish Protestant contingent strongly committed to the Orange Order.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. 1.2 million Irish immigrants arrived, 1825 to 1970, at least half of those in the period from 1831-1850. By 1867, they were the second largest ethnic group (after the French), and comprised 24% of Canada's population. The 1931 national census counted 1,230,000 Canadians of Irish descent, half of whom lived in Ontario. About one-third were Catholic in 1931 and two-thirds Protestants.
The Irish immigrants were largely Protestant before the famine years of the 1840s, when the Catholics arrived in large numbers. However, most Catholic Irish after 1850 usually headed to the U.S., England, Australia and Scotland.
The 2006 census by Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada is the Canadian federal government agency commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. Its headquarters is in Ottawa....
, Canada's Official Statistical office revealed that the Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
were the 4th largest ethnic group with 4,354,000 Canadians with full or partial Irish descent or 14% of the country's total population. This was a large and significant increase of 531,495 since the 2001 census, which counted 3,823,000 respondents quoting Irish ethnicity.
Irish in Canada
Cork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
travelled to Newfoundland.
After the permanent settlement in Newfoundland by Irish in early 19th century, overwhelmingly from Waterford
County Waterford
*Abbeyside, Affane, Aglish, Annestown, An Rinn, Ardmore*Ballinacourty, Ballinameela, Ballinamult, Ballinroad, Ballybeg, Ballybricken, Ballyduff Lower, Ballyduff Upper, Ballydurn, Ballygunner, Ballylaneen, Ballymacarbry, Ballymacart, Ballynaneashagh, Ballysaggart, Ballytruckle, Bilberry, Bunmahon,...
, increased immigration of the Irish elsewhere in Canada began in the decades following the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
. Between the years 1825 to 1845, 60% of all immigrants to Canada were Irish; in 1831 alone, some 34,000 arrived in Montréal.
But the peak period of entry of the Irish to Canada in terms of sheer numbers occurred in the 1830-50 period when 624,000 arrived, or 31,000 a year; smaller numbers arrived in Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
. Besides Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
and New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, especially Saint John
Saint John, New Brunswick
City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...
were popular destinations.
During this time, Canada was the destination of the most destitute Irish Catholics cleared from land estates and leaving the crowded docks of Liverpool, numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Passage fares to Canada were much lower than those to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, due to such factors as distance and the use of empty, returning timber ships to transport the masses.
Catholics
The great majority of Irish Catholics arrived in Grosse IsleGrosse Isle, Quebec
Grosse Isle Also known as Grosse Isle and the Irish Memorial National Historic Site, the island was the site of an immigration depot which predominantly housed Irish Immigrants coming to Canada to escape the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1849...
, an island in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
in the St. Lawrence River, which housed the immigration reception station. Thousands died or were arrived sick and were treated in the hospital (equipped for less than one hundred patients) in the summer of 1847; in fact, many boats that reached Grosse-Île had lost the bulk of their passengers and crew, and many more died in quarantine
Quarantine
Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....
on or near the island. From Grosse-Ile, most survivors were sent to Montréal, where the existing Irish community mushroomed. The orphaned children were adopted into Québec families and accordingly became Québécois
French-speaking Quebecer
French-speaking Quebecers are francophone residents of the Canadian province of Quebec....
, both linguistically and culturally.
Many of the families that survived continued on to settle in Canada West (formerly Upper Canada, now Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
) or the United States (many to Chicago and the Midwest).
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
who fled famine, a good number of the Irish in Canada settled in rural areas and not in the cities, though there were many exceptions (especially in Quebec and New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, see below for more information).
The Catholic Irish in Canada felt discrimination from Protestants, especially after the Fenian
Fenian Brotherhood
The Fenian Brotherhood was an Irish republican organization founded in the United States in 1858 by John O'Mahony and Michael Doheny. It was a precursor to Clan na Gael, a sister organization to the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Members were commonly known as "Fenians"...
raids—an attempted invasion by Catholics based in the U.S. in 1866 and 1870. Although the Irish Catholic community in Canada did in part condemn the attacks, many were torn between loyalty to their new home and the memory of harsh British rule in Ireland. There were violent clashes with the French Canadians in Ontario as well.
Thomas D'Arcy McGee, an Irish-Montreal journalist, became a Father of Confederation in 1867. An Irish Republican in his early years, he would moderate his view in later years and become a passionate advocate of Confederation
Confederation
A confederation in modern political terms is a permanent union of political units for common action in relation to other units. Usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution, confederations tend to be established for dealing with critical issues such as defense, foreign...
. He was instrumental in enshrining educational rights for minority Catholics in the Canadian Constitution. In 1868, he was assassinated in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
. It was claimed a Fenian named Patrick J. Whelan was the assassin, attacking McGee for his recent anti-Raid statements. This was later called into question, with many believing that Whelan was falsely accused as a scapegoat in the assassination.
After Confederation, Irish Catholics faced more oppression, probably because of their faith rather than their ethnicity. This was especially true in the mainly Protestant province of Ontario, which was under the political sway of the already entrenched anti-Catholic Orange Order
Orange Institution
The Orange Institution is a Protestant fraternal organisation based mainly in Northern Ireland and Scotland, though it has lodges throughout the Commonwealth and United States. The Institution was founded in 1796 near the village of Loughgall in County Armagh, Ireland...
, Ottawa excepted. The anthem "The Maple Leaf Forever
The Maple Leaf Forever
"The Maple Leaf Forever" is a Canadian song written by Alexander Muir in 1867, the year of Canada's Confederation. He wrote the work after serving with The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada in the Battle of Ridgeway against the Fenians in 1866....
," written and composed by Scottish immigrant and Orangeman Alexander Muir
Alexander Muir
Alexander Muir was a Canadian songwriter, poet, soldier, and school headmaster. He was the composer of The Maple Leaf Forever, which he wrote in October 1867 to celebrate the Confederation of Canada.-Early life:...
, reflects the British Ulster loyalism
Ulster loyalism
Ulster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...
outlook of many Protestant Canadians of the time. However the tensions subsided by 1900.
Demographics
The following statistics are from the 2006 Census of CanadaCanada 2006 Census
The Canada 2006 Census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. Census day was May 16, 2006. The next census following will be the 2011 Census. Canada's total population enumerated by the 2006 census was 31,612,897...
.
| Province/Territory | Irish Canadian population |
Percentage of Population |
|---|---|---|
| Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400... |
107,390 | 21.5% |
| Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population... |
39,170 | 29.2% |
| Nova Scotia Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the... |
195,365 | 21.6% |
| New Brunswick New Brunswick New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area... |
150,705 | 21.0% |
| Quebec Quebec Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level.... |
406,085 | 5.5% |
| Ontario Ontario Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa.... |
1,988,940 | 16.5% |
| Manitoba Manitoba Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other... |
151,915 | 13.4% |
| Saskatchewan Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota.... |
145,480 | 15.3% |
| Alberta Alberta Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces... |
539,160 | 16.6% |
| British Columbia British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858... |
618,120 | 15.2% |
| Yukon Yukon Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in.... |
5,735 | 19.0% |
| Northwest Territories Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south... |
4,860 | 11.8% |
| Nunavut Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993... |
1,220 | 4.2% |
| Canada | 4,354,155 | 13.9% |
Irish in Quebec
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
during the 1840s and were hired as labourers to build the Victoria Bridge
Victoria Bridge (Montreal)
Victoria Bridge , formerly originally known as Victoria Jubilee Bridge, is a bridge over the St. Lawrence River, linking Montreal, Quebec, to the south shore city of Saint-Lambert....
, living in a tent city at the foot of the bridge. Here, workers unearthed a mass grave of 6,000 Irish immigrants who had died at nearby Windmill Point in the typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
outbreak of 1847-48. The Irish Commemorative Stone or "Black Rock," as it is commonly known, was erected by bridge workers to commemorate the tragedy.
The Irish would go on to settle permanently in the close-knit working-class neighbourhoods of Pointe-Saint-Charles
Pointe-Saint-Charles
Pointe-Saint-Charles is a neighbourhood in the borough of Le Sud-Ouest in city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.-Geography:...
, Griffintown
Griffintown
Griffintown is the popular name given to the former southwestern downtown part of Montreal, Quebec, which existed from the 1820s until the 1960s and was mainly populated by Irish immigrants and their descendants....
and Goose Village, Montreal
Goose Village, Montreal
Goose Village was a neighbourhood in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its official but less commonly used name was Victoriatown, after the adjacent Victoria Bridge...
. With the help of Quebec's Catholic Church, they would establish their own churches, schools, and hospitals. St. Patrick's Basilica was founded in 1847 and served Montreal's English-speaking Catholics for over a century. Loyola College (Montreal)
Loyola College (Montreal)
Loyola College was a Jesuit college in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It ceased to exist when it was incorporated into Concordia University in 1974. A portion of the original College remains as a separate entity called Loyola High School....
was founded by the Jesuits to serve Montreal's mostly Irish English-speaking Catholic community in 1896. Saint Mary's Hospital was founded in the 1920s and continues to serve Montreal's present-day English-speaking population. The St. Patrick's Day Parade in Montréal is one of the oldest in North America, dating back to 1824. It annually attracts crowds of over 600,000 people.
Pontiac, Quebec
Pontiac is a municipality in western Quebec, Canada, in Les Collines-de-l'Outaouais Regional County Municipality on the Rivière des Outaouais , created through the forced amalgamation of North and South Onslow, Quyon, Eardlyy, and Luskville. It should not be confused with the Pontiac Regional...
, Gatineau and Papineau where there was an active timber industry. However, most would move on to larger North American cities.
Many Irish immigrants would also assimilate into French-Canadian society. After the disaster at Grosse-Île (see above), many Irish children were left as orphans in a new country. The Catholic Church would arrange for these children to be adopted by French Canadians in Lower Canada
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...
. Some of these children kept their Irish surnames (Caissie to Kessy, Riel to Reilly..). A common Catholic religion also allowed Irish immigrants to intermarry with French Canadians, and children would often speak French as a first language.
Today, many Québécois
French-speaking Quebecer
French-speaking Quebecers are francophone residents of the Canadian province of Quebec....
have some Irish ancestry. Examples are Daniel Johnson
Daniel Johnson
Daniel Johnson may refer to* Daniel Johnson , English buccaneer* Daniel Johnson, Sr. , politician, leader of the Union Nationale party and Quebec premier, 1966–1968* Daniel Johnson, Jr...
, Claude Ryan
Claude Ryan
Claude Ryan, was a Canadian politician and leader of the Parti libéral du Québec from 1978 to 1982. He was also the National Assembly of Quebec member for Argenteuil from 1979 to 1994.-Early life and career:...
, the current Premier Jean Charest
Jean Charest
John James "Jean" Charest, PC, MNA is a Canadian politician who has been the 29th Premier of Quebec since 2003. He was leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1993 to 1998 and has been leader of the Quebec Liberal Party since 1998....
, and the late Georges Dor
Georges Dor
Georges Dor was a Québécois author, composer, playwright, singer, poet, translator, and theatrical producer and director....
(born Georges-Henri Dore). The Irish constitute the second largest ethnic group in the province after the French Canadians and one estimate suggests that as many as 40 percent of the French-speaking Quebecers have some Irish ancestry.
Irish in Ontario
From the times of early European settlement in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Irish had been coming to Ontario, in small numbers and in the service of New FranceNew France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
as missionaries, soldiers, geographers and fur trappers.
After the creation of British North America
British North America
British North America is a historical term. It consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of American independence in 1783.At the start of the Revolutionary War in 1775 the British...
in 1763, Protestant Irish, both Irish Anglicans and Ulster-Scottish Presbyterians had been migrating over the decades to Upper Canada
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
, some as United Empire Loyalists
United Empire Loyalists
The name United Empire Loyalists is an honorific given after the fact to those American Loyalists who resettled in British North America and other British Colonies as an act of fealty to King George III after the British defeat in the American Revolutionary War and prior to the Treaty of Paris...
or directly from Ulster
Ulster
Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...
.
In the years after the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
, an increasing numbers of Irish, a growing number Catholic, were venturing to Canada to obtain work on projects such as canals, roads, railroads and in the lumber industry. The labourers were known as ‘navvies’ and built much of the early infrastructure in the province. Settlement schemes offering cheap (or free) land brought over farmer families. Munster (particularly Tipperary
County Tipperary
County Tipperary is a county of Ireland. It is located in the province of Munster and is named after the town of Tipperary. The area of the county does not have a single local authority; local government is split between two authorities. In North Tipperary, part of the Mid-West Region, local...
and Cork) were frequent sources of these migrants. Peter Robinson organized land settlements of Catholic tenant farmers in the 1820s to areas of rural Eastern Ontario, which helped establish Peterborough
Peterborough, Ontario
Peterborough is a city on the Otonabee River in southern Ontario, Canada, 125 kilometres northeast of Toronto. The population of the City of Peterborough was 74,898 as of the 2006 census, while the census metropolitan area has a population of 121,428 as of a 2009 estimate. It presently ranks...
as a regional centre.
The Irish were instrumental in the building of the Rideau Canal. Along side French-Canadians, thousands of Irish laboured tirelessly in difficult terrain. Hundreds, if not thousands, died because of malaria.
Famine in Ireland
The Great Irish Hunger 1845-1849, had a large impact on Ontario. At its peak in the summer of 1847, boatloads of sick migrants arrived in desperate circumstances on steamers from Quebec to Bytown (presently Ottawa), and to ports of call on Lake Ontario, chief amongst them Kingston and Toronto, in addition to many other smaller communities across southern Ontario. They came from the land estates in counties such as Sligo, ClareCounty Clare
-History:There was a Neolithic civilisation in the Clare area — the name of the peoples is unknown, but the Prehistoric peoples left evidence behind in the form of ancient dolmen; single-chamber megalithic tombs, usually consisting of three or more upright stones...
, Cavan
Cavan
Cavan is the county town of County Cavan in the Republic of Ireland. The town lies in the north central part of Ireland, near the border with Northern Ireland...
, Dublin, Wicklow
Wicklow
Wicklow) is the county town of County Wicklow in Ireland. Located south of Dublin on the east coast of the island, it has a population of 10,070 according to the 2006 census. The town is situated to the east of the N11 route between Dublin and Wexford. Wicklow is also connected to the rail...
, Limerick
Limerick
Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...
and Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
. Quarantine facilities were hastily constructed to accommodate them. Nurses, Doctors, Priests, Nuns, compatriots, some politicians and ordinary citizens aided them. Thousands died in Ontario that summer alone, mostly from Typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
.
How permanent a settlement was depended on circumstances. Case in point, Irish immigration to North Hastings County, Canada West, came after 1846. Most of the immigrants were attracted to North Hastings by free land grants beginning in 1856. Three Irish settlements were established in North Hastings: Umfraville, Doyle's Corner, and O'Brien Settlement. The Irish were primarily Roman Catholic. Crop failures in 1867 halted the road program near the Irish settlements, and departing settlers afterward outnumbered new arrivals. By 1870, only the successful settlers, most of whom were farmers who raised grazing animals, remained.
An economic boom and rapid growth in the years after their arrival allowed many Irish men to obtain steady employment on the rapidly expanding railroad network, construction in the cities or in the logging industry, some venturing to the more remote parts of eastern, central and northern Ontario. Women would often enter into domestic service. Others farmed the relatively cheap, arable land of southern Ontario. There was a strong Irish rural presence in Ontario in comparison to their brethren in the northern US, but they were also numerous in the towns and cities. Later generations of these poorer immigrants were among those who rose to prominence in unions, business, law, the arts and politics.
Redclift (2003) concludes that many of the one million migrants, mainly of British and Irish origin, who arrived in Canada in the mid-19th century benefited from the availability of land and absence of social barriers to mobility. This enabled them to think and feel like citizens of the new country in a way denied them back in the old country.
Akenson (1984) argues that the Canadian experience of Irish immigrants is not comparable to the American one
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
. He contends that the numerical dominance of Protestants within the national group and the rural basis of the Irish community negated the formation of urban ghettos and allowed for a relative ease in social mobility. In comparison, the American Irish in the Northeast and Midwest were dominantly Catholic, urban dwelling, and ghettoized. There was however, the existence of Irish centric ghettos in Toronto (Cabbagetown
Cabbagetown, Toronto
Cabbagetown is a neighbourhood located on the east side of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It comprises "the largest continuous area of preserved Victorian housing in all of North America", according to the Cabbagetown Preservation Association....
, Trinity Niagara
Trinity Niagara
Niagara is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located along and south of Queen Street West; it is usually bordered by Atlantic Avenue to the west, Bathurst Street to the east, and the railway corridor to the south, and so named because Niagara Street runs through the centre of it...
, the Ward
The Ward
The Ward can refer to:*Ward *The Ward , a horror film by John Carpenter*Children's Ward, a British children's television drama series...
) at the fringes of urban development, at least for the first few decades after the famine and in the case of Trefann Court
Trefann Court
Trefann Court is a small neighbourhood in the eastern part of downtown Toronto, Canada. It is located on the north side of Queen Street between Parliament Street and River Street. It extends north only a short distance to Shuter St. In the nineteenth century Trefann Court was considered a part of...
, a holdout against public housing and urban renewal, up to the 1970s. This was also the case in other Canadian cities with significant Irish Catholic populations such as Montreal, Ottawa and Saint John but these ghettos, like the American ones, were not Irish in totality.
Likewise the new labor historians believe that the rise of the Knights of Labor caused the Orange and Catholic Irish in Toronto to resolve their generational hatred and set about to form a common working-class culture. This theory presumes that Irish-Catholic culture was of little value, to be rejected with such ease. Nicolson (1985) argues that neither theory is valid. He says that in the ghettos of Toronto the fusion of an Irish peasant culture with traditional Catholism produced a new, urban, ethno-religious vehicle - Irish Tridentine Catholism. This culture spread from the city to the hinterland and, by means of metropolitan linkage, throughout Ontario. Privatism created a closed Irish society, and, while Irish Catholics cooperated in labor organizations for the sake of their family's future, they never shared in the development of a new working-class culture with their old Orange enemies.
Confederation
With Canadian ConfederationCanadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
in 1867, Catholics were granted a separate school board. Through the late 19th and early 20th century, Irish immigration to Ontario continued but a slower pace, much of it family reunification. Out migration of Irish in Ontario (along with others) occurred during this period following economic downturns, available new land and mining booms in the US or the Canadian West. The reverse is true of those with Irish descent who migrated to Ontario from the Maritimes and Newfoundland seeking work, mostly since World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
In 1877, a breakthrough in Irish Canadian Protestant-Catholic relations occurred in London, Ontario
London, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
. This was the founding of the Irish Benevolent Society
Irish Benevolent Society of London, Ontario
The Irish Benevolent Society of London, Ontario is a philanthropic organization founded on March 1, 1877. Its purposes are to provide opportunities for Canadians of Irish descent and their friends to engage in benevolent activities and to preserve their Irish heritage.The Society was unique at the...
, a brotherhood of Irishmen and women of both Catholic and Protestant faiths. The society promoted Irish Canadian culture, but it was forbidden for members to speak of Irish politics when meeting. Today, the Society is still operating.
Some writers have assumed that the Irish in 19th-century North America as impoverished. DiMatteo (1992), using evidence from probate records in 1892 shows this is untrue. Irish-born and Canadian-born Irish accumulated wealth similarly, and that being Irish was not an economic disadvantage by the 1890s. Immigrants from earlier decades may well have experienced greater economic difficulties, but in general the Irish in Ontario in the 1890s enjoyed levels of wealth commensurate with the rest of the populace.
By 1901 Ontario Irish Catholics and Scottish Presbyterians were among the most likely to own homes, while Anglicans did only moderately well, despite their traditional association with Canada's elite. French-speaking Catholics in Ontario achieved wealth and status less readily than Protestants and Irish Catholics. Although differences in attainment existed between people of different religious denominations, the difference between Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants in urban Canada was relatively insignificant.
20th century
Ciani (2008) concludes that support of World War I fostered an identity among Irish Catholics as loyal citizens and helped integrate them into the social fabric of the nation. Michael Francis Fallon contributed to these changes as bishop of London. Fallon's primary motive, however, was to advance the cause of Irish Catholics in Canada and abroad. He largely ignored the interests of French Canadian Catholics, was a vocal opponent of bilingual education, and consistently favored those of Irish heritage for advancement in the Church and government. As a result, French Canadians did not participate in Fallon's efforts to support the war effort and became more marginalized in Canadian politics and society.Present
Today, the impact of the heavy 19th century Irish immigration to Ontario is evident as those who report Irish extraction in the province number close to 2 million people or almost half the total Canadians who claim Irish ancestry. In 2004, March 17 was proclaimed “Irish Heritage Day” by the Ontario Legislature in recognition of the immense Irish contribution to the development of the Province. Further, Ontario is home to the only GaeltachtGaeltacht
is the Irish language word meaning an Irish-speaking region. In Ireland, the Gaeltacht, or an Ghaeltacht, refers individually to any, or collectively to all, of the districts where the government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant language, that is, the vernacular spoken at home...
or "Irish language speaking area" outside of Ireland, as is recognized by the Irish government.
With the downturn of Ireland's economy in 2010, Irish people are again coming to Canada looking for work. Some are coming on work and travel visas.
There are many communities in Ontario that are named after places and last names of Ireland: Ballinafad, Ballyduff, Ballymote, Cavan, Connaught, Connellys, Dalton
Dalton Township, Ontario
The Township of Dalton was a municipality located in the northwest corner of the former Victoria County, now the city of Kawartha Lakes, in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was named after Dr...
, Donnybrook
Donnybrook, Ontario
Donnybrook was a village in the southwestern part of the Canadian province of Ontario.- History :Donnybrook was founded in the 1860s on the corner of what are now Huron County Road 22 and the Glen's Hill Road....
, Dublin, Dundalk
Dundalk, Ontario
Dundalk Originally called McDowell's Corners, Dundalk was incorporated as a village in 1887, and on January 1, 2000, was amalgamated with the Township of Proton and the Township of Egremont to form the Township of Southgate, located in the southeast corner of Grey County. The mayor of Southgate is...
, Dunnville, Enniskillen
Enniskillen, Ontario
Township of Enniskillen is a township in the Canadian province of Ontario, located within Lambton County. It is located at the intersection of Highway 21 and Rokeby Line....
, Erinsville, Galway
Galway-Cavendish and Harvey, Ontario
Galway-Cavendish and Harvey is a township in the rural, mostly wooded northern section of Peterborough County, Ontario, Canada.The municipality was formed in 1998 through an amalgamation of the Township of Galway & Cavendish and the Township of Harvey....
, Hagarty, Irish Lake, Kearney
Kearney, Ontario
Kearney is a town and municipality in the Parry Sound District of Ontario, Canada. With a landmass of 529 square kilometres and a year round population of 798 in the Canada 2006 Census, Kearney claims to be the "Biggest Little Town in Ontario."-History:...
, Keenansville, Kennedys, Killaloe
Killaloe, Ontario
Killaloe is a town located in Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada in the township of Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards. Geographically it is located in Eastern Ontario. The shores of Golden Lake are located to the east, which is well known for quality angling and year round recreation...
, Killarney
Killarney, Ontario
Killarney is a municipality located on the northern shore of Georgian Bay in the Sudbury District of Ontario. It is also the name of the largest community within the municipality...
, Limerick
Limerick, Ontario
Limerick is a small township in Hastings County, Ontario, Canada, near Limerick Lake. It is located 80 km north of Belleville between Madoc and Bancroft and served by Ontario Highway 62 and County Road 620. The Township is bordered by the Town of Bancroft, Township of Wollaston and the joined...
, Listowel, Lucan, Maguire
Maguire, Ontario
Maguire, Ontario was a small agricultural supply based community which formerly stood at what is today the intersection of Adare Drive and Maguire Road, in the municipality of North Middlesex, Ontario Canada, in former McGillivray Township...
, Malone, McGarry
McGarry, Ontario
McGarry is a township in the Canadian province of Ontario, located within the Timiskaming District.The township includes the communities of Virginiatown and Kearns...
, Moffat, Mullifarry, Munster
Munster, Ontario
Munster, Ontario is a large village situated south-west of Stittsville, west of Richmond and north of North Gower. The Ottawa Carleton School Board offers an Elementary school named "Munster Elementary School"....
, Navan
Navan, Ontario
Navan is a village within the city limits of Ottawa in eastern Ontario, Canada, located south-east of Orleans. Prior to its amalgamation with the city in 2001, Navan was located within the City of Cumberland....
, New Dublin, O'Connell, Oranmore, Quinn Settlement, Ripley, Shamrock, South Monaghan
Otonabee-South Monaghan, Ontario
Otonabee-South Monaghan is a township in central-eastern Ontario, Canada, in Peterborough County. It is located along the Trent-Severn Waterway.-Communities:...
, Waterford and Westport
Westport, Ontario
Westport is a village in Eastern Ontario, Canada. It lies at the west end of Upper Rideau Lake, at the head of the navigable Rideau Canal system, between Kingston and Ottawa....
.
Irish in New Brunswick
Martin Cranney
Martin Cranney was an Irish-born New Brunswick politician. He was a resident of Chatham, New Brunswick and represented Northumberland County in the 14th New Brunswick Legislative Assembly from 1847 to 1850....
, held elective office and became the natural leaders of their augmented Irish community after the arrival of the famine immigrants. The early Irish came to the Miramichi because it was easy to get to with lumber ships stopping in Ireland before returning to Chatham and Newcastle, and because it provided economic opportunities, especially in the lumber industry.
Long a timber-exporting colony, New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
became the destination of thousands of Irish immigrants in the form of refugees fleeing the potato famines during the mid-19th century as the timber cargo vessels provided cheap passage when returning empty to the colony. Quarantine hospitals were located on islands at the mouth of the colony's two major ports, Saint John
Saint John, New Brunswick
City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...
(Partridge Island) and Chatham
Chatham, New Brunswick
Chatham is a Canadian urban neighbourhood in the city of Miramichi, New Brunswick.Prior to municipal amalgamation in 1995, Chatham was an incorporated town in Northumberland County along the south bank of the Miramichi River opposite Douglastown...
-Newcastle
Newcastle, New Brunswick
Newcastle is a Canadian urban neighbourhood in the city of Miramichi, New Brunswick.Prior to municipal amalgamation in 1995, it was an incorporated town and the shire town of Northumberland County....
(Middle Island), where many would ultimately die. Those who survived settled on marginal agricultural lands in the Miramichi River valley and in the Saint John River and Kennebecasis River
Kennebecasis River
The Kennebecasis River is a tributary of the Saint John River in southern New Brunswick, Canada. The name Kennebecasis is thought to be derived from the Mi'kmaq "Kenepekachiachk", meaning "little long bay place." It runs for approximately 95 kilometres, draining an area in the Caledonia Highlands,...
valleys, however, the difficulty of farming these regions saw many Irish immigrant families moving to the colony's major cities within a generation or to Portland, Maine
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
or Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
.
Saint John and Chatham, New Brunswick
Chatham, New Brunswick
Chatham is a Canadian urban neighbourhood in the city of Miramichi, New Brunswick.Prior to municipal amalgamation in 1995, Chatham was an incorporated town in Northumberland County along the south bank of the Miramichi River opposite Douglastown...
saw large numbers of Irish migrants, changing the nature and character of both municipalities. Today, all of the amalgamated city of Miramichi
Miramichi, New Brunswick
Miramichi is the largest city in northern New Brunswick, Canada. It is situated at the mouth of the Miramichi River where it enters Miramichi Bay...
continues to host a large annual Irish festival. Indeed, Miramichi is one of the most Irish communities in North America, second possibly only to St. Johns or Boston.
Irish in Prince Edward Island
For years, Prince Edward IslandPrince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
had been divided between Irish Catholics and British Protestants (which included Ulster Scots from Northern Ireland). In the latter half of the 20th century, this sectarianism diminished and was ultimately destroyed recently after two events occurred. First, the Catholic and Protestant school boards were merged into one secular institution; second, the practice of electing two MLAs for each provincial riding (one Catholic and one Protestant) was ended.
Irish in Newfoundland
In 1806, The Benevolent Irish SocietyBenevolent Irish Society
The Benevolent Irish Society is a philanthropic organization founded on 17 February 1806, a month before the Feast of St. Patrick, in St. John's, Newfoundland. It is the oldest philanthropic organization in North America. Membership is open to adult residents of Newfoundland who are of Irish birth...
(BIS) was founded as a philanthropic organization in St. John's, Newfoundland. Membership was open to adult residents of Newfoundland who were of Irish birth or ancestry, regardless of religious persuasion. The BIS was founded as a charitable, fraternal, middle-class social organization, on the principles of "benevolence and philanthropy", and had as its original objective to provide the necessary skills which would enable the poor to better themselves. Today the society is still active in Newfoundland and is the oldest philanthropic organization in North America.
Newfoundland Irish Catholics, mainly from the southeast of Ireland, settled in the cities (mainly St. John's
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
St. John's is the capital and largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, and is the oldest English-founded city in North America. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. With a population of 192,326 as of July 1, 2010, the St...
and parts of the surrounding Avalon Peninsula
Avalon Peninsula
The Avalon Peninsula is a large peninsula that makes up the southeast portion of the island of Newfoundland.The peninsula is home to 257,223 people, which is approximately 51% of Newfoundland's population in 2009, and is the location of the provincial capital, St. John's. It is connected to the...
), while British Protestants, mainly from the West Country, settled in small fishing communities. Over time, the Irish Catholics became wealthier than their Protestant neighbours, which gave incentive for Protestant Newfoundlanders to join the Orange Order. In 1903, Sir William Coaker founded the Fisherman's Protective Union (F.P.U.) in an Orange Hall in Herring Neck. Furthermore, during the term of Commission of Government (1934–1949), the Orange Lodge was one of only a handful of "democratic" organizations that existed in the Dominion of Newfoundland
Dominion of Newfoundland
The Dominion of Newfoundland was a British Dominion from 1907 to 1949 . The Dominion of Newfoundland was situated in northeastern North America along the Atlantic coast and comprised the island of Newfoundland and Labrador on the continental mainland...
. In 1948, a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
was held in Newfoundland as to its political future; the Irish Catholics mainly supported a return to independence for Newfoundland as it existed before 1934, while the Protestants mainly supported joining the Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
. Newfoundland then joined Canada by a 52-48% margin, and with an influx of Protestants into St. John's after the closure of the east coast cod fishery in the 1990s, the main issues have become one of Rural vs. Urban interests rather than anything ethnic or religious.
To Newfoundland, the Irish gave the still-familiar family names of southeast Ireland: Walsh, Power, Murphy, Ryan, Whelan, Phelan, O'Brien, Kelly, Hanlon, Neville, Bambrick, Halley, Dillon, Byrne, Burke, and FitzGerald. Irish place names are less common, many of the island's more prominent landmarks having already been named by early French and English explorers. Nevertheless, Newfoundland's Ballyhack, Cappahayden, Kilbride, St. Bride's, Port Kirwan and Skibereen all point to Irish antecedents.
Along with traditional names, the Irish brought their native tongue. Newfoundland was one of the few places outside Ireland where the Irish language
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
was spoken by a majority of the population as their primary language. In fact Newfoundland Irish
Newfoundland Irish
Newfoundland Irish is an extinct dialect of the Irish language specific to the island of Newfoundland, Canada. It was very similar to Munster Irish, as spoken in the southeast of Ireland, due to mass immigration from the counties Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny, Tipperary, and Cork.-Irish settlement...
is its own distinct dialect. While the Irish language has become very uncommmon in Newfoundland today, its influence on Newfoundland English
Newfoundland English
Newfoundland English is a name for several accents and dialects thereof the English found in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Most of these differ substantially from the English commonly spoken elsewhere in Canada...
, both lexically (in words like 'angishore' and 'sleveen') and grammatically (the 'after' past-tense construction, for instance), is apparent.
Newfoundland is the only place outside Europe with its own distinctive name in the Irish language, Talamh an Éisc, "the land of fish". The family names, the features and colouring, the predominant Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
religion, the prevalence of Irish music – even the dialect and accent of the people – are so reminiscent of rural Ireland that Irish author Tim Pat Coogan
Tim Pat Coogan
Timothy Patrick Coogan is an Irish historical writer, broadcaster and newspaper columnist. He served as editor of the Irish Press newspaper from 1968 to 1987...
has described Newfoundland as "the most Irish place in the world outside of Ireland".
It should be noted that most of the Irish migration to Newfoundland was pre-famine (late 18th century and early 19th century), and two centuries of isolation have led many of Irish descent in Newfoundland to consider their ethnic identity as "Newfoundlander," and not "Irish," although they are aware of the cultural links between the two. It is estimated that approximately 80% of Newfoundlanders are of at least partial Irish descent.
Irish in Nova Scotia
About one Nova Scotian in four is of Irish descent, and there are good finding aids for genealogists and family historians.Many Nova Scotians who claim Irish ancestry are of Presbyterian Ulster-Scottish descent. William Sommerville (1800–78) was ordained in the Irish Reformed Presbyterian Church and in 1831 was sent as a missionary to New Brunswick. There, with missionary Alexander Clarke, he formed the Reformed Presbytery of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in 1832 before becoming minister of the West Cornwallis congregation in Grafton, Nova Scotia, in 1833. Although a strict Covenanter, Sommerville initially ministered to Presbyterians generally over a very extensive district. Presbyterian centers included Colchester County, Nova Scotia
Colchester County, Nova Scotia
Colchester County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.-History:The appellation Colchester was applied in 1780 to the district previously called "Cobequid," and was derived from the town of Colchester in Essex...
. Common surnames included Archibald, Barnhill, Bell, Blair, Brown, Campbell, Cameron, Carter, Chisholm, Clark, Cook, Corbett, Cox, Creelman, Crow, Davison, Delaney, Daly, Dickie, Dickson, Dunlap, Durning, Faulkner, Fisher, Fletcher, Fraser, Fulmore, Fulton, Gamble, Graham, Hamilton, Healy, Henderson, Higgins, Hill, Johnson, Johnston, Kennedy, Lahey, Langille, Lewis, MacAleese, Marsh, McBurnie, McCully, McCurdy, McDonald, McIntosh, McKay, McKenzie, McLaughlin, McLean, McLelan, McLellan, McLeod, McNutt, Miller, Moore, Morrison, Murphy, Murray, Nelson, Peppard, Ross, Rutherford, Savage, Smith, Spencer, Simpson, Staples, Stevens, Stewart, Sweeney, Taylor, Thompson, Vance, Williams, Wilson, and Wright. O'Brien and Ryan are also surnames from the period suggesting some of the families to arrive may have been Catholic. However, many Scottish immigrants who settled in that area are from the Highlands and many are Catholic making it hard to distinguish Irish and Scottish people.
Catholic Irish settlement in Nova Scotia was traditionally restricted to the urban Halifax area. Halifax, founded in 1749, was estimated to be about 16% Irish Catholic in 1767 and about 9% by the end of the 18th century. Although the harsh laws enacted against them were generally not enforced, Irish Catholics had no legal rights in the early history of the city. Catholic membership in the legislature was nonexistent until near the end of the century. In 1829 Lawrence O'Connor Doyle, of Irish parentage, became the first of his faith to become a lawyer and helped to overcome opposition to the Irish.
In addition there are also rural Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
village settlements throughout most of Guysborough County, such as the Erinville (meaning Irishville) /Salmon River Lake/Ogden/Bantry (named after Bantry Bay
Bantry Bay
Bantry Bay is a bay located in County Cork, southwest Ireland. The bay runs approximately from northeast to southwest into the Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 3-to-4 km wide at the head and wide at the entrance....
, County Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
but abandoned since the 19th century for better farmland in places like Erinville/Salmon River Lake) district where Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
last names are prevalent and the accent is strongly reminiscent of the Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
as well as the musical culture (maritime traditional music being some of the most Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
styles of music played in the world outside of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
), food, Religion (Roman Catholic), language heritage (being that some can still understand parts of the Irish language
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
, the older generation being the most fluent thus the language weakening in this area), love of the drink and love for Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
itself. Some of the Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
last names known or once known in the Guysborough County area are Barry, Brophy, Boone, Burke, Burns, Callaghan (From County Roscommon
County Roscommon
County Roscommon is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the town of Roscommon. Roscommon County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
) , Cashen, Cleary, Cochran, Cody, Coffey, Cohoon, Connoly, Costley, Curtie, Daley, Day, Doyle, Duggan, Dunbar, Dunn, Eagan, Egan, Farrell, Flaherty, Flynn, Gallagher, Gerry, Gough, Halloran, Hanifan (From Ventry
Ventry
Ceann Trá is a Gaeltacht village in County Kerry, Ireland. Located on the Dingle Peninsula, 7 kilometres west of Dingle, the village of Ventry was once the main port of the peninsula...
, Dingle Peninsula
Dingle Peninsula
The Dingle Peninsula is the northernmost of the major peninsulae in County Kerry. Its ends beyond the town of Dingle at Dunmore Head, the westernmost point of Ireland.-Name:...
, County Kerry
County Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
), Hanifen (From Ventry
Ventry
Ceann Trá is a Gaeltacht village in County Kerry, Ireland. Located on the Dingle Peninsula, 7 kilometres west of Dingle, the village of Ventry was once the main port of the peninsula...
, Dingle Peninsula
Dingle Peninsula
The Dingle Peninsula is the northernmost of the major peninsulae in County Kerry. Its ends beyond the town of Dingle at Dunmore Head, the westernmost point of Ireland.-Name:...
, Country Kerry, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
), Hanifin (From Ventry
Ventry
Ceann Trá is a Gaeltacht village in County Kerry, Ireland. Located on the Dingle Peninsula, 7 kilometres west of Dingle, the village of Ventry was once the main port of the peninsula...
, Dingle Peninsula
Dingle Peninsula
The Dingle Peninsula is the northernmost of the major peninsulae in County Kerry. Its ends beyond the town of Dingle at Dunmore Head, the westernmost point of Ireland.-Name:...
, County Kerry
County Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
), Hannafin (From Dingle Peninsula
Dingle Peninsula
The Dingle Peninsula is the northernmost of the major peninsulae in County Kerry. Its ends beyond the town of Dingle at Dunmore Head, the westernmost point of Ireland.-Name:...
, County Kerry
County Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
), Hannifan (From Dingle Peninsula
Dingle Peninsula
The Dingle Peninsula is the northernmost of the major peninsulae in County Kerry. Its ends beyond the town of Dingle at Dunmore Head, the westernmost point of Ireland.-Name:...
, County Kerry
County Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
), Hogan, Hurley, Keef, Keefe, Kelly, Kennedy, Kenney, Kenny, Kent, Long, Lynes, Maguire, Malloy, McAllister, McCallum, McColl, McDonald, McDougall, McGuire, McIsaac, McKinnon, McNauten, Murphy, Neal, O'Connor, O'Donoghue, O'Gorman, O'Neal, O'Neale, O'Neil, O'Neile, Power, Russell, Shancy, Shaughnessy, Sullivan, Terry, Torey, Welsh, White along with others. In parts of Antigonish County there is also quite a few Irish villages such as Cloverville, Ireland and Lochaber as well as on Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
, in places such as New Waterford, Rocky Bay, the Lower Rover inhabitants area, and Glace Bay, all still very rich in Irish culture.
Murdoch (1998) notes that the popular image of Cape Breton Island as a last bastion of Scottish Highland and specifically Gaelic culture distorts the complex history of the island since the 16th century. The original Micmac inhabitants, Acadian French, Lowland Scots, Irish, Loyalists from New England, and English have all contributed to a history which has included cultural, religious, and political conflict as well as cooperation and synthesis. The Highland Scots became the largest community in the early 19th century, and their heritage in music, folklore, and language has survived government indifference, but it is now threatened by a synthetic marketable 'tartan clan doll culture' aimed primarily at tourists.
Irish in the Prairies
While some influential Canadian politicians anticipated that the assisted migrations of Irish settlers would lead to the establishment of a 'New Ireland' on Canada's prairies, or at least raise the profile of the country's potential as a suitable destination for immigrants, neither happened. Sheppard (1990) looks at the efforts in the 1880s of Quaker philanthropist James Hack Tuke as well as those of Thomas Connolly, the Irish emigration agent for the Canadian government. The Irish press continued to warn potential emigrants of the dangers and hardships of life in Canada and encouraged would-be emigrants to settle instead in the United States.Irish migration to the Prairie Provinces had two distinct components: those who came via eastern Canada or the United States, and those who came directly from Ireland. Many of the Irish-Canadians who came west were fairly well assimilated, in that they spoke English and understood British customs and law, and tended to be regarded as a part of English Canada
English Canada
English Canada is a term used to describe one of the following:# English-speaking Canadians, as opposed to French-speaking Canadians. It is employed when comparing English- and French-language literature, media, or art...
. However, this picture was complicated by the religious division. Many of the original "English" Canadian settlers in the Red River Colony
Red River Colony
The Red River Colony was a colonization project set up by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk in 1811 on of land granted to him by the Hudson's Bay Company under what is referred to as the Selkirk Concession. The colony along the Red River of the North was never very successful...
were fervent Irish Loyalist Protestants, and members of the Orange Order. They clashed with Catholic Metis leader Louis Riel
Louis Riel
Louis David Riel was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political and spiritual leader of the Métis people of the Canadian prairies. He led two resistance movements against the Canadian government and its first post-Confederation Prime Minister, Sir John A....
's provisional government during the Red River Resistance, and as a result Thomas Scott
Thomas Scott (Orangeman)
Thomas Scott was an Irish-born Canadian executed by firing squad on March 4, 1870, for plotting against the Provisional Government of the Red River Settlement and its Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia...
was executed, inflaming sectarian tensions in the east. At this time and during the course of the following decades, many of the Catholic Irish were fighting for separate Catholic schools in the west, but sometimes clashed with the Francophone element of the Catholic community during the Manitoba Schools Question
Manitoba Schools Question
The Manitoba Schools Question was a political crisis in the Canadian Province of Manitoba that occurred late in the 19th century, involving publicly funded separate schools for Roman Catholics and Protestants...
. After World War I and the de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
resolution of the religious schools issue, any eastern Irish-Canadians moving west blended in totally with the majority society. The small group of Irish-born who arrived in the second half of the 20th Century tended to be urban professionals, a stark contrast to the agrarian pioneers who had come before.
About 10% of the population of Saskatchewan during 1850-1930 were Irish-born or of Irish origin. Cottrell (1999) examines the social, economic, political, religious, and ideological impact of the Irish diaspora on pioneer society and suggests that both individually and collectively, the Irish were a relatively privileged group. The most visible manifestations of intergenerational Irish ethnicity - the Catholic Church and the Orange Order - served as vehicles for recreating Irish culture on the prairies and as forums for ethnic fusion, which integrated people of Irish origin with settlers of other nationalities. The Irish were thus a vital force for cohesion in an ethnically diverse frontier society, but also a source of major tension with elements that did not share their vision of how the province of Saskatchewan should evolve.
Catholics vs Protestants
Tensions between the Irish Protestants and Irish Catholics were widespread in Canada in the 19th century, with many episodes of violence, especially in Atlantic Canada and Ontario.The Orange Order, with its two main tenets, anti-Catholicism and loyalty to Britain, flourished in Ontario. Largely coincident with Protestant Irish settlement, its role pervaded the political, social and community as well as religious lives of its followers. Spatially, Orange lodges were founded as Irish Protestant settlement spread north and west from its original focus on the Lake Ontario plain. Although the number of active members, and thus their influence, may have been overestimated, the Orange influence was considerable and comparable to the Catholic influence in Quebec.
In Montreal in 1853, the Orange Order organized speeches by the fiercely anti-Catholic and anti-Irish former priest Alessandro Gavazzi, resulting in a violent confrontation between the Irish and the Scots. St. Patrick's Day processions in Toronto were often disrupted by tensions, that boiled over to the extent that the parade was cancelled permanently by the mayor in 1878 and not re-instituted until 110 years later in 1988. The Jubilee Riots of 1875 jarred Toronto in a time when sectarian tensions ran at their highest. Irish Catholics in Toronto were an embattled minority among a Protestant population that included a large Irish Protestant contingent strongly committed to the Orange Order.
See also
- List of Ireland-related topics
- Irish diasporaIrish diasporathumb|Night Train with Reaper by London Irish artist [[Brian Whelan]] from the book Myth of Return, 2007The Irish diaspora consists of Irish emigrants and their descendants in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa,...
- Irish AmericanIrish AmericanIrish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
- Irish AustralianIrish AustralianIrish Australians have played a long and enduring part in Australia's history. Many came to Australia in the eighteenth century as settlers or as convicts, and contributed to Australia's development in many different areas....
- Irish (ethnicity)Irish peopleThe Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
- Coat of Arms of CanadaCoat of arms of CanadaThe Arms of Canada is, since 1921, the official coat of arms of the Canadian monarch, and thus also of Canada...
Further reading
- Akenson, Donald H. The Irish in Ontario: A Study in Rural History (McGill-Queen's University Press, 1984)
- Akenson, Donald H. Small Differences: Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants, 1815-1922 : An International Perspective (Mcgill-Queen's Studies in the History of Religion) (1991) excerpt and text search
- Clarke, B. P. Piety and Nationalism: Lay Voluntary Associations and the Creation of an Irish-Catholic Community in Toronto 1850-1895 (1993).
- Duncan, Kenneth. "Irish Famine Immigration and the Social Structure of Canada West," Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology 12 (1965): 19-40
- Elliott, Bruce S. Irish Migrants in the Canadas: A New Approach (McGill-Queen's University Press, 1988)
- Elliott, Bruce C. "Irish Protestants," in Paul Robert Magocsi, ed. Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples (1999), 763-83
- Hedican, Edward J. "What Determines Family Size? Irish Farming Families in Nineteenth-Century Ontario," Journal of Family History 2006 31(4): 315-334
- Houston, Cecil J., and William J. Smyth. Irish Emigration and Canadian Settlement. Patterns, Links and Letters (University of Toronto Press, 1990), geographical study
- Jenkins, W. "Between the Lodge and the Meeting-House: Mapping Irish Protestant Identities and Social Worlds in late Victorian Toronto," Social and Cultural Geography (2003) 4:75-98,
- Jenkins, W. "Patrolmen and Peelers: Immigration, Urban Culture, and the 'Irish Police' in Canada and the United States," Canadian Journal of Irish Studies 28, no, 2 and 29, no, 1 (2002/03): 10-29.
- McGowan, M, G. The Waning of the Green: Catholics, the Irish, and Identity in Toronto 1887-1922 (1999)
- Magocsi, Paul R. Encyclopedia of Canada's peoples (1999) 1334pp covering all major groups excerpt and text search
- Mannion, John J. Irish Settlements in Eastern Canada: A Study of Cultural Transfer and Adaptation (University of Toronto Press, 1974)
- Murphy, Terrence, and Gerald Stortz, eds. Creed and Culture. The Place of English-Speaking Catholics in Canadian Society 1750-1930, (McGill-Queen's University Press, 1993)
- Punch, Terence M. Irish Halifax: The Immigrant Generation, 1815-1859 (Halifax: International Education Centre, Saint Mary's University, 1981);
- Toner, Peter M. "The Origins of the New Brunswick Irish, 1851," Journal of Canadian Studies 23 #1-2 (1988): 104-119
- Wilson, David A. "The Irish in Canada (Ottawa: Canadian Historical Association, 1989), short overview
- Wilson, David A., ed. Irish Nationalism in Canada (2009) excerpt and text search
External links
- The Irish Canadian Society
- Newfoundland: The Most Irish Place Outside of Ireland
- The Shamrock and the Maple Leaf: Irish-Canadian Documentary Heritage at Library and Archives Canada
- Irish-Canadian Documentary Heritage at Library and Archives Canada
- The Irish in Canada
- Canada's AUBRY family traced to a BRENNAN who was the first Irish immigrant
- Tec Cornelius Aubrenan: The First Irish Immigrant in Canada
- The Canadian Association for Irish Studies (CAIS)
- Irish Association of Manitoba (IAM)
- Historica’s Heritage Minute video docudrama about “Orphans.” (Adobe Flash Player.)Adobe Flash PlayerThe Adobe Flash Player is software for viewing multimedia, Rich Internet Applications and streaming video and audio, on a computer web browser or on supported mobile devices. Flash Player runs SWF files that can be created by the Adobe Flash authoring tool, by Adobe Flex or by a number of other...