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The first Irish to Canada sailed across the Atlantic ocean and 'struck gold' on the island we call Newfoundland they knew as Talamh an Eise (Land of Fish).
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The IRELAND CANADA MONUMENT
At Grosse ile, Quebec, in the middle of the St. Laurence River, the AOH Celtic Cross Memorial was erected in 1909 by Jeremiah O'Gallagher from County Cork to those who died on the island during Ireland's Great Hunger of 1845-48.
A stone from the Cross will feature at the Ireland Canada Monument to ensure those that perished will not be forgotten.
The site at George Wainborn Park features a bosque of 32 Ash trees planted when the park first opened in 2004 and compliments the 32 Counties of Ireland - original homeland of the Diaspora of Ireland in Canada.
We are delighted to confirm that Vancouver Park Board and the Ireland Canada Monument Society have agreed on the design for the monument at the west side of George Wainborn Park, Vancouver.
Walking into the site, we find ourselves in a bosque of 32 Ash Trees, complementing All 32 Counties of Ireland! The completed site will include new seating featuring the names of all 32 Counties of Ireland - meaning everyone from the Island of Ireland is remembered at the site.
The Monument will stand for generations in remembrance of all who came giving of themselves in the building of a better Canada for All.
Not least of all, we sincerely appreciate those who came before us as we honour the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Wautath First Nations who have given a “Green Light” for this historic project.
All names that have been confirmed by individuals or their representatives will be included on this website www.irelandcanadamonument.com and also published in both an e-book and print book.
Now it is our turn. The contributions that each of us make and gather are needed to ensure essential funds are in hand to build and install the site structures.
Let’s be creative. If you have a fund-raising idea - pass the hat! Our non-profit Society is reaching out in all directions to raise the funds to complete this historic marker for Canada and for Ireland and it is our sincere hope that you will be a part of this historic project.
THE Creativity of the Diaspora of Ireland.
George Massey from Enniscorthy, County Wexford, visioned a tunnel under the mighty Fraser River that has that significantly helped in the building of the Province of British Columbia.
RENOWNED STORYTELLERS
Jane Urquhart is an internationally acclaimed author, awarded the Order of Canada. Her Irish ancestors, immigrants to Canada during the 19th century potato blight, the Great Hunger and the World Wars. Urquhart researched and writes extensively, raising awareness of Canadian history.
Lena Louise (Rowe) Forbes graduated from Mount Allison U., New Brunswick. She was daughter of Irish immigrants to Canada, and the first woman published in a Canadian magazine, 1900.
Marianna O'Gallagher was allowed to visit Grosse Isle quarantine station which she found in a state of disrepair. She began efforts to have the site federally recognized and founded as an Irish Heritage, Quebec dedicated to Irish Canadian history.
The FOUNDING FATHERS of Confederation
The influence of the 'Founding Fathers' of Confederation is significant, including Thomas D'Arcy McGee born in 1825 in Carlingford, County Louth, Ireland. McGee, a journalist from Ireland left for a promised US assignment, but found it did not engage him. In 1857 a Montreal Irish community invited him to Canada and it changed his life, He had contemporaries of support and saw North America in a new light . McGee no longer supported US annexation of Canada. He won his seat in Parliament of the Dominion of Canada in 1867 and urged Nova Scotia to stay in Confederation. The parliamentary debate went on past mid-night . As he walked to his boarding house and . As he turned the key in the lock, he fell, shot through the head. McGee was given a state funeral … one of the largest funerals in Canadian history. The procession drew an estimated crowd of 80,000. One monuments stands at Tremone Bay, in north County Donegal, Ireland. McGee's standards of justice human rights continue to define what it means to be Canadian.
Fr. John Sinnett was an influential Jesuit priest. As the vast Canadian Prairies were opening up. He saw the possibility of a nation from sea to sea. He founded a colony bringing many Irish out of the Great Hunger and diligently supported them. Alongside the Carrolls, Dunnes and more Irish, were many Ukrainian, German, Icelandic - good neighbours all - threshing crews, barn builders, sharing Fall Suppers.
In 1905 Saskatchewan became a Province. Fr. Sinnett realized his vision.
William Ivan Clark Wuttenee
McGill University Scholarship Award first First Nations lawyer in Western Canada. Co-founder and National Chief of the National Indian Council. (N.I.C.)
Copyright © Ireland Canada Monument. All Rights Reserved.
GROSSE ILE
Fly me to the Moon !
BUILDING THE CANALS
Backstories:
Excerpt from a contractor’s correspondence: “I therefore expect to collect a great number of persons on the Works by the first May and fear from the wretched condition of most of the emigrants applying to me for work, that it will be indispensably necessary to issue bedding to prevent sickness ... at present the poor fellows lay with nothing but their rags to cover them and their numbers are increasing"
The Lachine Canal
As European explorers once dreamed of finding a route from New France to the Western Sea and on to China it was named in French - La Chine. ca.1689, the French Colonial government was planning a canal to bypass the Lachine Rapids en-route to Montreal. However, in the second half of the 18th century, England took possession of the territories, the United States invaded Canada in 1783 and again in the War of 1812. Securing the boundaries became a priority and a plan, developed by Montreal merchants and contractors, was awarded the commission and funding to proceed. In 1821, 500 labourers with pick and shovels, axes and wheelbarrows assembled at Lachine. It was the largest workforce in Canadian history. Most of the pittance that was their salary was left in Lachine as they were obliged to obtain housing and all their needs in Lachine. paylists 1822-1824 McCord Museum). The canal officially opened in 1825, helping to turn Montreal into a major port and attracting industry to its banks. A contractors' gold-mine.
When the canal was widened the appalling working conditions and unfair treatment of the Irish lead to Canada’s first labour strike in 1843.
Most of the pittance that was their salary was left in Lachine as they were obliged to obtain housing and all their needs in Lachine. (see Lachine Canal pay lists 1822-1824 at McCord Museum). The canal officially opened in 1825, helping to turn Montreal into a major port and attracting industry to its banks. A gold-mine for contractors.
The Lachine Canal is a designated National Historic Site of Canada.
The Rideau Canal
opened in 1832, is both a WORLD HERITAGE & NATIONAL HERITAGE site. The canal, covering 202 km of the Rideau & Cataraqui rivers from Ottawa to Kingston harbour, is the only 19th C canal of the era still in operation along its original line with most structures intact. Each winter the section passing through the centre of Ottawa, Canada's capital city, becomes the world's largest skating rink.
The word rideau is French for curtain. Samuel de Champlain, travelling up the Ottawa River in 1613, saw the twin falls meeting at the Rideau and Ottawa Rivers, as a curtain. The name appeared on maps ca. 1694.
The team of contractors, now under supervision of the Royal Canal projects ,employed about 8-9,000 men per year but the Great Hunger in Ireland sent more than 25,000 persons (including women and children) to Montreal and Quebec City. In Montreal many settled in low-rent districts straddling the canal: Griffintown, Point St. Charles and Victoria Ville. Jobs and housing were now scarce and many recent arrivals moved on to the United States.
In 1847 the city built a final development comprised of “fever” sheds to quarantine victims of typhus. More than a decade later, workers laying foundations for the Victoria railway bridge across the St. Lawrence River, uncovered a mass grave of typhus victims. A memorial was erected by the workers "To preserve from desecration the remains of 6000 immigrants who died of ship fever A.D.1847-8."
Estimates of the total workforce fatalities on the Rideau construction (1826-1831), taking into account death and employee turnover, vary from 4,000 to about 10,000. Half of the workers working on the Rideau died from mosquito-borne Malaria.
The Welland Canal
is known as one of the world’s greatest man-made wonders. Built to connect Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, it opens an otherwise impassable route blocked by the spectacular falls and rapids of the Niagara River, between lakes Erie and Ontario. Construction began November, 1824 and was completed by November, 1829. By 1833 it had undergone several modifications. It was a labour intensive venture. Construction crews working with hand tools, hauling on their backs everything that needed moving. As horses and oxen were used to tow ships from one lock to another – the paths are still there, known as towpaths. The men were paid about half a dollar a day.
The present canal extends 27.6 miles (44.4 km) from Port Colborne (on Lake Erie) to Port Weller (on Lake Ontario) and has a minimum depth of 30 ft. (9 m). The 327 ft. difference in elevation between the two lakes is overcome by eight locks.
Between 1967 and 1973 a channel, the Welland By-Pass, was constructed to help speed ship traffic and alleviate highway traffic through the city. Twin flight locks in Thorold allow more than one ship to travel in either direction at the same time.
1974 marked the 150th Anniversary of commencement of construction of the First Welland Canal. The Welland Canal Fallen Workers Memorial Task Force volunteers report that 137 men died during the construction. 24 of the men drowned.
The Trent Canal
Samuel Champlain was the first European to travel the network of inland waters from Georgian Bay to the Bay of Quinte with the Hurons in 1615. Known as the Trent–Severn Waterway.
Many Irish immigrants laboured on the Trent, but times had changed, laws and attitudes had changed. The work was still labour intensive but the region, as Murray Drope's grandfather, Thomas Drope (b.1773) arriving in Upper Canada (Ontario) 1825-6 from his birthplace in the Townland of Dernamoyle, County Monaghan, told him, "It looked for all the world like Ireland and we knew we'd always be at home here." Thomas Drope lived a good long life. He is buried at St. James Church, Rosemeath, Ont.
By the time the canal route was completed its use as a commercial waterway was over; ships plying the Great Lakes had grown much larger than the canal could handle, and the railways that originally connected to the canal now took most of its freight. But the introduction of motor boats led to the Trent–Severn's emergence as a pleasure boating route, and today it is one of Ontario's major tourist attractions. Today it is a National Historic Site of Canada linear park operated by Parks Canada open for navigation from May until October, while its shore lands and bridges are open year-round.
What did the Irish in Canada do for Canada? It's decidedly Monumental !
During the Great Hunger of the 1800s thousands of Irish arrived in Montreal. Most came alone, some with their family. Desperate, but courageous, looking for a new life. They needed work. For many the only jobs on offer were the canal projects.
TALAMH an ÉISE
THE RIDEAU CANAL
ON REFLECTION
As we reflect on these great losses, we cannot but remember others with whom we share the vast, varied and rich nation of Canada.
The history of Canada's First Nations resonates with the Irish as we see displacement mirrored and ancient, healthy ways of life on the land lost.
We also recall the many Chinese labourers who lost their lives building
the cross-Canada railroad that would, for many years, open the vast land
to commerce and travel.
Today, as we welcome people from other lands we remember that our forbears and many of ourselves, also came to Canada as immigrants
seeking peace, freedom and a new beginning.
Welcome Fáilte
Canadarm, Canada's most famous robotic and technological achievement, made its space debut on the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-2) on November 13, 1981. The design and building of the arm, also known as the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System, marked the beginning of Canada's close collaboration with the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)
the man in charge was Larkin Kerwin president of the
National Research
Council which built
the 'Canada Arm' for
the Space Program.
There lies deep within all creation, creatures and persons, unconscious memories. To know the past is key to unlocking the future.
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An Górta Mór (The Great Hunger) 1845-1848
In three years, 1845–48, as the potato crops failed, the island’s population fell from 8 to 5 million people. In every County of Ireland thousands of people of every age died. Most vulnerable, labourers and cottiers on half-acre holdings depended on the potato as their sole food source. They, died of starvation and malnutritionment.
Some (fewer in number) with limited resources or help from abroad, crowded into ships holds and were scattered around the world. Many were on their way to Canada in search of a new life.
It is generally accepted that the failure of the potato crop, in Ireland and other European countries, was the result of a blight transported across the Atlantic on cargo ships. The impact on Ireland was compounded by the fact that Ireland’s grains, dairy products and calves were exported across the Irish Sea to England.
Grosse Île and the Irish Memorial National Historic Site
Most who left Ireland on “coffin ships” crossing the Atlantic, had been misled by passage-brokers into believing that food would be provided. An estimated 5,293 died and were buried at sea. Those who disembarked were described as cadaverous and feeble. For those who reached Canada, the need was not anticipated and there was a serious lack of both facilities and medical personnel. Care was negligent at best.
More than forty Irish and French Canadian priests and Anglican clergy attended to assist. Many contacted illness themselves.
Bishop Power contacted fever and died shortly after delivering the last sacraments to a young woman. Mayor of Montreal, John Easton Mills, also died in the course of caring for the sick. French and English speaking clergy took a leading part in organizing relief for those who were discharged, the convalescents and the adoption of many orphans who were welcomed into new homes by French-speaking families.
Grosse Isle is the largest burial ground for refugees of the Great Hunger outside Ireland. More than 3,000 died, They died of cholera and of typhus, ship fever and starvation, and are buried there.
At the beginning of the 20th century in 1910, 100 000 newcomers arrived in Quebec, 170 000 in 1912 and 225 000 in 1914. Plans were made to erect a vast, modern hospital complex at the quarantine station. Exceptional circumstances prevented the construction project from being implemented.
The First World War (1914-1918) and the Great Depression (1929) drastically reduced the number of people immigrating to Canada. Medical research had progressed and the hospital on Grosse Île was treating, almost exclusively, minor childhood infections such as diphtheria, chicken pox and measles.
The quarantine station on Grosse Île was closed in 1937 by Parks Canada.
In 1909 the Ancient Order of Hibernians under the leadership of Jeremiah O’Gallagher of Macroom, County Cork, completed the building of a Celtic Cross to remember the many Irish who died at Grosse Ile. (image above)
During the 1950’s the cross was damaged by a lightning strike. Repair was undertaken by Jeremiah’s son Dermot O’Gallagher and Dr. Larkin Kerwin.* One stone remained when the repairs were completed. That precious stone was presented to the Ireland Canada Monument Society
by Mary Anne O’Gallagher.It will be installed in the monument at George Wainborn Park, Vancouver.
* Dr. Larkin Kerwin, whose family
had come from County Wexford
Ireland, later became President
of the Canadian Space Agency.
Grosse Ile Memorial, Quebec .