Robert Baldwin was born at York (Toronto ), Upper Canada, on May 12, 1804 , to William Warren Baldwin and Phoebe Willcocks. His grandfather (Robert Baldwin "the emigrant") emigrated to Upper Canada from Ireland in 1799.
Robert married his cousin Augusta Elizabeth Sullivan, on May 3, 1827. The couple had four children, two sons and two daughters. Augusta Elizabeth died January 11, 1836.
Baldwin was educated at the Home District Grammar School, studied law under his father, and was called to the bar of Upper Canada in 1825. In 1829 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, but at the general elections of 1830 he was defeated, and he did not again sit in the legislature until after the Union of 1841. His ability and his high character, however, won for him a general esteem; and in 1836 he was appointed by Sir Francis Bond Head to the Executive Council of Upper Canada. His tenure of office lasted fewer than 4 weeks, when of a disagreement with the lieutenant-governor brought about the resignation of the whole council. Later that year, in England, he submitted to the Colonial Office a memorandum which, for the first time, clearly and completely defined the concept of responsible government in Canada. During the rebellion of 1837, the task of parleying with the rebels was assigned to Baldwin.
In 1840, he was persuaded to accept the post of solicitor-general of Upper Canada. In 1841, he became solicitor-general of Canada West, with a seat in the Executive Council. At the same time he was elected as a Reformer to represent Hastings in the Assembly. When the governor-general declined to reconstruct the administration to accord with the views of the Reformers, Baldwin resigned from the Council and went into opposition. In 1841, he introduced a series of resolutions in favour of responsible government and when the government was defeated in September, 1842, the new governor, Sir Charles Bagot turned to Baldwin to form an administration with Lous Lafontaine, which held office until 1843, and was in opposition until 1848 when the principle of responsible government in Canada was finally and indisputably established.
Baldwin died in Toronto on December 9, 1858.
Born in Montreal, the son of Marcus Doherty, an Irish-born
Supreme Court judge of Quebec and Elizabeth (O'Halloran) Doherty, he was educated at St. Mary's Jesuit College. He
received a Bachelor of Laws at McGill University in 1876 winning the Elizabeth Torrance Gold Medal (awarded to the student who completes the with the most distinguished standing at graduation)
In the 1885 Northwest Rebellion he served as a Lieutenant with the 65th Battalion, Mount Royal Rifles and was created a King's Counsel in 1887. Doherty was a lawyer. He taught civil and International law at McGill and was then appointed judge on the Quebec Superior Court, 1891-1906. In 1908 he was elected Conservative candidate to the House of Commons. When the Tories won the 1911 election, Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden, brought Doherty into the as Minister of Justice. At the end of World War I, Doherty was one of the Canadian delegates to the Versailles Peace Conference, and served as Canadian delegate to the League of Nations from 1920 to 1922. Doherty remained Minister of Justice until 1921.
In 1912 he played a leading role in the creation of the Canadian Bar Association and served as president in 1914. He was appointed to the Imperial Privy Council in the 1920 New Year Honours for his service at Versailles bestowed with the title of "The Right Honourable".
Kirkpatrick was born Dec. 25, 1805, Coolmine House Co. Dublin, son of Alexander Kirkpatrick of Coolmine House and the ancestral seat of the Kirkpatricks, Drumcondra House, Co. Kildare.
He immigrated to Upper Canada in 1823 and settled at Kingston where he read law and was called to the bar in 1828. Kirkpatrick had a reputation for integrity and soundness of judgement especially in business matters. In that trust, he established a flourishing practice and, until 1845 also held the lucrative position of Collector of Customs. He served as president of the Kingston Permanent Building Society, local solicitor of the Bank of Upper Canada from about 1837 until its collapse in 1866, and local solicitor to its trustees until his death.
In 1838, Kirkpatrick was elected as first mayor of Kingston, but was later disqualified because he was not a resident at the time. In 1847, residentially qualified, he was again elected Mayor. In 1846, he was named Queen’s Counsel.
A staunch Conservative, he represented Frontenac in the first Dominion of Canada Parliament, 1867. His son, George Airey, succeeded him as MP and, in 1892, was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.
Thomas Kirkpatrick died, March 1870, in Kingston in 1870 while still in office.
Kirkpatrick Street, a major street located in the Kingston neighbourhood of Kingscourt, is named in his memory.
Francis Daniel Johnson Sr.
20th Premier of Quebec - 1966
until his death 1968.
Introduced "Equality or Independence"
The Right Honourable Charles Joseph Doherty Politician and Jurist
Edward Whelan
Dominick Edward Blake
Lawyer. Politician.
Visionary, Founding Father
Robert Baldwin
Statesman. Solicitor General Upper Canada
His Legacy: Responsible Government - responsible to the people, dependent on the support of an elected assembly, rather than on the monarch. 233
Louise Crummy McKinney
The First Woman Elected
to a Legislature in the British Empire 1917
The Hon. Robert Bonner, LLB
Seaforth Highlander, WWII
Attorney General, Vancouver-Point Grey Representative
Francis Anglin was born Apr. 2, 1865 at Saint-John, New Brunswick, son of Timothy Warren Anglin from Co.Cork and
Ellen (McTavish) Anglin., elder brother to renowned stage actress, Margaret Anglin. He earned a B.A. from the University of Ottawa, enrolled as a student with the Law Society of Upper Canada and was called to the bar in 1888. He established his practice in Toronto, eventually founding the law firm of Anglin & Mallon. In 1896 he became Clerk of the Surrogate Court of Ontario. He published Limitations of Actions against Trustees and Relief from Liability for Technical Breaches of Trust. He was appointed to the Exchequer Division of the High Court of Justice of Ontario in 1904 and to the Supreme Court of Canada on February 23, 1909.
On September 16, 1924, Anglin became Chief Justice of Canada. He served on the Supreme Court for 24 years, retiring on February 28, 1933. Chief Justice Francis Anglin died two days after his retirement, on March 2, 1933, at the age of 67.
Hilary Mary (Frayne) Weston
Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
Order of Canada
Philanthropist. Author.
Senator Patricia Carney
Mayor Gerry Furney
One of Canada's longest serving
mayors - 46 years
Joan was born in 1944 in Dauphin, Manitoba. Her father Kenneth was a British home child sent to Canada in 1929. Her mother Bernadette, was born in P.Q. to Mary Leahy whose parents were from Co. Tipperary and Michael McCaffrey whose family came from the North of Ireland. Joan and Brian O’Malley married in 1963.
So how did Joan get to sew Canada’s First Maple Leaf flag? Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson had made an election promise to deliver a new National flag. A task force was commissioned. They sifted through 6,000 submitted designs and chose three. The flag designs were flat drawings. Flags may be hung flat on a parade float or a wall, but mostly flags are for raising proudly up the flagpole to catch the wind and our salute. The PM concluded that the real test would be to see the designed flags flying.
Late on Friday afternoon, November 6, 1964, the PM requested a prototype for each of the three designs delivered to him in time for him to fly them over Harrington Lake, Ontario, that very weekend! Joan’s father, Ken, was the purchasing agent for the Canadian Govt. Exhibition Commission. Just before closing, Donovan managed to get a Hull Camping Equipment store to provide 30 yards of bunting and had it delivered to the Commission’s office by taxi. The production crew silk-screened the designs. By 9:00 p.m. the designs were ready, all that was required was a seamstress to assemble them. Where do you find an accomplished seamstress late on a Friday night?
It wasn’t what Joan O’Malley expected when she heard her father on the phone asking, “Would she … ? Of course she would. Joan and her husband loaded her Singer sewing machine into their car and headed to the Commission’s office. Sewing the flags was not easy. Portables are not designed for heavy bunting flag material. Joan did much needlework by hand, stitching the edges together to make the flags flyable. With two completed replicas of each of the three designs, at nearly midnight, . Donovan headed for the P.M.'s residence at 24 Sussex Drive, Ottawa.
Thanks to Joan for the skill and speed with which she rendered that historical work.
John Costigan
Founding Father
Born in 1835, Lower Canada, the son of Irish immigrants John Costigan and Bridget Dunn, educated at Collège de Sainte-
Anne-de-la-Pocatière in Lower Canada he took up his career as
physiotherapist and health care administrator in New Brunswick.
In 1857, he became registrar of deeds and wills in New Brunswick and a judge of the Interior Court of Common Pleas. In 1861 he was elected to the 19th New Brunswick Legislative Assembly. In 1867, he was elected to the 1st Canadian Parliament as a member of the Liberal-Conservative Party by the riding of Victoria in New Brunswick. He was re-elected nine times, and was a Minister of Inland Revenue, a Secretary of State of Canada, a Minister of Marine and Fisheries, and acting Minister of Trade and Commerce. He was Dean of the House from 1896 to 1907.
In 1907, Costigan was appointed a member of the Canadian Senate for the senatorial division of Victoria, New Brunswick. He died in office on September 29, 1916, in Ottawa. He was interred in Grand Falls.
CANADIAN AMBASSADORS TO IRELAND
Thomas Kirkpatrick
Blake was born October 1833, in a log cabin on Bear Creek
(Sydenham River), Upper Canada in the portion of Adelaide
that later became part of Metcalfe Township. His evangelical
Anglican family had emigrated from Ireland in the company of relatives and friends. Blake’s early years were spent in Toronto, where his father was a successful lawyer, reform politician and judge. He and his younger brother were for a time educated at home by their parents. At Upper Canada College he became head boy in 1850, won a variety of prizes, was highly thought of by his teachers, and emerged as a strong intellectual. Following graduation from the University of Toronto (BA 1854), he was articled to his father’s former law firm was admitted as an attorney during Trinity term in 1856, opened his own practice and was called to the bar
In 1858 he married Margaret Cronyn, they had three daughters and four sons. In 1859 they moved with his parents in their new farm residence north of Bloor St, Humewood.
In 1861 Blake’s prestige was such that he became a lecturer in equity for the University of Toronto and the Law Society of Upper Canada. Three years later he was appointed a QC then treasurer of the law society in 1879. Addressing political issues Blake argued with great moral conviction that “no man being a member should be placed in power without being sanctioned by the people,” confirming his belief in representative government and rejection of unreasoning authority. In 1867, he won seats in both provincial Assembly and federal House of Commons.
In December 1871 he was premier and his administration brought into law a significant reform programme: the budget improved social welfare on a narrow front, teachers’ pay was increased, an act extending the property rights of married women was passed, and the functioning of the courts was altered. In 1873 he became a minister without portfolio but resigned from cabinet the following month removing for a time to Britain. While he was in England, his duties were appointed to another judge who had affirmed death sentences for John and James Young in the murder of Cayuga farmer Abel McDonald the previous year. On his return Blake reversed the sentences raising a furore. Blake resigned on 11 Dec. 1877. In the 1878 election, he reluctantly agreed to run again. In the overall defeat of the Liberals, he lost his seat. By 1879 he had taken up residence on Jarvis Street, closer to his offices at Adelaide and Victoria. Nov. 1879 he was re-elected by acclamation in Durham West and became leader in caucus. He was re-elected in 1882 and again in 1887, his last year as leader remaining for two more years in parliament.
Blake was committed to an Irish problem that, even after the defeat of Gladstone’s Home Rule Bill in 1893, offered some hope of resolution. Blake acted as an important mediator, a back-room and occasionally a parliamentary rationalizer of Irish nationalist sentiment. His facilitation included large financial infusions, some personal, others courtesy of his connections. From 1898–1900 Blake played a significant role in the unification of the nationalist movement. During the last few years of his Irish involvement Blake’s health deteriorated. His British parliamentary career at an end, Blake moved to the quiet waters of retirement in Canada.
Reflecting on arguments Blake had made throughout his career it was made clear that he had effected a fundamental transformation in the character of Confederation. The law too was political: imbued with ideology and policy, as Blake believed and as his practice of it showed. During his career he shaped much law, as a premier, as a minister of justice, as a leading figure in parliamentary opposition, and especially as a lawyer in the courts.
Blake moved back to Toronto, near his family. Except for occasional holiday absences, he rarely ventured out, and his political contacts withered. He tidied up his estate in 1906, destroying the bulk of his political correspondence; this process continued after his stroke, for he was aware that his time was limited. He died in 1912 at the age of 78.
McKinney was born on Sept. 22, 1868, of Irish descent and a
strict Methodist family of ten children. Growing up in the tiny community of Frankville, Ontario, while a schoolgirl, she joined the Women's Christian Temperance Union's youth
She was educated in Ontario at Athens High School and Smiths Falls Model School wanting to be a doctor but women were not accepted in medical schools. Like many young women her second choice was Normal School and a teaching career.At the age of 26, visiting family in North Dakota, she became organizer of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). There she met and married. Their son was born. in 1903, they joined the large movement of settlers from the Western states to better farming land in southern Alberta. Settled on a quarter section near Claresholm, south of Calgary,. James began building the first Methodist Church at Claresholm and Louise set up a temperance local, as the first president retaining the office for more than 25 years. She established more than 40 WCTU chapters in Alberta and Saskatchewan and became the president of the national WCTU, vice-president of the international WCTU.
McKinney was a member of the Famous Five - the group of five Alberta women who went all the way to the Privy Council in Britain to establish the right of women to be recognized as persons and, therefore, eligible to be appointed as senators. McKinney was an Alberta and a temperance advocate campaigning for Alberta vote to prohibit alcohol in 1915. She was also one of the Western Canadian woman to bring three denominations together to for the United Church of Canada.
In her maiden speech to the legislature, she focused on Canada's responsibility to returned servicemen, urging help for them to establish homesteads in areas with schools and transportation. A strong debaterMcKinney fought for stricter liquor control laws and other measures to assist immigrants, widows and separated women. She introduced a motion that led to the Dower Act, ensuring a certain proportion of a deceased husband's property went to his widow. McKinney also urged Dominion government take over of all the coalfields in Alberta that had operating mines, and develop their unworked sea. She served one four-year term. Her bigger defeat would be the 1923 vote that repealed prohibition. Her greatvictory would be her participation in the Famous Five women who appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, lost but went on and persuaded Prime Minister Mackenzie King to appeal the case to Canada's highest court - Britain's Privy Council.October 18, 1929, from a London courtroom came the landmark decision that Canadian women were "persons," eligible for appointment to the Senate and participation in the final stages of enacting federal laws in Canada. Louise McKinney was 63 years of age at her death, on July 10, 1931. She was laid to rest in Claresholm, Alberta.
In 1956 Gerry Furney boarded the SS Catala heading north from Vancouver and landed in what would become Port McNeill. He was looking for adventure. He needed a job and, on his word that he'd been a logging truck driver in Ireland, got a job in an isolated logging camp near the north end of Vancouver Island. It was an experience that would serve his future, and Canada, well - as a former logger he related to the forest industry and was able to relate to the community, the aquaculture and fishing interests. All of which would be the strength of his 46-years as Mayor of Port McNeill/
Furney was elected a member of the community's first council in 1966. He served for seven years before he was elected mayor. He was defeated only once and that by only one vote.
He was an avid follower of the news, keeping up to date with where the community could find support. He didn't hesitate to write to the Prime Minister regarding U.S.-funded charities: "Having observed our resource companies and resource communities being the victims of some very unkind campaigns by these so-called charities, I have yet to observe or experience any “charitable” actions by them. In fact, their actions appear to be the antithesis of charity. ... I believe that a review should be undertaken of all these organizations that claim to be “charitable,” to ensure that they meet the stringent “charitable” requirements of our Government. If they do not meet the charitable standard that we expect, then their tax-free status should be rescinded. Is this possible?"
Furney saw Confederation as a collective that would look out for each other so faced with the sorrow and crisis in Lac- Mégantic he had his council commit $1. for each Port McNeill resident be sent to their aid and
fired off letters to every mayor and
council in Canada urging them to pitch
in as had Port Alice and Alert Bay First
Nations fishing community on
Cormorant Island.
Gerry Furney headed for Port Mitchell
in search of adventure and he found it
... not what he expected but the greatest.
He was Mayor for 46 years and whilst
Ireland is always his roots, Port McNeil
was home and his extended family.
Lawyer and Ontario Liberal Party politician, Blake
held office from 1871-1872 as second Premier of
Ontario. Later in his career, he served Canadian
Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie's cabinet.
After studying law at Upper Canada College, he established a Toronto law practice with his brother and fellow attorney, Samuel Hume Blake. From 1892-1907, he left Canadian politics and entered the United Kingdom political arena, representing the Irish South Longford constituency in the British House of Commons. His father, William Hume Blake, also had a career as a politician, and his grandson, H. H. Wrong, was a Canadian diplomat who served as Ambassador to the United States.
Blake was born October 13, 1833. He married in 1856,. He and his wife Margaret raised seven children.
Edward Blake died on March 1, 1912, at Norway House, Manitoba.
Mayor Derek Corrigan
MLA Kathy (Henry) Corrigan
Couples who mean business in B.C.
The Corrigan name has been proudly associated with public service and patriotism patriotism for generations.
Derek was born in Vancouver and attended Sir Charles Tupper High School. Winning a scholarship to UBC, he was granted early admission to law school after three years of undergraduate study in political science and philosophy. He was called to the B.C. Bar in 1978. A Burnaby resident since 197 elected to Burnaby City Council in 1987; elected Mayor in 2002 re-elected in 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2014 to serve 29 consecutive years as a member of Burnaby Council.
Throughout his political career he served on many key committees at the local, regional and national levels and as the chair of B.C. Transit from 1994-97 assuming responsibility for all transit systems in British Columbia. He is proud that during his tenure, B.C. Transit received both the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Outstanding Public Transportation System of the Year Award (1996) and the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) Transit System of the Year award (1995). He currently sits on the Mayor’s Council on Regional Transportation.
He served for four years as an elected director of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and currently serves as a Trustee of the Municipal Finance Authority of British Columbia. On an international level, Corrigan has been an active supporter of the Mayors for Peace movement and has served as the Canadian secretary for the 3,793 member cities. He was honoured to receive a special recognition award for his participation in the United Nations Nuclear Non-Proliferation Conference.
Corrigan’s Irish ancestry is typical of many Canadians. His great grandfather, James S. Corrigan was born in the Parish of Ballinkill, County Laois, Ireland in 1847. He immigrated as a young man and made his way across the continent to follow the lure of gold. Unsuccessful in prospecting, he settled in Hope B.C. where he opened the Corrigan Hotel and was a mainstay of the community, serving as a School Trustee and involved in developing a thriving town. In 1882, he married Louisa Wirth of German-American heritage. They had 6 children. Derrick’s grandfather, Roy served Canada in WW11 and his father, Ronald served Canada in the Korean War. Mayor Corrigan was very honoured to be the recipient of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities 2011 FCM Green Champion Award. It reflected many years of environmental leadership the City of Burnaby has shown, enthusiastically supported by the people of Burnaby and hundreds of citizen volunteers. Corrigan was also awarded a life membership in the Union of B.C. Municipalities. He serves as the Hon. Foundation Chair for Burnaby Assoc. for Community Inclusion and the Hon. Chair for the Burnaby Empty Bowls Campaign.
Derek and his wife, Kathy (n. Henry, from Armagh, Ireland) have four children – Sean, Darcy, Patrick and Kelsey. The family has enjoyed years of involvement in local sports. Both Derek and Kathy were involved in the West Burnaby Parent Participation Playschool. Kathy served as a member and chair of Nelson School Parent Advisory committee and on the Burnaby School Board for 9 years.
Kathy Corrigan was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia as a candidate for the BC New Democratic party representing Burnaby-Deer Lake in the 2009 provincial election with her party forming the official opposition, and again in 2013. She did not seek re-election in 2017. She acted as the critic for the 2010 Winter Olympics and women's issues, and following the 2011 election as critic for Public Safety, Solicitor General and women's issues. She served on the Select Standing Committee on Public Accounts in all four sessions and the Select Standing Committee on Crown Corporations in the final two sessions. She currently serves as the Official Opposition Spokesperson for Advanced Education.
Kathy was born in Toronto, Ontario, to a mother who worked as a physics teacher and a father who worked as an engineer.She had three siblings. Her family moved to Cornwall, Ontario, then to West Vancouver in 1961 She graduated from Sentinel Secondary when she was 16 and went on to the University of British Columbia, entering Law. There, at a student social event in March, she met Derek Corrigan. They were married in December. Kathy graduated in 1978 and practiced law before their first child was born in 1980. She decided to focus on the family and became a full time wife-mother-community activist and more for the following 6 years..
Born in 1888, Gerry was a child when his family moved
to Vancouver. His father emigrated from County Kildare.
He studied law at Dalhousie University, and attained
notoriety in the 1920s representing the Government of British Columbia in its case
against discriminatory freight rates to the West Coast. McGeer won the case and
earned a reputation as “the man who flattened the Rockies”. He had lifelong battles
against all forms of bias against the West, claiming it was 3,000 miles Vancouver to Ottawa but 30,000 miles from Ottawa to Vancouver.
He entered political life in 1933 winning a seat in the British Columbia Legislature for the Liberal Party of B.C. Government. He entered civic politics by winning the 1934 Vancouver mayoralty election against incumbent L.D. Taylor with the biggest margin of victory in Vancouver’s civic history. McGeer then launched a Baby Bond scheme in the midst of the great depression to finance a new city hall.
The location in what was then considered the boondocks of 12th Avenue and Cambie Street was universally criticized. He next organized elaborate celebrations to mark Vancouver’s golden jubilee in 1936. While some applauded his efforts to boost civic pride, others denounced extravagances such as the $35,000 fountain for Stanley Park’s Lost Lagoon.
While still Mayor, McGeer ran as a Liberal Party candidate in the Canadian Federal Election of 1935, narrowly winning the Electoral district of Burrard. He became a vocal advocate of monetary reform as the answer to the great depression. His was one of the most forceful voices in Canada calling for government intervention in the credit system even before the establishment of the Bank of Canada.
His ambition was to obtain a position where he could implement his reform ideas, but his theories were too radical to be entertained in Ottawa.
McGeer remained on the back benches until his appointment to the Senate in 1945. He returned to Vancouver civic politics with another landslide mayoralty victory in 194. He died in office a few months later and therefore did not see the fruits of his latest reform drive. Gerry McGeer’s economic ideas are described in his 1935 book, Conquest of Poverty, or Money, Humanity and Christianity. David Williams has written an entertaining biography entitled Mayor Gerry.
Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, Hilary worked as a model before marrying Galen Weston in 1966. They moved to Toronto in 1974, and Hilary became a Canadian citizen. In 1997 she was appointed the 26th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, The Hon. Hilary M. Weston served as The Queen’s representative in Ontario, responsible for the Crown’s constitutional and representational roles in the province.
While she was Lieutenant Governor from 1997 to 2002, Weston focused on supporting causes and groups related to women’s issues, volunteers and youth. Hilary Weston donated her annual salary to provide business internships and job training for 88 students and she supported organizations helping street youth. In 1998, she created the Lieutenant Governor’s Community Volunteer Award to honour unsung heroes in community groups she visited. In 2000 she expanded the programme to recognize a student in each Ontario secondary school.
Weston served as the first Chancellor of the Order of Ontario and received the honour in 2001. She was appointed a Member in the Order of Canada in 2003. She has received honorary degrees from seven universities.
Since leaving public office, Hilary Weston has served as Chair of the Renaissance ROM Campaign, which seeks to transform the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto through the largest fundraising campaign in Canadian cultural history. She serves as Patron of several organizations dealing with social issues and causes.
Prior to her appointment as Lieutenant Governor, her career was in business and the fashion industry. As Deputy Chair of the Board of Holt Renfrew for ten years, she promoted Canadian designers and merchandise, revitalizing a business that has been a Canadian tradition since 1837.
Her volunteer and philanthropic work has supported cultural projects, research into breast cancer and AIDS. In 1979, Hilary Weston founded the Ireland Fund of Canada and continues as Honorary Patron of the non- partisan, non-denominational organization that funds community projects in Ireland to promote peace. She also explored her longstanding interest in homes and gardens as co-author of two best-selling books: In a Canadian Garden (1989) and At Home in Canada (1995).
In 2003 Elliot Lake's Aideen Nicholson, Member of Parliament 1974-88 received special recognition from the Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians – she was presented with the Distinguished Service Award, recognizing outstanding contributions to the promotion and understanding of Canada’s parliamentary system of government. Each year's winner of the non-partisan award is chosen by a six-person committee representing all regions of Canada. The award is given to a former parliamentarian each year who demonstrates qualities including - effectiveness in representing constituents - a sense of history - ability to articulate a vision of Canada – courage - intellectual honesty.
She moved to Northern Ontario (Elliot Lake) in the early 1990’s to take up residence and to become a Northerner where she became involved in numerous community activities - St. Joseph General Hospital trustee, White Mountain Academy Board member, Board Member for the Women's Crisis Centre, Elliot Lake Family Life, and St. Peter the Apostle Anglican Church. She also kept up her membership in a local book club which usually met in her home
During her parliamentary career Aideen distinguished herself on both the government side of the House of Commons (1974-84) and in Opposition (1984-1988). Her responsibilities included Chair of the Standing Committee on Labour, Manpower & Immigration, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Supply & Services, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Consumer & Corporate Affairs, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, and Official Opposition Critic for Financial Institutions.
Following her post-secondary education at Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland) and at the London School of Economics (England) she pursued a career in social work and continued in this field after 1988 as a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board (1990-1996).
The first Irish in Canada were fishers
who sailed from Ireland and
"struck gold" landing on the island we know as Newfoundland
it was known as
named Talamh an Eise (Land of Fish)
We'll never know. Were they simply tossed across the heaving Atlantic or did they set out with a sense of purpose in the wake of Columbus' crossing? Some say St Brendan, born c 1484 in Ireland. lead them on the voyage to a new life. Written records assure us that they set out in a currach. Built of lightweight wood or wickerwork frame over which animal skins, cured with oak bark and sealed with tar, were stretched. The currach (some variants) remains unique to the West Coast.
The seagoing currach was described by Captain Phillips as "A portable vessel of wicker ordinarily used by the Wild Irish" who kept up a thriving fishing industry there until the Great Hunger of the 19th C broke the economy and drove millions of destitute Irish from Ireland. The 20th C brought the founding of the Canadian Nation, a new wave of immigration and the settling the vast prairies. Arriving in Canada, most Irish set aside their language to fit in but still, scorned as 'Famine Irish' found themselves on the low steps of Canadian culture. However, excelling in diverse fields, they became a cultural force and brought to the fore values that significantly define what it means to be Canadian. The 2011 Census reported more than 4-million descendants of Irish immigrants - 14% of the Canadian population.
O'Leary was born on Irishtown Road in Percé, in the Gaspé, Quebec on February 19, 1888. A respected journalist, editor and senator, he helped to influence the policies of Canada. He would become one of the most notable Canadian newspapermen in history.
He left school at the age of 12 and for the next 9 years he worked in the lumberyards and in a brewery. Unwavering in his desire to learn, with the help of the Bishop of Gaspe, he educated himself at home. He was two years at sea before entering journalism with the St. John Standard. His first big scoop was interviewing the survivors of the Titanic on their arrival in New York. He joined Ottawa's press gallery in 1911 representing the Ottawa Journal and a member of Parliamentary Press Gallery for more than 20 years.
He was close to most Conservative Party leaders. PM Arthur Meighen took him along to the 1921 Imperial Conference, and O'Leary repaid the favour by standing as Gaspé's candidate in 1925, though unsuccessfully. O'Leary also supported Liberal ministers, such as C.D. Howe, in columns and editorials. He eventually became editor of the Journal, which earned a reputation for high literary standards and good reporting. In 1961 O'Leary headed the Royal Commission on Publications, and in 1962 PM John Diefenbaker appointed him to the Senate in 1962
.At the height of his career, O'Leary wrote two or three editorials daily, cabled stories to The Times in London, handled a political column for Macleans and broadcasts for CBC and private stations. He attended imperial and international conferences in London, Washington, and Canberra, and was at the Potsdam Conference in 1945. He also served as the Rector of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario in 1968 but was forced to resign under student pressure.
He died in Ottawa on April 7, 1976. Two books - The Journal men: P. D. Ross, E. Norman Smith and Grattan O'Leary of the Ottawa journal, three great Canadian newspapermen and the tradition they created Hardcover – 1974 by Norman Smith, and O'Leary's own Recollections of People, Press and Politics available at Abe Books.
Richard John Uniacke
Solicitor General of Nova Scotia
Advocate General of Vice-Admiralty Court
Member of Legislative Assembly 71
In 1781 Anglin was named solicitor general of Nova Scotia. By 1800, his was the
province's largest legal practice; combined with his appointment (1784) as advocate general of the Vice -Admiralty Court, it secured his personal fortune He also sat in the legislature (1783-93, 1798-1805) For more than 30 years Uniacke struggled for free trade, by which he meant the removal of those laws that prevented the colonies from trading wherever and in whatever they wished.
Uniacke was born in Ireland (Castletown Roche, County Cork) on November 22nd, 1753. Placed with a Dublin attorney in 1769, a quarrel with his father lead him to emigrate to America. There he met Moses Delesdernier who was looking for settlers to Fort Cumberland, Nova Scotia. He accepted Delesdernier’s offer of employment, went to Nova Scotia and, at the age of 21, married 13-year-old Martha Maria Delesdernier.
The American Revolution was brewing and Uniacke was a sympathizer with the rebels. An attack on Fort Cumberland landed him in Halifax to be tried for treason - he was rescued by certain of his friends and out of the country before he could be tried. He left his 15-year old pregnant wife behind and sailed for Ireland to take up his legal studies. Once completed, his well connected Irish relatives arranged a promise that he would be appointed attorney general in Nova Scotia. He returned to Halifax in 1781
At the end of the American Revolution, the upper class (known as Loyalists to the crown) fled north - an estimated 20,000 to Nova Scotia. In the election Uniacke and others lost their seats to Loyalists. Once again his family intervened and he was appointed Attorney General in 1797.
Uniacke and Martha Maria Bonner Deles Dernier (1762-1803) had 11 children. In 1808 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Captain Phillips Newton – they had one son. All the boys were sent overseas for legal training. The family had a large townhouse in Halifax and a country home at Mount Uniacke, now a Provincial park. (see Historic Sites)
As for his politics: he was a moderate Tory. By 1826 he was advocating a federal union an event that took place 37 years after his death. Uniacke was remembered mostly for the sheer force of his character and his exuberance. Family and friendships were essential to his existence.
Fondly known as the "Old Attorney General," with a number of his family around him at Mount Uniacke, died on October 11th, 1830. His wish was a simple burial at Mount Uniacke, but he was carried to Halifax to be buried at St. Paul's beside his first wife and his eldest daughter.
Michael Gratton O'Leary
Journalist, member of the Ottawa Press Gallery , Senator
Economist. Journalist. Politician.
BC Institute of Technology award for Innovation in Education
Born in1882, at Compton, Québec, to an Irish mother & Québécois
father St. Laurent grew up fluently bilingual. He quickly became a
successful corporation lawyer and professor of Law at Laval (1920- 30s) He served as head of the Québec Bar, president of the Canadian Bar Association 1937-40 and was a counsel to the Rowell-Sirois Royal Commission on Dominion-Provincial Relations.
In Dec.1941 he was appointed minister of justice. In Feb.1942 he was elected to the House of Commons representing Québec East. Prime Minister 1948–57, he headed
a cabinet of exceptional competence, including L.B. Pearson in external affairs. He was
a prime architect of Canada's international policies after WWII and promoted Canadian membership in NATO. Post-war years were prosperous in Canada, and under his leadership, Canada extended old-age pensions, enacted hospital insurance, approved provincial equalization payments.
The Trans-Canada Highway Act took effect in 1949, the St. Lawrence Seaway started construction in 1954, he introduced equalization payments to distribute federal taxes to the provinces and created Canada Council in 1956. During his tenure Newfoundland joined Confederation and Canada fought in the Korean War.
The Pipeline Debate in 1956 divided the party and, his government was defeated by Diefenbaker’s PC’s. In 1958 he retired from public life and returned to his law practice.
He was much admired for his decisiveness, patriotism and sharp mind, and held in
great personal affection by those who worked with him I n 1967 he was
named Companion of the Order of Canada “for his service to his country.”
Shortly after his death in 1973, the home of his birth became the Louis St. Laurent National Historic Site of Canada. Quebec's Eastern Townships celebrate his life and he is further commemorated a the Louis St-Laurent Heritage House, Quebec City.
Journalist. Publisher.
New Brunswick House of Assembly
Speaker House of Commons
Aideen Nicholson
Member of Parliament
2003 Distinguished Service Award
FOUNDING FATHERS & federal LEADERS CANADA'S AMBASSADORS TO IRELAND
PROVINCIAL AND MUNICIPAL LEADERS
Lawyer. Mayor. QC. MP Founding Father
TATALAMH an ÉISC
Lester Bowles Pearson
Maureen’s love for her Irish heritage has taken her on on quite a journey. She was born and raised in the the culturally rich Irish community of Shannon, Quebec, near Quebec City. Her father, Martin Conway, of Lahinch, Co. Clare, Ireland. was a witness to a defining moment in Irish history – he was present at Béal na mBláth the day that Michael Collins was shot. Her mother, Julia Donaldson, was 4th generation Irish - Maureen’s cultural heritage has deep roots and a source of immense pride and love for all things Irish.
Civic-minded and community-oriented, she has a long list of accomplishments and firsts to her credit: she is one of the founders of the Shannon Irish Show, which celebrated its 50th consecutive year; she held the position of president of the CWL in Shannon for a two-year term and later was elected as president of the Quebec City Diocese, again for a two-year mandate In the International Year of the Woman, 1975, she was the first woman elected as Municipal Councillor, for a four-year term.
She served as the first woman Mayor of Shannon for 10 years. In office, Maureen hosted Irish parliamentarians in Shannon as part of an organized Irish celebration.
In Ireland, received at a luncheon at Leinster House, she was asked to speak of her impression the differences and similarities between Ireland and Canada.
During her time in office, Maureen and her husband, the late Roy Maher raised three children – Angie, Jimmy and Darren. She also enjoyed a long career with the Bank of Montreal having worked in Montreal, Valcartier and Quebec City.
Her involvement with Comhaltas began at the 1989 Convention in Ottawa and became a member. When she re-located to Ottawa in 1991, her leadership experience was the gain for the Ottawa Branch. She’s held the positions of chair and vice-chair (twice) as well as chairing the North American Convention held in Ottawa ten years ago. Maureen has also worked on a number of Echoes of Erin tour committees. Maureen has long been a voting delegate on the Regional Board and was the Vice-Chair. In 2009 she was inducted into the CCÉ Canada East Region Music Hall of Fame.
Her three grand-daughters, Grace, Molly and Emma are the loves of her life and she is a very active grandmother indeed.
Maureen Conway Maher
First woman Councillor & Mayor of Shannon.
Pearson (affectionately known as Mike , the nickname given to him by his WWII flying instructor) was born in Toronto, 1897. His mother was from Kilkenny, his paternal grandfather from Dublin.
In 1945 Pearson participated in the San Francisco conference to create the United Nations .In 1949 he signed the treaty for the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (N.A.T.O.) and led the Canadian delegation until 1957. He was chairman of NATO Council in 1951-52. He became President of the U.N. General Assembly in 1952.
In 1956, Pearson proposed the solution to end the Suez War by sponsoring the creation of a United Nations peacekeeping force - he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957.
He became the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada in 1958 and, in 1963, he became the 14th Prime Minister of Canada, a position he held until 1968.
During his tenure as PM, Pearson was known for his foreign policy. But his domestic policies were of primary importance and illustrate his concerns for the benefit of the people of Canada- his creation of the Canada Pension Plan and, perhaps his greatest gift of all to the people of Canada - a Universal Medical Plan, that has been envied and copied around the world. Whether or not Canada should have a flag of it’s own had been debated for years. Under Pearson’s leadership, the Maple Leaf flag was accepted in 1965 with great acclaim and Canada’s unique Maple Leaf flag, was first raised on Parliament Hill Ottawa on Canada Day, July 1st, 1965.
scroll down to read about the PM's test of the designed flags
The IRELAND CANADA MONUMENT
Nellie Letitia Mooney was born on October 20, 1873 in Chatsworth, Ontario, a small village in Grey County, just south of Owen Sound. The daughter of John Mooney from Tipperary, and his wife, Letitia McCurdy of Dundee, Scotland. Nellie was the youngest of six children. She was seven years of age when the farm failed and they moved to Manitoba. She married Wesley McClung, a pharmacist, and with their five children, lived in Winnipeg, from 1904 -15.
She first achieved renown through her fiction writing, but it was Nellie s role as one of The Famous Five for which she is best known. The five women launched the "Persons Case," contending that women could be "qualified persons" eligible to sit in the Senate. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the current law did not recognize women as such. However, the case was won upon appeal to the Judicial Committee of the British Privy Council.
She campaigned for the Liberal party in Manitoba provincial elections on the issue of the vote for women and helped to organize the Women's Political Equality League. A public speaker known for her sense of humour, she played a leading role in the successful Liberal campaign in 1914. On January 28, 1916, Manitoba became the first province in Canada to grant women the vote. She moved to Edmonton, Alberta and, in 1921, was elected to the Alberta Legislative Assembly where she championed dental and medical care for school children, property rights for married women, mothers' allowances, factory safety legislation and other reforms.
In 1923 McClung moved to Calgary to dedicate herself to her writing. Her first novel, Sowing Seeds in Danny, published in 1908, was a national bestseller. She continued to write short stories and articles for Canadian and American magazines.
McClung's house in Calgary, her residence from 1923 to the mid-30s, is a heritage site. Two other houses in which she lived have been re-located to the Archibald Museum near La Rivière, Mb. where they have been restored. The houses are open to the public. The McClung family residence in Winnipeg is also an historic site. In 1954, Nellie McClung was named a Person of National Historic Significance
by the government of Canada.
A commemorative plaque is located on the west side of Hwy 6, south of Hwy 40
1 km Chatsworth, Ont.
The "Persons Case"
was recognized as an
Historic Event in 1997.
In October 2009 the
Senate voted to name
Nellie McClung
(all of the FIve)
Canada s first
Honourary Senators
MUNICIPAL LEADERS
Born 1825 in Carlingford, Ireland. His father, a coastguard
guar was a had little allowance for his son's formal education, but . D’Arcy was an avid reader and when the family moved to
Wexford, volumes opened up to him By study and heart he absorbed the great legends and traditions of Ireland’s history. D'Arcy McGee would mature to be, in all respects, iconic Irish: intelligent and gifted wih the word, witty and engaging, visionary and passionate.
At 17 years of age, he set sail for the United States, where he landed a job with a Boston newspaper. In 1845 Daniel O’Connell, impressed by a McGee editorial on Irish affairs, invited him to return to Ireland and join The Freeman’s Journal. The Ireland he returned to was an occupied English province. Within a year the blight wiped out the potato crops on which Irish tenant farmers had survived and, whilst the landlords shipped livestock, dairy and crops to England, one-fifth of the Irish died of starvation and more than a million emigrated in desperation.
In the midst of the conflicts McGee was charged with treason. He escaped to North America and was persuaded to settle his family in Canada where he would give voice to a new land and where they might break through the racial and religious intolerance south of the border.. In 1857 Canada was Ontario and Quebec, united as the Province of Canada; four separately governed Atlantic provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland); two small British colonies on the West Coast beyond the vast lands governed by the Hudson’s Bay Company and peopled by the indigenous First Nations still free to live their nomadic hunter lives.
McGee settled his family in Montreal, a city of 70,000 (about 1/3 Irish) and started a newspaper, The New Era. The title would be prophetic. His first three editorials called for unity and union. Within the year, McGee was nominated and elected one of three Members of Parliament for Montreal. He wrote three books on the history of Ireland and Irish settlements in North America and, in those days before communications technology, McGee was the most popular and respected lecturer in Canada - a significant part of his nation-wide influence .
When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, Canadian colonies were at risk as incidents between the United States and Britain threatened war. Seeing the union of the colonies as vital McGee, the ‘fiery Celt’, crossed the floor to join Scotsman John A. MacDonald, Puritan George Brown and others, forming the coalition that negotiated an agreement with provision for the rights of minorities.
In Ireland the Fenians, formed to overthrow British rule, had considerable support among Irish emigrants in the US. Fearful of thee damage it would do to the rights that had been gained and the reputation of Irish Canadians, McGee strongly opposed the Fenians even as threats against his life increased.
In the 1867 election, McGee won his seat as a private member of the Parliament of the Dominion of Canada. In Ottawa, on the night of April 6, 1868, he made his last speech urging Nova Scotia to stay in confederation. It was after midnight when the House rose. Thomas D’Arcy McGee walked alone to the boarding house. As he turned the key in the lock, he fell, shot through the head. Whilst we grieve a life of potential cut too short, we give thanks that his contributions to Canada, and to all humanity, remain invaluable when we reflect on the standards of justice, peace, equality and human rights that he set and how his legacy continues to significantly define what it means to be Canadian.
Gerald Gratton McGeer
MLA British Columbia
Mayor of Vancouver
Tony was born in Ireland, August 31, 1948, the eldest of
seven children. He was twelve years old when his family
emigrated to Canada and settled in Wawa, Ontario. He
graduated Laurentian University in Sudbury with a Bachelor
of Arts in 1974. In the same year, he received a Diploma in Recreational Leadership from Confederation College. He was founder of the Sault Ste. Marie Soup Kitchen, and for some time the owner and General Manager of Transcend Homes, a local workers' cooperative. A devout Roman Catholic, Martin also served as a trustee on the Northern District Catholic School Board, and was a pastoral assistant at the Blessed Sacrament Parish in Sault Ste. Marie from 1981 to 1990. In 1990, Tony was elected as the NDP Member of Parliament for two terms and was appointed parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Education for the next five years. He again retained his seat in the 1999 election and appointed one of the legislature's Deputy Speakers on October, 1999. He dramatically resigned from this position on December 19, 2000, to protest the Mike Harris government's inactivity on poverty issues. Following this, he chaired a series of "People's Parliament on Poverty" meetings.
In 2004, he was urged to run again, this time for the federal government, and was elected as the MP for Sault Ste. Marie. He was re-elected in the 2006 campaign and served in the NDP's shadow cabinet as critic for Social Policy, Childcare, Human Resources and Skills Development and the FedNor agency.
Martin is married to Anna Celetti. They have four children.
Dominic Edward Blake LLB
Lawyer. Second Premier of Ontario
Joan Kathleen (Donovan) O'Malley
Seamstress to the Maple Leaf Flag
Thomas D'Arcy McGee
Ambassador Pat and Carol Binns at the 2007 Thanksgiving Dinner Dinner. ICS Chair Dave Wilson looks on.
Prime Minister 1963 - 1968 Nobel Peace Prize 1957
Johnson was born in Danville, Quebec, Canada,
the son of Francis Johnson, an Anglophone
labourer of Irish heritage, and Marie-Adéline Daniel, a French Canadian. He was raised bilingually but educated entirely in French.
He won a by-election in 1946 and became the Union Nationale Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the district of Bagot. He was re-elected in 1948, 1952, 1956 and 1960. In 1958 he was appointed to the Cabinet and served as Minister of Hydraulic Resources until the 1960 election which was won by the Liberals. He was the minister who started the Manic-5 hydroelectric project in 1958 of which its Daniel-Johnson Dam was named after him.
Elected Party leader in 1961, his 1965 book Égalité ou indépendance ("Equality or independence") made him the first leader of a Quebec political party to recognize the possibility of independence for Canada from the British Crown. Under the same slogan his party won the 1966 election and he became Premier of Quebec, a position he retained until his death.
In July 1968, Johnson suffered a heart attack which kept him from work until mid-September.On September 25, 1968, Hydro-Québec, the government-owned utility organized a ceremony to mark the completion of the Manicouagan-5 dam.On September 26, 1969, a year to the day after Johnson's death, the new Premier Jean-Jacques Bertrand accompanied by Johnson's widow and children, unveiled two plaques and officially dedicated the dam after his predecessor.
In 1943, Johnson and Reine Gagnér married and had three sons. Their sons, Pierre-Marc Johnson and Daniel Johnson, Jr. also became premiers of Quebec:.
Founding Father
Eileen Elizabeth (Gilmore) Dailly
Minister of Edcation, Deputy Prime Minister British Columbia
'the lady who banned the strap'
Ernest Roderick Patterson
Alberta Centennial Medal
for outstanding service to the province
The Queen’s Jubilee Medal
Mayor of the Town of Claresholm for 33 years
Mayor Furney consults with Namgis Chief Debra Nanuse
Nellie Letitia (Mooney) McClung
One of Canada's first Honorary Senators
A Person of National Historic Significance
Politician. Writer. Social Activist.
Prime Minister 1948 - 1957 Companion of the Order of Canada
PROVINCIAL LEADERS
"Ernie” was born near Roscrea, County Tipperary, Ireland, on 25 September 1936 to W.E. “Ted” Patterson and Lucy Patterson. In 1948 his family emigrated to Stavely, Alberta. They moved on to Claresholm, Ab. In 1949 where Ernie completed high school and went on to the University of Alberta, Edmonton, earning his first teaching certificate. He returned to Claresholm to take up his teaching career and went on to earn his Bachelor and subsequently his Maser of Education through summer school and evening classes at the Universities of Lethbridge and Calgary.
Stavely would be home for most of his working and political life as he progressed through tAssistant Principal, Principal, Deputy Superintendent of Schools, Superintendent of Schools for the Willow Creek School Division with the head office in Claresholm.
When he became involved in federal politics running for the Social Credit Party in the 1962 Federal Election he lost by 1890 votes. Followed by losing federal and provincial election campaigns, In 1964 he turned to municipal politics and was elected Mayor of the Town of Claresholm where he served a total of 33 years.
In 1990 he was elected Chair of the Claresholm and District Hospital Board for 6 years he worked to create the Claresholm and District Health Foundation and served as Chair from 1998 to 2008. Appointed a Commissioner with the Canada Metric Commission, 1981 and 1984, he was appointed a member of the Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission for 2002/2003 and in 2003/2004 was elected President of (AUMA) the Alberta Municipal Association (which represents all cities, towns and villages in Alberta. This meant he served as President of the Alberta Municipal Service Corporation, which at that time was providing over one hundred million dollars of services to Alberta municipalities.
In his capacity as Chair of the Beverage Container Management Board for Alberta (1996 - 2004), Ernie provided leadership to the start of the recycling of beverage containers for Alberta through the local bottle depot system.
In August 2004 he was named one of Alberta’s “50 Most Influential Citizens” by Alberta Venture magazine and specifically identified as one of seven “political power houses” in the province and, in February 2005, he was awarded the Alberta Centennial Medal for outstanding service to the province and in, 2012, he was awarded the Queen’s Jubilee Medal for playing a pivotal role in shaping modern municipal politics in Alberta.
He credits his family in playing an important role in his involvement with politics and social issues. His first wife, Alice, the mother of his three children died in 1987. She helped greatly in influencing them in their education with Donna becoming a teacher, David a Professional Forester and Edward becoming a doctor.
In 1993 he and Edna Allwright married. Both Ernie and Edna had been widowed and acknowledge how fortunate they are as, between them, they have the support of five children, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren..
Nation Builders
Timothy Warren Anglin
Antony A. (Tony) Martin
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario 1990 - 2003,
Member of Parliament 2004 - 2011
Loyola Hearn
28th Canadian Ambassador to Ireland 2010-2015
Edward Whelan was born 1824 in Ballina, Ireland. He began his schooling there before emigrating with his mother to . Halifax. He entered school and was apprenticed, at 8 years
of age to the the newspaper printing office where owner,
Joseph Howe encouraged him to continue his education by
reading. Whilst attending St. Marys Seminary, Whelan continued to work for Howe until 1842 when he briefly held a position of newspaper editor before moving to Prince Edward Island and founding his own twice-weekly that was devoted to reform, particularly the issue of responsible government being essential to dismantling the predominant system of leasehold land tenure. The newspaper failed financially and Whelan considered leaving PEI. But, in August 1946, he won a seat in the House of Assembly, representing St. Peters in eastern PEI. One year later he published a new weekly and, wielding a brilliant satiric pen, his character insights and analyses of contemporaries won him a great following.
By early 1850, Whelan increased the frequency of his newspaper. A talented orator, he spoke at many public meetings in support of responsible government. When responsible government was won, April 1851 and Whelan’s agenda widened to include free education, reformed leasehold land system and extending the electoral franchise.
When union of the British North American colonies emerged as a practical political question in 1864, Whelan anticipated that the Colonial Office — which had provided landlords with consistent backing against Reform measures — would no longer be “intermeddling [...] in our local legislation.” A delegate to the Québec Conference, he continued to support union of the provinces - on this subject he was in a small minority among Islanders, and especially within his Liberal party. The following year, Whelan retained his seat, but he accepted the office of Queen’s Printer and thereby was
obliged to a by-election, which he lost .
Edward Whelan died on December 10, 1867. His legacy on the Island lives on. Regrettably, on the issue of Confederation, he did not live to see his cause succeed.
Eileen was born in Vancouver 15 February, 1926.to an Irish-Catholic father and a politically aware Scottish Presbyterian mother, Dailly received an early education in working-class politics at the dinner table. Her father, captain on a government customs patrol boat was at sea most of the time until the Depression hit and he was suddenly unemployed. Dailly recalls,"My brother and I were old enough to start thinking. ‘Here’s our Dad who wanted to work, why can’t he?" Her Dad wa one of thousands of men who wanted to work. The family moved to a lower-rent area in east Vancouver.
During the 1941 Provincial election, 15 year-old Eileen joined the CCF - Co-operative Commonwealth Federation a left-wing party concerned with social welfare. The Liberal and Conservative parties formed a coalition to retain power it was a lesson in “orientation to the working person.”
Completing Grade 13 at John Oliver High School, she took a 1-year teacher-training program at the provincial Normal School in Vancouver. Graduating in 1945, she was posted to a rural school on Denman Island, to teach 30 students, grades one to eight for 2 years before moving to an elementary school in Burnaby.
In 1951, she and James Dailly married. They had one son. Eileen left teaching in 1955 to be at home with her family. The following year she was elected trustee to the Burnaby School Board under the banner of the CCF.
The CCF was the precursor of the New Democratic Party (NDP) launched in 1961 with support of the Canadian labour movement. In 1966, NDP she was encouraged to run for provincial office. She was elected and re-elected to the provincial legislature for Burnaby North again in 1969 andserving as the NDP's "shadow critic" of education. In 1972 the NDP formed a government under Premier Dave Barrett, she became Minister of Education and Deputy Premier - the second woman to hold the office as Minister of Education and first to be named Deputy Premier.
On 14 February 1973, she amended the School Act and abolished corporal punishment from provincial public schools. Her decision to "outlaw the strap" - to ban corporal punishment -- was unprecedented in Canada. Although it was a very controversial decision, the "strap" was never reinstated. She further made it mandatory for all school districts to provide kindergartens by September 1973. Dailly was concerned for children whose parents could not afford to send them to private kindergartens. "Having taught school, I knew particularly the importance of early education and these kids were being denied that opportunity," she said.
In 1973 Dailly discontinued province-wide centralized Grade 12 graduating examination. "It didn't mean that there shouldn't be testing, but to put the emphasis so strongly on one exam, I considered was wrong." In June 1973 the exams were discontinued only to be re-instated by the Social Credit government ten years later. In 1974, she facilitated another significant change: facilitating the creation of the first native school district for the Nisga’a in the Nass River Valley. Dailly points out "The Nisga’a were very progressive and had been asking for their own school district, which would still be part of the public school system." The new school district gave the Nisga’a, as school trustees, a voice in the curriculum and encouragement for the future of their students’ future. Dailly could see from the figures, "how few Native Indians graduated from school and also how few native Indian teachers there were and so that’s where something concrete was done."
Whilst the NDP was defeated in 1975 Dailly remained MLA for Burnaby North until 1986. She had spent twenty years in the public service and, after her retirement, she volunteered on community cable TV (1988-91) hosting a seniors' program called "Coming of Age," and she served on the executive of the provincial Retired MLAs Association. She has also had more time for her family, especially her 4 grandchildren!
Irish and Irish Canadians, Men and Women, Fathers of Confederation negotiating and signing the terms of Confederation
July 1, 1867, uniting the British North American colonies becoming CANADA February 15, 1965, the National Flag of Canada was officially unfurled - O Canada!
Born in 1948, the son of Stan and Phyllis Binns, of Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Paddy was always close to his Grandad, Pat Evans. Evans emigrated from Co. Monaghan in about 1912 and settled in western Canada where he was an engineer for the CN Railway. He instilled a love of Ireland in his family which stayed with Paddy
.Binns earned his Masters in Community Development at the University of Alberta. In the summer of 1970 he worked in PEI where he met Carol, his future wife. They worked in Northern Alberta then returned to PEI where Binns was employed by the Rural Development Council and the Provincial Government. Pat and Carol bought a farm in PEI where they raised their four children, kept sheep and grew edible beans.
In 1978, Binns was elected to the PEI Legislature as an Opposition member. Re-elected he was appointed a Cabinet Minister. In 1984 he was elected Federal MP for Cardigan. Defeated in 1988, he developed a consulting business and was a founding partner in Island Bean Limited. In 1996 he became leader of the PC Party of PEI and was elected premier for three terms and was known as the province's "affable and unassuming premier." in 2007, he was named Canada’s Ambassador to Ireland Appointed Consul General to New England In 2010, he and Carol retired to their PEI farm in 2014, returning to Ireland for visits with friends and family and the celebration of PEI’s twinning with County Monaghan..
Born 31 Aug. 1822 in Clonakilty to Francis Anglin, an
Ease India Co. employee, and Joan Warren. In his
relatively wealthy Irish Catholic family in Co. Cork he
received a classical education. When the Great Hunger hit Ireland in 1845 he took up school teaching in his home town. On Easter Monday 1849 he left Ireland for St. John where his introduction to public life quickly made an impact - following a violent riot, Anglin wrote a lengthy letter to the Morning News criticizing municipal authorities and urging everyone to be calm and cooperate for the benefit of the colony. The letter launched his publication of the St. John Weekly Freeman, through which: he became lay spokesman for the most impoverished - Irish Catholics who comprised about one-third of the population, suffered proportionately more than others from low wages, unemployment, inadequate housing, and disease. They faced various forms of economic, social, political, and religious discrimination and were viewed by “respectable” citizens as prone to drunkenness, profligacy and violence.
Anglin’s approach, as an Irish Catholic leader, was multi-faceted - he defended them against charges that they were a burden on society. He promoted their self-respect by providing news from Ireland, supporting ethno-religious groups (Irish Friendly Society}, and encouraging the development of Catholic welfare societies and the development of employment opportunities. He also encouraged them to improve themselves with
God’s help - instances of bad behaviors all received a lashing in the Freeman.
His first effort to gain political office in failed, but in 1861 he was elected to the New Brunswick House of Assembly for St John County and City as an independent. He always argued that “Where the rights of the individual are trampled upon there is despotism.”
In 1853 he married Margaret O'Regan who died in 1855. In 1862 he married Ellen McTavish. Timothy & Ellen had 10 children, including their world famous daughter, actress Margaret Anglin.
For British North Americans the 1860s were shaped by the American Civil War. Anglin believed the cause was the institution of slavery and the fanaticism which existed in both the North and the South. The war raised the question of colonial defence and the imperial connection. Whilst Anglin never accepted British domination of Ireland, he did accept that it provided the best defence against aggressive American attempts to take over the colonies which he saw as innocent bystanders in quarrels between Britain and the United States.
Circumstances in New Brunswick forced the government to call an election early in 1865. Anglin waged a hard and skillful battle and emerged as one of the most prominent anti-confederates. Majority opinion in New Brunswick agreed with Anglin’s opposition to the union proposal and the government went down to a resounding defeat. He became an executive councillor without departmental office in the newly formed government.
When the American branch of the Fenian movement, bent on liberating Ireland from Britain, proposed to attack Britain’s colonies in North America. Neither Anglin nor the vast majority of New Brunswick’s Irish Catholics supported them. In the election which followed in May and June, the anti-confederates were soundly defeated, Anglin included.
For Anglin, as for the new Dominion of Canada, the years 1867 to 1872 were a period of substantial adjustment. In the first general election for the House of Commons he ran successfully in New Brunswick, contesting the unofficial leadership of Irish Catholics with Thomas D’Arcy McGee until McGee’s assassination in April 1868. Anglin continued to speak out on issues of particular concern to this group but his criticisms were seldom vociferous he believed it was improving- at least was better than in the United States.
He found a more established party position in the House of Commons, gravitating from sitting as an independent in 1867 to being a prominent member of the loosely bound Liberal party under Alexander Mackenzie in 1872. For his valued services to the party Anglin was named speaker of the House of Commons in March 1874. However, the onnection between the government and the Freeman got Anglin into trouble for conflict of interest, resulting in his being unseated from the commons in 1877. Anglin fought a bitter summer by-election and was re-elected speaker.
Despite his conservatism and his commitment to free enterprise, he did not join the many middle-class Canadians who condemned workers’ organizations. In fact, he gave the activities of such groups objective coverage in the Freeman. Anglin even came to sympathize with efforts of labour unions, to improve their position, provided their actions were legal, moderate, and non-violent.
Following the defeat of the Liberals in 1878 Anglin’s political fortunes went into decline. This, along with the declining fortunes of his newspaper, led him to sever his tie with the Freeman and move to Toronto in 1883.
At 65 he had a wife and seven children aged 4 to 22 to support. In earlier years he had put aside a substantial investment, but he did not again find steady work until just prior to his death. During these years he was engaged in occasional appointments, wrote a few articles for journals and newspapers, made the occasional speech, wrote the chapter on Archbishop John Joseph Lynch* in a volume celebrating the 50th anniversary of the archdiocese of Toronto, and was a trustee on the Toronto Separate School Board from 1888 to 1892.
In May 1895, with the help of his two lawyer sons, he obtained steady employment, as chief clerk of the Surrogate Court of Ontario. A year later Timothy Warren Anglin died of a blood clot on the brain.
Hearn was born in the fishing village of Renews, Newfoundland, where he received his early education. His father, from Carrick-on-Suir Tipperary, left there ca.800, just before the Great Hunger. His mother’s family were Sheehans from Kilkenny.
After graduating from high school, he began his studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland and the University of New Brunswick. He began his career as a teacher in Renews and Trepassey, Newfoundland and Labrador before his political career began in 1982, he served as Minister for Education from 1985 to 1989. In 2000 he entered federal politics as a member of the Conservative Party and was elected a Member of Parliament serving as House Leadder, Canadian Heritage Critic, Public Works and Goverment Services Critic, and Critic of the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons. Loyola Hearn was named Minister of Fisheries and Oceans on February 6, 2006. Hearn was faced with many crisis around the issue of fish plants in rural Newfoundland communities, often finding himself in conflict with the provincial government, business and unions. Just prior to the dissolution of Parliament in September 2008, Hearn announced that he would not stand for re-election.
Hearn and his wife, Maureen, have a son, David and a daughter, Laurita.
Patrick George Binns
Ambassador 2007 - 2010
Premier Prince Edward Island
Federal Minister
Robert Bonner was born September 10, 1920, and
raised in Vancouver. His father was from New
Brunswick, his mother was from Kells, County Meath.
He served with the Seaforth Highlanders in Italy in the Second World War. Upon his return to Canada, he earned his law degree from the University of British Columbia in 1948, and joined a practice in Vancouver. Active in politics from an early age, Bonner became a supporter and confidant of W.A.C. Bennett, who would go on to lead the Social Credit Party to victory in the 1952 provincial election. To the surprise of many, Bennett appointed the unelected, 32 year-old Bonner as the province’s Attorney General — the youngest in B.C.’s history. Bonner would be elected to represent the riding of Vancouver-Point Grey in the provincial election of 1953, which was also the first Social Credit majority government in the province. He would retain the position of Attorney General for the next sixteen years, quickly becoming one of the most powerful ministers and closest advisors to Bennett in the SoCred’s long spell of governance.
During his time in cabinet, Bonner served at various times concurrently as Minister of Education and Minister of Trade and Commerce. In the legislature, Bonner proved capable, serving as Bennett’s House Leader. Contemporaries described him as “articulate, urbane, and always well prepared, with a demonstrated air of superiority and a ready laugh".
He left provincial politics in 1968 to become vice-president of MacMillan Bloedel, a Vancouver-based logging and lumber company. He would become the firm’s president and chief executive officer. Bonner left Mac-Blo in 1976 to become chairman of BC Hydro, the provincial crown corporation responsible for producing and supplying hydro-electric power. He retired from that position in 1985 Robert Bonner died in Vancouver in 2005.
Francis Alexander Anglin
Lawyer. Politician.
Seventh Chief Justice of Canada 1924 to 1933.
His Excellency Loyola Hearn and wife Maureen in Sligo visit sites of mass emigration to Canada, meet with local historians, visit the old Kearvny family homestead and learn the The Canada-Monaghan Connection tragic story of their leaving in 1845 , have a lively exchange with the students and teachers at the local school.and be congratulated for 'pulling the perfect pint'
Born in Shanghai, China, 1935, Patricia Carney was 4 years old when she arrived in Canada with her Irish parents. Her early education was in Nelson, B.C. Graduated from high
school there and moved to study Arts, Political Science and
Economics at the University of BC. Her Bachelor of Arts in hand, she went on to UBC School of Community & Regional Planning for her Masters.
A successful business columnist, writing principally for the Vancouver Sun and Province. In 1970 she focused on socio-economic issues in the North and started her own consulting firm, preparing studies on subjects such as pipelines, satellite communications and labour relations. She returned to Vancouver from Yellowknife with a passion to address socio-economic issues in the North and the Province. She entered the 1979 federal election as a PC candidate for Vancouver Centre. She was narrowly defeated. She put her name on the ballot the following year. She was elected and, in opposition, served as energy critic. Re-elected in 1984, Carney was appointed Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources, with responsibility for working out a new energy deal with the Western Provinces. In a June 1986 cabinet shuffle she became Minister of International Trade, deeply involved in the Softwood Lumber Dispute and the Free Trade negotiations with the US - successfully negotiated and the Agreement signed. She was president of the Treasury Board when, just before the 1988 election, she retired to private life and journalism as Executive Editor of Pacific Press.
Another first for a woman who was out front in every field was her appointment to the senate in 1990. She was the first woman Conservative appointed from BC to the Senate. In her political career, she was the first woman Conservative Member of Parliament ever elected in BC (1980's). In her journalism career in the 1960’s, she was the first woman business columnist writing for major daily newspapers. As an educator, she was a Canadian pioneer in the development of distance learning systems and, in
1977 she received the BC Institute of Technology award for Innovation in Education for “diligent and creative work” in the Satellite Tele-Education Program Hermes Project, one of 26 national projects to experiment with the world’s first geostationary interactive communications satellite
Pat Carney has 'retired' but she keeps on politicking for causes. One of Carney's major causes is the complex of Arthritis. She has worked with the Arthritis Society since 1977. A founding member of the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada, her advocacy has earned her an Honourary Membership with the Arthritis Society BC and Yukon Division
Appointed Ambassador of Canada to Ireland January 2015.
Previous service: Sergeant-at-Arms, House of Commons.
Caoimhin Mícheál was born and raised in Newcastle, New Brunswick. His mother, Monica, was a nurse, her family came from Bantry, Co Cork. His father, William "Bill", operated a dairy. Bill’s sisters were nuns and "there were several priests in the family". Vickers recalled thinking " ... of these 17 men that I took confessions from for homicides and I thought: ‘I am going to pray for them’. I always remember my dad taught me that regardless of how repulsive the crime, you always respect the dignity of the person."
Vickers studied at St. Francis Xavier University and University of Calgary. His 29-year career with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) brought him to the rank of Chief Superintendent, called upon to successfully lead a number of high-profile investigations, including homicides, national investigations, international drug importations. and a national investigation into those responsible for the safety of Canada's blood supply. He also played an important role in defusing the 1999-2000 Burnt Church Native Fishing Crisis. As Incident Commander. entrusted with providing security for VIP guests to Canada, (HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Andrew) and to serve as Aide-de-Camp for the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, Vickers held positions as Director-General for the Aboriginal Police Services Branch and Director-General for the National Contract Policing Branch of the RCMP. In this latter role, in 2005 at RCMP Headquarters in Ottawa, he led the Canadian police community developing a National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet. This initiative resulted (2006-2015) in $45 million of funding and the creation of a National Centre of Expertise.
Vickers was appointed Director of Security Operations for the House of Commons in June 2005. From 2006-2015 he served as Sergeant-at-Arms responsible—with a team of 1,000 employees—for ensuring the security of the Parliamentary Precinct and operations that supported the functions of Parliament, including: management of 30 buildings, food services, transportation, printing & mailing, and requirements of the National Press Gallery. He was also responsible of the implementation of the Long-Term Vision and Plan for the Parliamentary Precinct Services. Kevin Vickers was hailed as a hero by Canada’s parliamentarians, and other prominent Canadian and international figures for his actions in stopping the October 2014 attack at the Parliament of Canada. The recipient of the Queen's Jubilee Medal, the Canada 125 Medal, the RCMP Long Service Medal and recognized by the Community of Burnt Church for his outstanding service to their community, and by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency for his “Outstanding Contribution to Drug Enforcement.”
Louis St. Laurent
Kevin Michael Vickers
Queen's Jubilee Medal
Canada 125 Medal
RCMP Long Service Medal