Irish Canadian
From Free net encyclopedia
Irish Canadians are Irish people or people of Irish descent living in Canada. Irish Canadians live across the country and a sizable portion of Canada's population (12.9%) identify themselves as of Irish descent.
The Irish in Canada
The Irish have a long and rich history in Canada dating back centuries. The first recorded Irish presence in the area of present day Canada dates from 1536, when Irish fishermen from Cork traveled to Newfoundland.
The first significant group of Canadian settlers from Ireland were Protestants from predominantly Ulster and largely of Scottish descent who settled in the mainly central Nova Scotia in the 1760s. Many came through the efforts of colonizer Alexander McNutt. Some came directly from Ulster whilst others arrived after via New England.
After permanent settlement of Newfoundland by Irish in early 1800's, overwhelmingly from Waterford, increased immigration of the Irish elsewhere in Canada began in decades following the war of 1812. Between the years 1825 to 1845, 60% of all immigrants to Canada were Irish, in 1831 alone, some 34,000 arrived in Montréal.
But the peak period of entry of the Irish to Canada occurred during and shortly after the Irish potato famine in the mid 19th century. During this time, Canada was the destination of the poorest and the most destitute Irish people numbering in the hundreds of thousands. This was because the fare to Canada was much lower than those to the United States of America, Australia, and New Zealand.
The majority arrived arrived in Grosse Ile, an island in present day Quebec which housed the immigration reception station. Thousands died or were treated in the hospital (equipped for less than one hundred patients) in the summer of 1847; in fact, many boats that reached Grosse-Île had lost the bulk of their passengers and crew, and many more died in quarantine on or near the island. From Grosse-Ile, most survivors were sent to Montréal. The orphaned children were adopted into Quebec families and accordingly became Québécois, both linguistically and culturally. Most of these immigrants continued on to settle in Canada West (formerly Upper Canada, now Ontario) or the USA. 1
Compared with the Irish in the United States or the United Kingdom who fled famine, a good number of the Irish in Canada settled in rural areas and not the cities, but there were many exceptions (especially in Quebec and New Brunswick, see below for more information). The Irish in Canada still faced a large amount of racism and persecution, both from the Irish Republican Brotherhood's raids on British army posts in Canada (then known as British North America) from the United States, and due to long-standing feelings of anti-Irish racism among British and in general, protestant Canadians. Although the Irish-Canadian community did in part condemned the attacks on the British Army in Canada in support of their hopes for a peaceful new country, many more were torn between loyalty to their new home and the memory of harsh British rule in Ireland. In 1868, a prominent Irish-Canadian, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, was assassinated in Ottawa. It was claimed a Fenian, Patrick J. Whelan was the assassin, attacking McGee for his recent anti-Raid statements (Even though McGee first permanently fled Ireland to America to escape a warrant for his arrest on charges of aiding the 1848 Uprising in Tipperary, while editing a nationalist newspaper called Nation). This was later called into question, with many believing that Whelan was falsely accused to be a scapegoat in the assassination.
After Confederation, Irish Catholics faced more oppression because of their faith rather than their race. This was especially true in the mainly Protestant cities of Ontario, which were under the sway politically of the already entrenched anti-Catholic Orange Order, Ottawa excepted. The anthem "The Maple Leaf Forever" written and composed by Scottish immigrant and Orangeman Alexander Muir reflects the British Loyalist outlook of many Canadians of the time.
Demographics
The following statistics are from the 2001 Census of Canada. [1]
| Province/Territory | Irish-Canadian population |
|---|---|
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 100,260 |
| Prince Edward Island | 37,175 |
| Nova Scotia | 178,590 |
| New Brunswick | 135,830 |
| Quebec | 291,545 |
| Ontario | 1,761,280 |
| Manitoba | 143,950 |
| Saskatchewan | 139,200 |
| Alberta | 461,065 |
| British Columbia | 562,895 |
| Yukon | 5,455 |
| Northwest Territories | 4,470 |
| Nunavut | 945 |
| Canada | 3,822,660 |
The Irish Benevolent Society
In 1877, a breakthrough in Irish Canadian Protestant-Catholic relations occurred in London, Ontario. This was the founding of the Irish Benevolent Society, a brotherhood of Irishmen and women of both Catholic and Protestant faiths. The society promoted Irish Canadian culture, but it was forbidden for members to speak of Irish politics when meeting. This companionship of Irish people of all faiths quickly tore down the walls of sectarianism in Ontario. Today, the Society is still operating.
Benevolent Irish Society
In 1806, The Benevolent Irish Society (BIS) was founded as a philanthropic organization in St. John's, Newfoundland. Membership was open to adult residents of Newfoundland who were of Irish birth or ancestry, regardless of religious persuasion. The BIS was founded as a charitable, fraternal, middle-class social organization, on the principles of "benevolence and philanthropy", and had as its original objective to provide the necessary skills which would enable the poor to better themselves. Today the society is still active in Newfoundland and is the oldest philanthropic organization in North America.
The Irish in Quebec
Main article: Irish Quebecers
After the disaster at Grosse-Île (see above), many Irish children were left as orphans in a new country. These children were adopted mainly by French speakers in Lower Canada. These children fought for the right to keep their Irish surnames, and were largely successful (Caissie to Kessy, Riel to Reilly..) Today, many Quebecers have a name of Irish origin. In fact, the Irish are the second largest ethnic group in the province after the French Canadians and one estimate suggests that as many as 30 percent of the French-speaking Quebeckers have some Irish ancestry. The St. Patrick's Day Parade in Montreal is the oldest in North America and attracts crowds of over 600,000 people.
The Irish in Ontario
From the times of early European settlement in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Irish had been coming to Ontario, in small numbers and in the service of New France as missionaries, soldiers, geographers and fur trappers.
After the creation of British North America in 1763, Protestant Irish, both Irish Anglicans and Ulster-Scottish Presbyterians had been migrating over the decades to Upper Canada, some as United Empire Loyalists or directly from Ulster.
In the years after the war of 1812 an increasing numbers of Irish, a growing number Catholic, were venturing to Canada to procure work on projects such as canals, roads, railroads and in the lumber industry. The labourers were known as ‘navvies’ and built much of the early infrastructure in the province. Settlement schemes offering cheap (or free) land brought over farmer families. Ulster and Munster (particularly Tipperary and Cork) were frequent sources of these migrants.
The Irish Potato Famine had a large impact on Ontario. At its peak in the summer of 1847, boatloads of sick migrants arrived in desperate circumstances on steamers from Quebec to Bytown (presently Ottawa), and to ports of call on Lake Ontario, chief amongst them Kingston and Toronto, in addition to many other smaller communities across southern Ontario. They came from the land estates in places like Sligo, Galway, Clare and Cork. Quarantine facilities were hastily constructed to accommodate them. Nurses, Doctors, Priests, Nuns, compatriots, some politicians and ordinary citizens aided them. Thousands died in Ontario that summer alone, mostly from Typhus.
An economic boom and rapid growth in the years after their arrival allowed many men to obtain steady employment on the rapidly expanding railroad network, construction in the cities or in the logging industry, some venturing to the more remote parts of eastern, central and northern Ontario. Women would often enter into domestic service. Others farmed the relatively cheap, arable land of southern Ontario. There was a strong Irish rural presence in Ontario in comparison to their brethren in the northern US, but they were also numerous in the towns and cities. Later generations of these poorer immigrants were among those who rose to prominence in unions, business, law, the arts and politics.
With Canadian Confederation in 1867, Catholics were granted a separate school board. Through the late 19th and early 20th century, Irish immigration to Ontario continued but a slower pace, much of it family reunification. Out migration of Irish in Ontario (along with others) occurred during this period following economic downturns, available new land and mining booms in the US or the Canadian West. The reverse is true of those with Irish descent who migrated to Ontario from the Maritimes and Newfoundland seeking work, mostly since WWII.
Today, the impact of the heavy 19th century Irish immigration to Ontario is evident as those who report Irish extraction in the province number close to 2 million people or almost half the total Irish-Canadian population. In 1998, March 17th was proclaimed “Irish Heritage Day” by the Ontario Legislature in recognition of the immense Irish contribution to the development of the Province.
The Irish in New Brunswick
The Miramichi River valley, received a significant Irish immigration in the years before the potato famine. These settlers tended to be better off and better educated than the later arrivals, who came out of desperation. Though coming after the Scottish and the French Acadians, they made their way in this new land, intermarrying with the Catholic Highland Scots, and to a lesser extent, with the Acadians. Some, like Martin Cranney, held elective office and became the natural leaders of their augmented Irish community after the arrival of the famine immigrants. The early Irish came to the Miramichi because it was easy to get to with lumber ships stopping in Ireland before returning to Chatham and Newcastle, and because it provided economic opportunities, especially in the lumber industry.
Long a timber-exporting colony, New Brunswick became the destination of thousands of Irish immigrants in the form of refugees fleeing the potato famines during the mid-19th century as the timber cargo vessels provided cheap passage when returning empty to the colony. Quarantine hospitals were located on islands at the mouth of the colony's two major ports, Saint John (Partridge Island) and Chatham-Newcastle (Middle Island), where many would ultimately die. Those who survived settled on marginal agricultural lands in the Miramichi River valley and in the Saint John River and Kennebecasis River valleys, however, the difficulty of farming these regions saw many Irish immigrant families moving to the colony's major cities within a generation or to Portland, Maine or Boston.
Saint John and Chatham, New Brunswick saw large numbers of Irish migrants, changing the nature and character of both municipalities. Today, Chatham as part of the amalgamated city of Miramichi continues to host a large annual Irish festival. Indeed, Chatham is one of the most Irish communities in North America.
The Irish in Prince Edward Island
For years, Prince Edward Island had been divided between Irish Catholics and British Protestants. In the latter half of the 20th Century, this sectarianism diminished and was ultimately destroyed recently after two events occurred. Firstly, the Catholic and Protestant school boards were merged into one secular institution, and secondly, the practise of electing two MLAs for each provincial riding (one Catholic and one Protestant) was ended.
The Irish in Newfoundland
Main article: Irish Newfoundlanders
Unlike in Ontario, in Newfoundland Irish Catholics settled in the cities (mainly St. John's), while British Protestants settled in small fishing communities. Over time, the Irish Catholics became wealthier than their Protestant neighbours, which gave incentive for Protestant Newfoundlanders to join the Orange Order. In 1903 Sir William Coaker founded the Fisherman's Protective Union (F.P.U.) in an Orange Hall in Herring Neck. Furthermore, during the term of Commission of Government (1934-1949), the Orange Lodge was one of only a handful of "democratic" organizations that existed in the Dominion of Newfoundland. After the Dominion of Newfoundland collapsed in 1934, the area reverted to colonial status. In 1948, a referendum was held in Newfoundland as to where the colony was headed; the Irish Catholics mainly supported independence for Newfoundland, while the Protestants mainly supported joining the Canadian Confederation. Newfoundland then joined Canada by a 52-48% margin, and with an influx of Protestants into St. John's after the closure of the east coast cod fishery in the 1990s, the main issues have become one of Rural vs. Urban interests rather than anything religious.
To Newfoundland the Irish gave the still-familiar family names of southeast Ireland: Walsh, Power, Murphy, Ryan, Whelan, Phelan, O'Brien, Kelly, Hanlon, Neville, Bambrick, Halley, Dillon, Byrne and FitzGerald. Irish place names are less common, many of the island's more prominent landmarks having already been named by early French and English explorers. Nevertheless, Newfoundland's Ballyhack, Cappahayden, Kilbride, St. Bride's, Port Kirwan and Skibereen all point to Irish antecedents.
Along with traditional names, the Irish brought their native tongue. Newfoundland is one of the few places outside Ireland where the Irish language was spoken by a majority of the population as their primary language. In fact Newfoundland Irish is it's own distinct dialect. Newfoundland is the only place outside Europe with its own distinctive name in the Irish language, Talamh an Éisc, "the land of fish".
The Irish of Nova Scotia
Many Nova Scotians who claim Irish ancestry are of Presbyterian Ulster-Scottish descent. Settlement was centred in Colchester County, Nova Scotia. Common surnames included Archibald, Barnhill, Bell, Blair, Brown, Campbell, Cameron, Carter, Chisholm, Clark, Cook, Corbett, Cox, Creelman, Crow, Davison, Dickie, Dickson, Dunlap, Durning, Faulkner, Fisher, Fletcher, Fraser, Fulmore, Fulton, Gamble, Graham, Hamilton, Henderson, Higgins, Hill, Johnson, Johnston, Kennedy, Langille, Lewis, Marsh, McBurnie, McCully, McCurdy, McDonald, McIntosh, McKay, McKenzie, McLaughlin, McLean, McLelan, McLellan, McLeod, McNutt, Miller, Moore, Morrison, Murray, Nelson, Peppard, Ross, Rushton, Rutherford, Smith, Spencer, Simpson, Staples, Stevens, Stewart, Taylor, Thompson, Tupper, Vance, Williams, Wilson, and Wright. O'Brien and Ryan are also surnames from the period suggesting some of the families to arrive may have been Catholic.
Catholic Irish settlement in Nova Scotia was traditionally restricted to the urban Halifax area.
The Irish in the West
Irish migration to Western Canada has two distinct components, those who came via eastern Canada or the US, and those who came directly from Ireland. Many of the Canadian-Irish who came West from were fairly well assimilated, in that they spoke English and understood British customs and law, and tended to be regarded as just a part of English Canada. However, this picture was complicated by the religious division. Many of the original "English" Canadian settlers in the Red River Colony were fervent Irish Loyalist Protestants, and members of the Orange Order. They clashed with Catholic Metis leader Louis Riel's provisional government during the Red River Resistance, and as a result Tomas Scott was executed, inflaming sectarian tensions in the East. At this time and during the course of the next decades, many of the Catholic Irish were fighting for separate Catholic schools in the West, but sometimes clashed with the Francophone element of the Catholic community during the Manitoba Schools Question. After the First World War and the de facto resolution of the religious schools issue, any eastern Irish-Canadians moving West blended in totally to the majority society. The small group of Irish-born who arrived in the second half of the 20thC tended to be urban professionals, as opposed to the pioneers who had come before.