In the sleepy town of Ridgeway, Ontario – just a stone’s throw from Crystal Beach, the “Southern Shore of Canada” and former home to the Niagara region’s most beloved amusement park – there stands a stone memorial cairn, an unobtrusive roadside monument most travelers overlook as they pass north toward Niagara Falls or east toward Buffalo. Barricaded behind a black wrought … [Read more...] about The Day the Irish Invaded Canada
Canada
The Hannah: An Irish Odyssey
The story of The Hannah, an Irish famine ship that hit an iceberg in 1849, is now a documentary. John Kernaghan explains how it happened and how Irish America played a part. Paddy Murphy’s body is slowly being stilled by a degenerative disease, but his eyes are alive, bright and knowing as he struggles to form words to match his racing thoughts. He knows that the story he … [Read more...] about The Hannah: An Irish Odyssey
100th Anniversary of Celtic Cross at Grosse Île
“Children of the Gael died in the thousands on this island having fled from the laws of the foreign tyrants and an artificial famine in the years 1847-48. God's loyal blessing upon them. Let this monument be a token to their name and honour from the Gaels of America. God Save Ireland.” - Inscription on Celtic Cross, Grosse Île, Canada August 15, the Feast of the Assumption, is … [Read more...] about 100th Anniversary of Celtic Cross at Grosse Île
The Tragedy of the Hannah
In April 1849, a ship carrying Irish immigrants hit an iceberg in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. John Kernaghan writes on the incident, and of plans for a documentary as Quebec celebrates its 400th anniversary. The crew of the Nicaragua could scarcely credit their eyes when they closed on the iceberg in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Some 120 Irish immigrants clung to a bit of frozen … [Read more...] about The Tragedy of the Hannah
In Canada, the Irish Disappeared
I took a pilgrim's trip in September to the Irish mass graves at Grosse Íle, the quarantine station in the St. Lawrence River near Quebec City. I stood by a sunken green field where 5,424 were buried in 1847 in wooden coffins, three deep. Nearby, a small rust-colored metal sculpture garden symbolized the passage from the Ireland of shamrocks to the black shale of death. I … [Read more...] about In Canada, the Irish Disappeared