Gratitude Event at the Irish Residence

Remarks in Honour of Indigenous Famine Relief, 1847

11 April 2024

H.E. Eamonn McKee, Ambassador of Ireland

Fáilte roimh, bienvenue, welcome, biindigen!  Distinguished visitors, guests, friends.

I want to begin by formally thanking the representatives of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and Wendat nations who gave us aid in the worst year of the long history of the Irish, 1847. They saw our refugees arrive on these shores and river banks, stricken and starving. They collected food for those already here.  They collected money to send to Ireland.  That act of compassion, of agency in the face a catastrophe that had befallen another people, shines out from the pages of history.  Go raibh míle maith agaibh! Thank you! Merci! Kitchi Megwitch.

That page in our shared history would have remained closed were it not for the story keepers and on this occasion the story finders.  I want to acknowledge Jason King, historian at the National Famine Museum and Professor Mark McGowan for not only finding this story but for promoting it. Their efforts have shone a light on this page of history and led this event and other events of gratitude and commemoration for the historic support of our Indigenous friends.

I want to acknowledge Jason King, the Museum and the Irish Heritage Trust for inspiring these events. I want to sincerely thank the team at the Embassy, particularly Anna McCready, for organising this event at the Residence.  She’s done a magnificent job.

Thank you to Ross Davison for his wonderful music on the Uilleann pipes and to Two-Spirit David Charette for his powerful singing and drumming.

As always, to Anishinaabe Elder and Chancellor of the University of Ottawa, Claudette Commanda, your land acknowledgement and words were beautiful and inspiring.

In gratitude and commemoration, we are planting a copse of River Birch here at the Irish Residence. We could not think of a more appropriate symbol of thanks for this occasion. It is a native species, one used often to sustain lndigenous life, like the birch bark and resin used to make the emblematic canoe. The gardener, Ian Lawford, who planted the first one told me that by the time he had begun to plant the second tree, a small bird had landed on the first one to watch him.  I like to think this was a good omen. I want to thank Ian and his team for the great job that Urban Tree Works have done.  We look forward to seeing this copse grow in the years to come, just as we look forward to the growth of our relationship with our Indigenous friends.

In May, we are launching the Global Irish Famine Way.  It is a heritage trail that will mark the passage of Irish famine emigrants in Britain and Canada, and later in the US, South Africa and Australia, even as far as Tasmania. With QR codes, it will be both a physical and a digital telling of this story, one of agency and resilience in the face of catastrophe, in the main man-made.

Each location will have a set of Bronze Shoes, cast from a pair found in the thatched roof of a 19^th century cottage in Ireland. They were bound together and hidden as if to say that though we may depart, we remain bound to our home.

One plinth will mark the grave of some 300 Irish famine refugees who died here in Ottawa and lie somewhere in Macdonald Gardens Park.  Ottawa City Council will vote on a very strong motion of support for this on 1 May.

We also plan to put a plinth and Bronze Shoes here in this Birch copse to tell the story of the help we got from our Indigenous friends and allies. 

The Global Irish Famine Way will be dedicated to all those who gave hope through compassion and success through opportunity to the strangers on their shores.

To me, this sums up the philosophy of the Indigenous, demonstrated not just in 1847 but throughout history and sustained to this day.

Thank you.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh. Kitchi megwetch

Embassy of Ireland

Ottawa