The first Bronze Shoes of the Global Irish Famine Way were unveiled in Ottawa on Saturday. It was a ceremony of emotions: pride, poignancy, and joy under the blue skies of Canada’s capital city.
The Irish had done so much to build Ottawa from its earliest days when it was known as Bytown. Since the 1820s, an Irish community had taken root and prospered to this day. The Irish community had rallied around the project to establish the Bronze Shoes. They had raised funds and mobilized to ensure that the City Council approved the project. The Irish Seniors of Ottawa were our frontline troops. We are so proud of them. We are proud too of Michael McBane who had kept the story alive of the common grave that was the fate of over 300 Irish famine refugees who arrived distressed in the summer of 1847 from an Ireland ravaged by hunger and disease. The city’s development in the 20th century had erased any visible trace of the graveyard. But Michael knew it was there.
We began the day with Mass at the chapel of the Sisters of Charity, the Grey Nuns, whose heroism had saved countless victims of disease and hunger. The chapel is a magnificent space, vaulting white walls of cathedral scale. The Grey Nuns shared in this pride because it was their forebears, led by Sister Bruyère and her small band of young nuns, who had come to the aid of the Irish, braving an unknown and potentially fatal disease to care for them. When their efforts failed, they buried them with dignity in the cemetery that is now known as Macdonald Gardens Park. The Oblate Fathers, doctors, nurses, officials and lay people had also volunteered and risked their lives to help. Overall, eighty Canadians died that summer helping the Irish up and down its coast, from Miramichi to Niagara.
There was poignancy is our remembrance of those lying in the soil beneath our feet. Men, women, children, families taken by typhus, a disease of unknown cause, spread by the awful conditions in which they had been forced to flee. Converted lumber ships without enough food, water, or sanitation taking them across the North Atlantic. Upwards of 7000 Irish packed standing room only on barges taking them to the Ottawa and Gatineau Valleys to find their people, find hope and a future. Poignancy too in the fate of all emigrants forced to leave their homes by necessity.
And there was joy too. That we had succeeded in only two years to turn an idea into a reality, a monument to our dead. That that monument was the first of the Global Irish Famine Way that will trace the journey of all famine refugees around the world, a journey of 40,000km to Canada, the US, South Africa, Australia, and Tasmania. Joy that they had created a diaspora of 70 million who had wielded great influence wherever they had gone. Joy at the thought that while many had died, most had survived and prospered, their descendants part of a great global community.
At Macdonald Gardens Park, speakers addressed the large crowd, all with different things to say about the significance of the day. Mayor Sutcliffe and half the City Council. Anishinaabe Elder Claudette Commanda offered a welcome of wisdom, love, and warmth. She could sense the presence of the dead alert to the living memorial above them.
Michael McBane was Master of Ceremonies, those speaking also included the Irish Ambassador John Concannon, James Maloney MP, Nicolas McCarthy of Beechwood National Cemetery, Theresa Kavanagh (who spear-headed approval on the City Council), Kay O’Hegarty of the Irish Seniors, Caroilin Callery of the National Famine Museum of Ireland and founder of the National Famine Way Ireland, our historian Professor Mark McGowan, and finally I spoke just before we unveiled the Bronze Shoes. There was music and poetry. Caroilin and I hugged at the sight of this solid, emphatic, empathetic monument of granite and bronze. The Global Irish Famine Way had its first marker in Canada.
We closed with prayers from Sister Rachel Watier, Oblate Father Robert Laroche, and Rev. Dr Karen Dimock.
People came to touch the shoes. The Bronze Shoes invite this response, fingertips feeling out the history here, the reality of the dead beneath us, the awareness of how and why they died. Everyone who touches them is part of our community of memory.
The Bronze Shoes are a memorial to the dead. They are a symbol too of the journey onward of the living who had passed that way. The Bronze Shoes are themselves on the move, with unveilings due in St John’s, Grosse Île, Quebec, Montreal, Saint John, Toronto, Hamilton, and Niagara. Along this central trail, other sites will be added over time. We will collect more stories, find more dead, honour them with our recall and ceremonies, celebrate their resilience and their achievements. Grow our community of memory.
We leave after an amazing four years in Canada, enriched by discoveries and encounters, new friends and collaborators, projects and opportunities. Like the beautiful expanse of Canada itself, there are so many treasures of the Irish influence and impact here to be discovered and honored. We are at the start of a reawakening of Irish Canadian heritage and new opportunities for the future.
***
Autumn five years ago, Mary and I sat at the kitchen table and wondered about our next posting. Our number one choice was Canada for family and professional reasons. Canada’s name and iconic flag resonated with promise and adventure too. With the very welcome support of the then Secretary General (Niall Burgess), the Government nominated me just before Christmas. After four wonderful years in Canada, we won’t be second guessing our decision.
A microscopic entity severely restrained the normal start to a posting which is typically dominated by meetings, networking, and receptions, all voided by the pandemic. We arrived in September 2020 to a near-empty Pearson Airport and isolated at the Residence. These constraints have to be seen in perspective. Lives were lost to COVID-19, families denied the solace of last moments with loved ones. We pivoted to virtual conferences, panel discussions, even virtual receptions and Embassy podcasts (listed below, along with blogs and Opinion pieces).[1]
Local Irish radio shows like Austin Comerton (Irish Radio Canada), Ken and Mark (Irish Radio Saturday) and supremo host Hugo Straney (Facebook here) were vital platforms to keep people informed and connected. It was always a pleasure to be on their shows. One of my first and strongest impressions was how Irish groups across Canada and ICAN (the Eamonn O’Loughlin Irish Canadian Immigration Centre) retooled to address the pandemic’s impact on the community, from mental health support to food packages.
Anyone familiar with my blogs knows that I look for new stories of Irish heritage on my postings as Ambassador.[2] Wow, did I hit the jackpot in Canada! Here I discovered an epic story of Irish settlement and influence spanning three centuries, mostly untold and largely unknown.
Someforty blogs later, the story only grows in richness. These explorations uncovered new material to celebrate Irish Heritage Month in Canada, provided fodder from my Opinion pieces in The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and The Ottawa Citizen, and led me to the project Fifty Irish Lives in Canada 1661-2021.
As I walked to work, my growing knowledge of the depth of Irish settlement in Ottawa turned the town into a home. All around me in the capital region, there is Irish heritage and living Irish communities in the Valleys: Low and Venosta, Arnprior and Smiths Falls, Shawville (with a functioning Orange Lodge!), Eganville, and Douglas to name only a handful.
Prof Mark McGowan, my co-editor for Fifty Irish Lives in Canada (50ILIC), has been an essential collaborator. Mark is the great historian of the Irish in Canada, a man with the integrity and determination of an Old Testament prophet, and a wonderful companion over a pint, whether in Canada or Ireland where I hope to see him often.
Our consortium of writers for 50ILIC is an amazing group of academics who did not hesitate to volunteer profiles: Professors Rosemary O’Flaherty, Michele Holmgren, Elizabeth Smyth, David Wilson, William Jenkins, Laura Smith, and many others. Curator at the Museum of History, historian and skilled editor Tim Foran never refused a request for help, saving me from countless infelicities in some of my blogs about colonization and Indigenous relations.[3] Grant Vogl of the Bytown Museum, another keeper of stories, was a great supporter and contributor.
The 50ILIC manuscript is near completion, many of the profiles are on the Embassy’s social media, and we’re looking for a publisher. Invaluable support from the President of St Michael’s College at the University of Toronto, David Sylvester, boosted our efforts, notably for the Conference last May that the Embassy and College co-hosted onCanada, Ireland and Transatlantic Colonialism.
Historian of the Irish of the Ottawa Valley Michael McBane is our great story keeper and dear friend. Like Donnie Kealey up the Gatineau Valley, Michael was among the first to reveal to me the extent of Irish settlement in the capital region. He pointed me to the final resting place of 360 Irish Famine victims in the heart of Ottawa, forgotten until now. We hosted the first ever commemoration and remembrance event at MacDonald Gardens Park in August 2022.
The exploration of Canada’s Irish heritage also triggered my interest in extending the National Famine Way from Ireland to Canada and indeed beyond. Caroilin Callery at the National Museum at Strokestown Park proved to be a true leader, harnessing up without hesitation to create the Global Irish Famine Way (GIFW), and indispensable to its development. Her father Jim as founder of the Museum has created an incredibly significant institution at Strokestown, a place for remembrance but dialogue about the Famine, historical legacies, and universal messages about humanitarianism.
Caroilin is a talented logistician whose boundless energy also wrangled a diverse group of us last May halfway across Ireland as we followed the Bronze Shoes of the Famine Walk to the Dublin Docks. Glamorous and physically very fit, she must have covered twice the distance moving between the vanguard and the rearguard as we strung out along the Royal Canal over six days! The symbolic departure of the costumed group, which included Caroilin and the great contemporary historian of the Famine Christine Kinealy, aboard the Jenny Johnson was a very moving finale, a weird time-warp back to the traumatic year 1847.
What a sight it was then last May for Caroilin, Mark and I to stand at Pier 12 in St John’s NL to watch the Marine Institute’s Celtic Explorer arrive after its North Atlantic voyage from Galway. Our fifteen emblematic Bronze Shoes were in its hold. We will never forget the reception at The Rooms, the process to and service at the Basilica, all organized by John FitzGerald who combines his passion for heritage and Ireland in the most effective ways.
The installation of Bronze Shoes is now underway at sites in Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. After Canada, we plan installations at sites in Australia, South Africa, and the United States. The 40,000km longGlobal Irish Famine Way is a project with a long life ahead of it, acting as a vital thread collecting the stories of the migration of two million Irish around the world. Caroilin and our network of volunteers have big plans for the GIFW, the Famine Summer School, and the Famine Walk (locals call it the Famino) in the years ahead.
James Maloney MP from Toronto has just been terrific. He leads the Canada Ireland Parliamentary Friendship Group with great passion and was instrumental in designating March as Irish Heritage Month. James has also been my go-to-guy, for tasks great and small. For example, thanks to James’ influence, Prime Minister Trudeau joined us for the first and necessarily virtual launch ofIrish Heritage Month back in 2021 and again for a meeting with the Tánaiste in PJ O’Brien’s for St. Patrick’s Day 2024.
Thanks to a dedicated GIFW Committee in Ottawa, Bronze Shoes are soon to be installed at Macdonald Gardens Park as part of the Global Irish Famine Way. This installation is a project that rallied passionate support from the Irish community in Ottawa and from many quarters: Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, Councilors Theresa Kavanagh and Rawlston King, the expertise of Nick McCarthy at Beechwood National Cemetery, generous local fundraisers, and of course the Irish community who flooded public hearings to push the proposal over the line.
Our motto about the Irish in Canada is ‘It’s complicated!’ because it was one colony helping create another. Both Protestant and Catholic Irish were heavily involved in settlement and colonization, as leaders as well as settlers, from the RCMP to the residential schools, from opening up Alberta to widespread land cultivation and the lumber industry. That said, we have to be careful about accountability. This was Britain’s Empire, not Ireland’s. The abolition of the Irish Parliament in 1800 inflicted major macroeconomic damage to the island, set Dublin into a spiral of decline, and denied the middleclass jobs in the apparatus of national government. There were few options for a career outside the British Empire and emigrants followed its expansion east and west. It is notable that most Irish emigration to Canada occurred between 1800 and 1847.
We can explain the Irish role in the Empire but we cannot nor should not ignore this historical record. There is a new generation of young Irish wanting to embrace this complication through ‘a more appropriate relationship with history’, to borrow historian David Olusoga’s fine formulation. The role of the Irish influence in Canada deepened my understanding of Ireland’s own history, how up to 1916 Canada was the future that Ireland never had. Look at from the wider historical narrative, there is far less dividing nationalism from unionism than Northern Ireland, seen alone, would suggest.
Yet for all that we contributed to the disasters visited on the Indigenous, we Irish have a rapport with them. Our respective forebears survived colonization and catastrophic famine, preserved our culture and language, and made a success of forced migration. Against the odds, Ireland achieved Independence and economic prosperity. We proudly assert our values on the world stage.
It is by nature difficult in the course of a mere diplomatic posting to develop relationships with Indigenous communities. However, the discovery and research by Mark McGowan and Jason King, historian at the National Famine Museum, that the Anishinaabe, Wendat and Haudenosaunee gave aid to support Irish Famine relief in 1847 provided opportunities for outreach. The Gratitude event at the Residence last April was very moving. We used the Famine Walk to promote the story, both events captured in thedocumentary that Jason produced.
Anishinaabe elder and Chancellor of the University of Ottawa, Claudette Commanda spoke movingly at the Residence about her love for the Irish and the significance of the Gratitude event. She had previously spoken at our St Brigid’s Day event where she and Bridget Brownlow, who works on reconciliation in East Belfast, discussed colonization, gender, and reconciliation (podcastedhere). Claudette is truly inspirational and I am honored to call her my friend. We have plans to invite her to Ireland to share her wisdom and insights.
No reception at the Residence would have been complete or Irish enough without Pat Marshall, plucking the harp or offering a recitation, nor the music of the Rideau Ramblers or the dancers from Fay Healy’s School of Irish Dance. We have a great Irish community in Ottawa, anchored in St Bridget’s Well in an old Irish Church saved from neglect and decay many years ago by Pat Kelly, Paddy McDonald, Rosemary O’Brien, and Fran Healy. Thanks to them musicians, the Joyce Association, the GAA, the Embassy and many others have a venue we can call a home from home. Our active and beloved Seniors’ group have been a joy and a blessing to Mary and me. President Kay O’Hegarty and leading figures like Claire O’Connell Noon and Norita Fleming organized the Seniors’ glamourous annual summer garden parties, genuine highlights of our time in Ottawa.
Over in Dublin, Nancy Smyth has been an outstanding Ambassador and a wonderful friend. The tempo of our bilateral relations has markedly increased thanks to her ceaseless energy and networking over the past three years She joined us on the Famine Walk for over two days of trudging along the Royal Canal. Every year she supported the Valentia Island Transatlantic Cable conference. When I joined her at the opening of the garden at the Emigrant Museum in New Ross last October, she was greeted ‘Hi Nancy’ by many. Says it all.
Robert Kearns, the visionary founder and leader of the Canada Ireland Foundation, has been a towering advocate for the Irish in Canada, from supporting peace in Northern Ireland through the Canada Ireland Fund to promotion of the Irish story here. We have formed a deep friendship through this and shared interests ranging from Ancient Rome to the minutiae of Irish history. Executive Director William Peat is one of the most talented, skilled, and informed people I know. His impact on the Irish cultural exchange between Dublin and Toronto is immense. Robert and William are building the Corlek Arts Centre in Toronto and it is going to be a jewel.
I met many Irish in Canada whose families had fled Northern Ireland’s sectarianism and conflict from the 1960s onwards. During my twenty-odd years working on the Northern Ireland Peace Process, Canadians made vital appearances. I had worked closely with Supreme Court Justice Peter Cory on his investigations of collusion, a wonderful man of immense integrity. I had often heard the name General John de Chastelain but had never met the man. The decommissioning of paramilitary weapons was the sharp edge of conflict resolution. John was a key figure in that process, literally helping take the gun out of our politics. A scholar, a gentleman, a painter, a genial host with wonderful stories to tell, getting to know John and his wonderful wife Maryanne, is one of the treasures we take home from Ottawa. Likewise, indeed, the warmth and hospitality of neighbours Scott and Elizabeth Heatherington who introduced me to much of Ottawa’s history and Nick McCarthy at Beechwood Cemetery. Scott, a retired Canadian diplomat, and Elizabeth’s joie de vivre, erudition and style is an inspiration.
I joined John and Maryanne when they came to Belfast and Dublin last year to participate in the celebration of 25 years of the Good Friday Agreement, notably at the Queen’s University Belfast Conference, the lunch for them graciously hosted by the Tánaiste Micheál Martin in Iveagh House, and the wonderful dinner hosted by Ambassador Smyth. As I am the last serving official from the GFA Talks Team, the visit had plenty of resonant moments for me. Representing the Canadian Government on the trip, Minister Seamus O’Regan’s eloquence when called upon revealed both the depth of his intellect and his passion for Ireland.
I could go on with all the stories, people, and connections that made this posting so enriching. Let me just say that we are only at the start of the reawakening of the Irish-Canadian relationship and its place in our Diaspora.
There are so many reasons to be confident about the future. We’ve a great Local Market Team and it has been a particular pleasure to work with Deirdre Moran and Mark Shorten at the IDA, David McCaffrey at EI and Sandra Moffat at Tourism Ireland when and where opportunities arose. We all regularly called for support from the Irish Chambers of Commerce, from BC and Alberta to Quebec, and Ontario. Along with benevolent and cultural societies, this network greatly magnifies Ireland’s presence throughout Canada. With anchors in Ireland like the Ireland Canada Business Association and the Ireland Canada University Foundation, the bilateral relationship is in great shape.
Frank Flood and then Cathy Geagan as Consul Generals in Vancouver have shown how it’s done when a new consulate opens, engages with the community and makes an impact. They have been great colleagues and friends. Building on the leadership of our former Honorary Consul Eithne Heffernan and other community leaders there, Janet and William as Consul General and Vice-Consul have gotten the new Consulate in Toronto off to a flying start, tapping into the energy of one of North America’s greatest cities. The city now ranks third among the IDA’s North American offices for inward investor visits to Ireland. Both Consulates, with terrific local staff, are great examples of the outworking of the Government’s Global Ireland strategy.
Mary and I had the pleasure of meeting so many Irish communities bound by heritage and buoyed by their commitment to each other and each new generation. This manifests in many forms, from parades and gala balls, to sponsorship, sports events, and charity. Above all, they care. They range from the big ones in Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec to myriad others seeded by previous generations. New ones are springing up, particularly in Vancouver with the new Irish there.
Mary and I had memorable visits to Irish societies, ones with deep Irish heritage like St John’s and Halifax. In Edmonton, Calgary, and Hamilton, we heard stories of emigration from Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s, inspiring and sometimes painful. They built social and sporting clubs, organized chartered flights to Ireland to assuage their homesickness. The heritage and strength of the Irish communities in Montreal, along with the Irish Studies programme at Concordia University, has always impressed me, not least because of how they sustain their Irishness through successive generations.
Thanks to the McGaherns’ and their wonderful antiquarian bookshop in Byward Market here in Ottawa, I was never short of a resource when I needed it, like the pristine copy I picked up of the ground-breaking Palliser Report and the edition of William F. Butler’s, The Great Lone Land.[4] When I was writing a profile of Lord Dufferin (for the book Forgotten Heros of Ireland’s Great Hunger, just published, edited by Christine Kinealy and Gerard Moran), a box of reference material arrived in the nick of time. Only recently Liam McGahern found a photograph of Thomas D’Arcy McGee which I have long sought to hang in the Residence.
Our expanded slate of Honorary Consuls in Alberta (Colm O’Carroll and Deirdre Halferty, with Laureen Regan dynamically leading the Ireland Alberta Trade Association), Nova Scotia (Brian Doherty), Quebec (Bryan O’Gallagher), and Newfoundland and Labrador (Mark Dobbin) are terrific resources, bound by their love of Ireland and the Irish. Likewise, our Honorary Consuls in Jamaica and The Bahamas, Brian Denning and Bill Mills, represent Ireland with distinction and never hesitate to answer a call to help the Embassy or an Irish person in distress.
One very visible thing of which I am proud is the new Chancery in Ottawa. Years in the planning and execution, we moved in just a few months ago. We’re very proud of our new space. We hosted our first public event there with international students from the University of Ottawa. Last week we hosted Ireland’s first astronaut Dr. Norah Patten, along with her colleagues Aaron, and Shawna, an incredibly accomplished, visionary, and inspiring group (I wish I’d recorded our conversation because it would have made a fascinating podcast about microgravity, the Irish in space, and the logic of nothing over something!)
One thing less visible of which I am very proud is our team at the Embassy. In a small diplomatic mission, the quality of officers makes a huge difference. Deputy Head of Mission Dymphna Keogh did Trojan work, notably on the successful visit of the Tánaiste’s visit and the planning for the new chancery. Second Secretary Elisabeth O’Higgins’ leadership and management skills affirms my confidence in the latest generation of diplomats joining the Department. Local staff Glauciene, Daniele, Erin and Jenny have joined existing colleagues Breda, Aaron and Anna, and through some alchemical process, we have become one of hardest working, committed and funniest groups that I ever had the pleasure of working with. I will miss them greatly.
There is a special bond between a Head of Mission and Executive Assistant. Daniele has worked with me for just about a year. I could not have asked for more diligent and effective support. Our coordinator for the GIFW, Daniele did a terrific job organizing its launch with historian and passionate heritage advocate John FitzGerald at St John’s Basilica, NL.
It is stating the obvious that while Canada is a large, influential country, its southern neighbour is the big kahuna, the indispensable world leader, the location of our most prominent Diaspora, and the source of most of Ireland’s critical FDI. It gets a lot of attention from HQ. Yet colleagues at Iveagh House spared no effort to support and encourage us, whether from the Canada desk or from HR. HQ have approved new positions at the Embassy and expanded the team. David Guildea and Jennie Quin have been terrific temporary assignments at the Embassy.
All this culminated in the week-long visit last March of the Tánaiste and Minister, Micheál Martin TD, to Canada. He and his delegation, including our own Secretary General Joe Hackett, traversed Canada, from Vancouver to Montreal to Toronto, meeting our communities, launching new Irish companies here, and getting a genuine sense of the energy in the relationship. It was a wonderful way to spend my last St. Patrick’s celebration in Canada. Quite a contrast to my first one during the pandemic!
We have a very friendly diplomatic community with lasting friendships formed through many shared events and informal groups. Global Affairs Canada ingeniously organized virtual speed dating for us Covid Ambassadors to meet key contacts. I will be forever grateful to GAC for taking a group of Ambassadors on the Northern Tour of Arctic Canada through the Yukon, NW Territories and Nunavut. My search for Irish connections became a running joke during the trip but I found them, from the Dublin-born manager of the most northerly grocery store at Cambridge and Kono, an Inuit from Rankin Inlet, whose grandfather was born in Newry. Incredibly, this was only ten miles from the birthplace of my own grandfather in Newtownhamilton so they could have known each other! The trip was a privilege, revelatory, awe-inspiring, and unforgettable.
The career of a diplomat involves family. Separations and reunions, visits and departures have to be navigated in ways uncommon to more settled families, though reflective in ways of the emigrant life. You can be there for some family events but not all. Two of our children were born in the US, one in Ireland. They pay a price they were never asked to make. There are rewards for them too in many ways of course. They are making their own lives now. We gathered Eamonn Jr, Kali and Courtney for magical reunions and temporary stays from time to time in Ottawa.
Through it all, I have had the unstinting support of Mary, her partnership in running the Residence, her engaging presence at events. She turned a capacious Residence into a warm and welcoming space, and well run to boot! I can say, to a certain chorus of support from the community here, that she made this as rewarding a posting as it became. And since we picked up a Canadian son-in-law along the way, Quinten Mitchell, a wonderful lad from Brockville, our family bond with Canada runs deep now.
We have packed up our goods. The twenty-foot container has departed to Montreal for its voyage across the Atlantic. However, the most valuable things we carry in our head and in our hearts. Great memories, unexpected discoveries, a new member of our family, and dear friendships that will all draw us back to Canada.
Canada’s name and flag now have altered connotations and not just because I learned that an Irishman had been integral to its design. Canada now evokes the past four years and all the new treasures that we carry with us on our journey home.
Eamonn
Ottawa
22 August 2024
[1] The Presentation onAncient Ireland with Prof Mark McGowan of St Michael’s College Toronto has clocked 11,000 views.
[2] InKorea, the heroic role of the Royal Ulster Rifles led to amonument at the War Memorial in Seoul to the Irish who died during the conflict, including members of the Columban fathers. In Israel, the story of John Henry Patterson as the founding father of the Israeli Defence Forces was a revelation about a fascinating character whose life inspired work by Hemingway and Hollywood movies. By coincidence, I was there when hisremains were moved from the US to the military cemetery in Moshav Avihayil so they could lie with his comrades in the Jewish Legion.
[3] This was particularly vital when it came to the issue of the Indigenous and the Irish role there, as for example on the colonisation of thePrairie NW, the Irish heritage of the Mounties or indeed the Residential schools and all their terrible legacies.
Updates: Bronze Shoes distributed from the Irish Marine Institute’s RV Celtic Explorer, St John’s NL, to Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton and Niagara.National Famine Walk 2024 completed over six days, Strokestown to Dublin docks. Liverpool’s delegation carried their Bronze Shoes.Bronze Shoes arrive in New York to greet Bronze Shoes in Dublin across the live Portal.Canada, Ireland and Transatlantic Colonialism Conference at the University of St Michael’s, Toronto: Indigenous Famine relief recognised and Bronze Shoes formally received by Toronto and Hamilton. Bronze Shoes delivered to Niagara. Australia makes contact to join the GIobal Irish Famine Way.
The compassionate reception of the Famine Irish around the world has a universal message resonant today:
“Dedicated to all those who offer hope through compassion and success through opportunity to the stranger on your shore.”
“Tiomnaithe dóibh siúd a thugann dóchas trí thaise agus rath trí dheiseanna a sholáthar don choimhthíoch a thagann chun na tíre.”
Contents:
Purpose
Project Partners
Organisation
Outcomes
Launches: Canada, Ireland, UK
Future Sites
Global Irish Famine Way Conference 2027
Appendix I – Historical Background
Appendix II National Famine Way Stages, Walk 20-25 May
Purpose
Starting at the National Famine Museum, the National Famine Way is a 165km trail in Ireland that traces the footsteps of 1490 tenants from Strokestownpark, Roscommon, to Dublin in 1847 during the Great Irish Famine. It was their last journey on Irish soil. For those who survived the ordeal, it would be the first stage of their long journey to new lives as part of the Irish diaspora. Today, the National Famine Way is marked by over 30 Bronze Shoes, cast from a pair of children’s shoes found bound together in the roof of a 19th century cottage.
The Global Irish Famine Way extends the National Famine Way by following the journeys of all the Irish Famine emigrants around the world, including the UK, Canada, the United States, South Africa, and Australia. One million men, women and children died as a direct result of the Famine, out of a population of 8 million. Between 1.5 and 2 million left Ireland during and in the immediate aftermath of the Famine. Bronze Shoes will mark significant sites around the world, including where Famine emigrants landed, and common or mass graves where they died on their journeys. QR codes will tell the local story and connect to the National Famine Way website for more information.
The Global Irish Famine Way:
creates a physical and digital living history of the millions of Famine Irish emigrants as a significant event in the development of the Irish Diaspora and of the Famine in its own right an event of global significance;
connects researchers, local historians, academics and community groups around the world;
recovers stories and histories of the Famine emigrants as they made their epic global journey;
promotes public history, public awareness, universal values, shared international heritage, local engagement, research, discourses on humanitarian relief, and heritage tourism;
imparts a universal story more relevant than ever, a story of human agency in the face of catastrophe and of the compassion the immigrants encountered on their journeys to new futures.
To receive a set of Bronze Shoes, local organisations form as Global Irish Famine Way local chapters, enter into a legal agreement with an authority for the long-term maintenance of the marker, erect a plinth and install a QR code.
Project Partners
The National Famine Museum, Strokestown Park (Irish Heritage Trust), the Embassy of Ireland, Ottawa, and County Councils (Roscommon, Longford, Kildare, Westmeath, Meath, Fingal, and Dublin), with academic experts, local community groups, and heritage agencies including Parks Canada and related stakeholders globally.
Organisation
The Global Irish Famine Way thus far has been organised by a leadership group (Caroilin Callery, Eamonn McKee and Mark McGowan) and cooperative support from local activists. Funding has been provided by local organisations and the Bronze Shoes that arrived in Canada were funded by the Emigrant Support Programme of the Department of Foreign Affairs. The leadership group plans to establish in Ireland a Global Irish Famine Way Foundation. Global Irish Famine Way local chapters are being organised by those who come forward wishing to participate to make the necessary arrangements for installation of the Bronze Shoes. Through the Consulate General in Sydney, local representatives have made contact to join the GIFW.
Outcomes
Anticipated outcomes include:
The establishment of Global Irish Famine Way (GIFW) as a physical and digital heritage trail that tells for the first time the full story of Ireland’s Famine emigrants.
The GIFW will be largest heritage trail in the world centred in Ireland and stretching to the Americas, South Africa and Australia.
Recovery of the stories, histories, and influence of the Famine emigrants, including data bases to assist in genealogical research.
Creation and renewal of relationships among Ireland’s global Diaspora and with Ireland.
Promotion of the shared heritage of the Irish Diaspora.
Acknowledgement of the recipient countries and communities, settler and Indigenous, for their compassionate response to the Irish humanitarian disaster, including those who gave their lives as a result;
Recognition of the contribution and influence of the Famine emigrants and their descendants in the countries where they made new homes and news lives;
Strengthening of Ireland’s network of political, business and community leaders, who trace their lineage to Famine emigrants or have an affinity with the Irish communities and culture.
Promotion of public discourse on responses to humanitarian crises, their causes and solutions.
Promotion of heritage and genealogical tourism, linking Famine sites in Ireland to related sites, communities and descendants globally.
Promotion of the universal message still relevant today: to the strangers on your shore, offering hope through compassion and success through opportunity.
The Voyage of the Bronze Shoes: Launch of the Global Irish Famine Way, Canada:
In collaboration with the Marine Institute of Ireland, a cargo of fifteen Bronze Shoes were taken on board its research vessel, the RV Celtic Explorer on 1 May at Galway. The ship arrived at Pier 12, St John’s Newfoundland and Labrador on 8 May and was welcomed by Ambassador Eamonn McKee, National Famine Museum Director Caroilin Callery, and Professor Mark McGowan of St Michael’s College at the University of Toronto. On 9 May,Bronze Shoes were carried by the Ambassador accompanied by a delegation to The Rooms. This walk featured in a CBC news report. The Bronze Shoes were displayed there and a reception was hosted by the Embassy for the Irish community, the Marine Institute, academics, and VIPs including Federal Minister Seamus O’Regan and Provincial Minister John Abbot. On the morning of 10 May, The Bronze Shoes were carried ceremoniously to St John’s Basilica where a service of commemoration and gratitude was held, with over 300 members of the public attending along with Ministers O’Regan and Abbot.
Anne Walsh MC’ed the event, with opening remarks by Ambassador McKee, and a service conducted by the Most Rev. Peter Hundt, Archbishop, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John’s, Rev. Pamela Jones-FitzGerald, Minister, Gower Street United Church, Most Rev. Archbishop Christopher Harper, National Anglican Indigenous Archbishop and Presiding Elder of Sacred Circle, and Bruce Templeton, Clerk of Session, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (The Kirk). Music was provided by Ed Kavanagh on the Irish harp, Uillean Piper David Walsh, Jacinta Mackey Graham conducting the Cathedral Basilica Choir, with Patty Fowler and John Fitzgerald on the organ.
Following lunch at the Bishop Mullock Library, there was a symposium on historical perspectives on the Famine at the Basilica. The service, lunch and symposium were organised by the Basilica Heritage Foundation, led by John Fitzgerald and Ann Walsh. The foundation is organising the erection of a plinth and garden at the Basilica for the installation of the Bronze Shoes and QR code.
Attendees at launch in St John’s took Bronze Shoes to Quebec, Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto for installations at sites including Quebec City, Grosse Île, the Black Rock at Montreal, Macdonald Gardens Park Ottawa, Middle Island, and St John (New Brunswick), Niagara, and Hamilton.
On 14 May, the Built Heritage Committee of Ottawa City Council held a public hearing on the proposal to place the Bronze Shoes at the common grave of 360 remains from 1847 in Macdonald Gardens Park. A spirited showing by the Irish community, with expert testimony and a large support group (including at least thirty from the Irish Seniors), resulted in approval. The City Council voted to support the proposal on 15 May with a direction to have the memorial in place at the gravesite over the summer.
The Famine Walk: Launch of the Global Irish Famine Way, Ireland
Following the National Famine Commemoration Day at Edgeworthstown, County Longford, on Sunday19 May and the Canadian Wake that evening at the National Famine Museum, the Famine Walk began on 20 May at the Museum with walkers in period costume re-enacting the start of the forced migration of the 1490 Strokestown tenants. Local schoolchildren read out the names of the family groups that departed in May 1847. A core group of walkers led by Ambassador McKee and Famine Museum Director Caroilin Callery followed the route of the tenants to Dublin over the following six days.
This year, the annual Walk focused on promoting the launch of the Global Irish Famine Way. A delegation from Liverpool joined the group, carrying Bronze Shoes for the journey to Dublin and on to Liverpool. Canadian walkers were part of the core group and Ambassador of Canada to Ireland Nancy Smyth joined the group for two stages of the Walk. Each day, the group met with school groups who learned about the Famine, and carried the Bronze Shoes for a portion of the journey. A feature of these engagements was discussion of the Indigenous aid raised for Famine relief by the Wendat, Anishinaabe, and Haudenosaunee and upwards of 80 Canadians who lost through lives though infection assisting the Famine emigrants. Along the six-day route, local communities and leaders welcomed the group were with music, dancing, refreshments and insights into local history. In Mullingar, for example, the Walkers learned from local historian Ruth Illingworth that 100 young women were sent from the Workhouse to Quebec City in 1853.
In Dublin, the costumed walkers boarded the period ship Jeannie Johnston in a poignant moment. Following a programme of speakers and reception of the EPIC Museum, Caroilin Callery presented the Bronze Shoes at the Portal. On the New York side of the Portal by Vice-Consul General Gareth Hargadon and Elizabeth Stack, Executive Director of the American Irish Historical Society carried a set of Bronze Shoes. The event was a symbolic handing over of Bronze Shoes and a promise of the extension of the GIFW to the US.
Liverpool Irish Festival: Launch of the Global Irish Famine Way, UK
After arrival in Dublin and temporary display, the Bronze Shoes will be stored until transferred to Clarence Dock Liverpool in October where they feature at the Famine Memorial as part of the Liverpool Irish Festival between 17th and 27th of October.
Bronze Shoes: Niagara, Toronto and Hamilton
Mark McGowan conveyed Bronze Shoes from St John’s to Patrick Treacy and Declan O’Sullivan in Niagara on 23 May. The Embassy co-hosted a conference with the University of St Michael’s College at the University of Toronto entitled Canada, Ireland and Transatlantic Colonialism 28-30 May. The Conference included a dedicated session on Indigenous aid to the Famine Irish (28 May) and on 29 May a ceremonial handing over of Bronze Shoes to Robert Kearns of Toronto and Anita Ormond, Michelle Kranjc, and Laura Smith of Hamilton.
Future Launches
Outreach is ongoing to establish Bronze Shoes sites in the UK, US (inter alia, Boston, New York including Manhattan and Staten Island, and Philadelphia), South Africa (Cape Town), and Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, and Hobart). Investigations are underway to identify Famine Irish in Argentina. Once completed, Global Irish Famine Way will represent a comprehensive profile of the Famine Irish around the world. The GIFW will be the longest heritage trail in the world.
Global Irish Famine Way Conference 2027
Plans are underway for a Global Irish Famine Way Conference in 2027 (180th anniversary) hosted by the National Famine Museum with the participation of the GIFW Chapters from around the world.
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