Since the founding of
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
in 1642, there has been a strong Irish presence in the city. The earlier Irish immigrants gradually assimilated into Montreal society. Irish people arrived in greater numbers as a result of the
Great Irish Famine of 1845–49, and although these encountered considerable hostility, many people of Irish descent have continued to live in Montreal.
Irish immigration to Canada
The first
Irish Canadians
ga, Gael-Cheanadaigh
, image = Irish_Canadian_population_by_province.svg
, image_caption = Irish Canadians as percent of population by province/territory
, population = 4,627,00013.4% of the Canadian population (2016)
, po ...
were settlers sent by France in the 17th century to colonize the
Saint Lawrence Valley
The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...
. Since that time, the Irish have always held a strong presence in Canadian society. Today there are approximately 5,000,000 Irish Canadians, making up about 15% of the population of Canada.
New France and Montreal
At the beginning of the eighteenth century there were around 100 Irish families living in
New France
New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...
.
While they were not the majority, many of the families had little difficulty assimilating into French-Canadian society and culture. Many of these Irish families migrated to Montreal. Because of its geographic placement, downstream in the
Saint Lawrence River
The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...
, Montreal quickly became one of the biggest centres of trade in New France.
Montreal, 1800–1847
By the beginning of the 19th century, commercial shipping between Canada, Britain and Ireland, caused a large wave of emigration to Canada beginning in 1815. Many of the Irish who landed in Montreal regarded
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...
as a stepping stone towards English speaking
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...
and the United States. By 1825, out of its total population of 25,000, Montreal had an Irish population of about 3,000 people, who lived mainly in the western area of the city.
This Irish population was very involved in Montreal's political, social, religious, and journalist spheres. Catholics and Protestants began to associate with each other as Irish-Canadians, bonding over their common heritage, language, customs, and celebrations. While Protestants found it difficult to interact with French-Catholic Montreal, the Irish Catholics played an important bridging the gap between the groups.
The relationship between the Irish and the French populations in Montreal during the 1830s was reasonably stable. It was with the
Great Irish Famine that more than 250,000 Irish immigrants landed in Canada. With this large influx came great animosity directed towards the Irish in Montreal and throughout the rest of Quebec, Canada and the United States. Many Irish people nevertheless remained in Montreal, and today there are around 162,000 people in the city who declare their Irish heritage.
See also
*
Irish Quebecers
Irish Quebecers (french: Irlando-Québécois, ga, Éireannaigh as Québec) are residents of the Canadian province of Quebec who have Irish ancestry. In 2016, there were 446,215 Quebecers who identified themselves as having partial or exclusive ...
*
Griffintown
Griffintown is a historic neighbourhood of Montreal, Quebec, southwest of downtown. The area existed as a functional neighbourhood from the 1820s until the 1960s, and was mainly populated by Irish immigrants and their descendants. Mostly depopulat ...
*
Little Dublin, Montreal
Little Dublin was an Irish middle class neighbourhood in central Montreal, near St. Patrick’s Basilica. Although the area was overtaken by warehouses and then office blocks in the 20th century, some row houses still exist. It occupied the area ...
References
{{Reflist
Irish diaspora in Canada