REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT A RECEPTION FOR THE IRISH COMMUNITY IN MONTREAL
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT A RECEPTION FOR THE IRISH COMMUNITY IN MONTREAL ON WEDNESDAY 7 OCTOBER 1998
Merci beaucoup de votre chaleureuse accueil. Tá áthas orm bheith anseo anocht I gcathair álainn Montreal. I am delighted to be here tonight in one of Canada’s oldest, most vibrant and cosmopolitan cities.
In the stories of the “new Countries” – of Australia, New Zealand and here in North America – Irish immigrants have made a significant and positive impact wherever they landed. Here in Canada, as elsewhere, they came to find new lives and livelihoods – new opportunities – and new outlets for their talents. The success of those who settled in Canada, and of the succeeding generations of Irish Canadians, has vindicated them in their decision to leave Ireland. But like Irish people all over the world, they have kept their connections with their homeland alive – and, importantly, have been prepared to contribute their culture and heritage to the making of the new communities in which they found themselves.
I believe also that the experiences of the Irish abroad have had a tremendous impact on Ireland itself. This is especially true in latter years as communications have enabled us to keep in close touch with those abroad, and the practice has become more common of working abroad for a period and then returning home. The entrepreneurial spirit and practices which many emigrants brought back home with them have contributed greatly to our economic success.
My visit to Canada – the first State Visit by an Irish President – has so far brought me from Prince Edward Island, to Ottawa, to Toronto and today to Montreal. It stuck me when we were flying into Prince Edward Island last Friday – and indeed since then, whether driving along the Rideau Canal in Ottawa or the Don Valley in Toronto - with the trees turning to their colourful yellows, reds and oranges – and making the ‘spectacle of the Fall’ for which Canada has become renowned – that it in a way they mirror the culture of Canada – where many nationalities have come here to contribute their particular hue and character to the rich landscape of Canadian life – and where each preserves its own beauty yet lives happily in harmony with its neighbour, making a society in Canada that not only embraces all its constituent cultures and traditions – but celebrates its diversity.
The Irish family throughout Canada has roots going back many generations. We know that in Montreal for instance, an Irishman was recorded in the census of 1663 - the first of a long line of travellers from Ireland to chose Montreal as a place to set up home. The most recent census shows that over 60,000 of Montreal’s inhabitants describe themselves as Irish. And thanks to the efforts of the United Irish Societies, that number rises every year in March from 60, 000 to half a million - who turn out for the oldest and possibly the best St. Patrick’s Parade in North America – which incidentally celebrates its 175th birthday next year.
In the waves of emigration that have reflected the peaks and troughs of the economic, political and social fortunes that chart Ireland’s history – our people have come to different parts of Canada and have brought with them their own uniqueness. For instance, on Saturday last when I was at Prince Edward Island I met with people from a number of small communities that were descended from families who had come over in the early part of the nineteenth century – but mainly from County Monaghan. While that sense of belonging to Monaghan is still alive and a source of great pride – they are very much a part of this country and very happy to be playing their part in its success.
But if Montreal is home to an old and long established Irish community, it is also home to the many who arrived in the past twenty years. The Montreal Irish tradition of help and support for their fellow countrymen and women is as old as the community itself. So too is their willingness to contribute to modern Canada. The St. Patrick’s Society, since the time of the Great Famine, has held out a hand to those who were sick, poor or simply lonely. The great number of Irish societies here are involved in an enormous range of activities ranging from Gaelic sports - to Ciné Gael, the festival of Irish cinema - Irish dancing schools and musical evenings.
Your contribution to the life of this beautiful city is rightly a source of pride – like, for instance, the work of the Montreal Irish Community Foundation, which has just secured a lease on land near the Pont St. Charles, with the laudable aim of establishing Gaelic sports facilities and a cultural resource centre. I know too that many of you are active supporters of the Irish Studies Foundation at Concordia - whom I have just had the pleasure of meeting – while many others turn out annually in May to make a solemn pilgrimage to the Black Stone of Montreal, where thousands of nameless Famine victims are buried.
Today the circumstances that led to so many going abroad have happily changed – and Ireland is now a successful country with tremendous recent economic growth. As a consequence of that success, we are facing for the first time the phenomenon of inward migration – with more and more choosing to return to the familiar land and landscapes of home. But the Irish nation is not confined to the shores of a small island on the western edge of the European landmass. The 70 million or so people throughout the world who proclaim their ‘Irishness’ – who value the heritage and culture that marks them as Irish - are as much a part of that success story as those who live and work in Ireland today. The success is something for all of the Irish nation to be proud of – and something that we can all share in.
ENDS