20220804 Ottawa Irish Famine 1847 Remembrance Ceremony
Channel: Mike McVeigh
Date: 12/08/2022

MacDonald Gardens Park beside Cobourg Street, Ottawa holds the remains of hundreds of Irish immigrants who fled the Potato Famine in 1847. Unlike other Irish famine graveyards across Canada and the United States, this site is unmarked. In 1847, Sister Elisabeth Bruyere along with other members of the Sisters of Charity in Ottawa cared for and saved many lives, but those they could not were placed here at MacDonald Gardens Park. Remains of those from other Ottawa congregations were placed here as well. 

Author Michael McBane used detailed notes kept by Sr. Bruyere to write his book, "Bytown 1847, Elisabeth Bruyere and the Irish Famine refugees," which describes the plight of the immigrants. With the help of Ambassador of Ireland to Canada, Eamonn McKee, McBane and other members of the Ottawa Irish community arranged this memorial to commemorate the remains buried here,  to draw public awareness to the site, and to create a permanent memorial so that the story of the Irish diaspora will never be forgotten. This video includes all the speeches given that day.

00:19  Michael McBane, Author. The history of MacDonald Gardens Park, Ottawa
01:20  Eamonn McKee, Ambassador of Ireland to Canada. The Monument
01:45  MC Nora Pat Marshall, Irish Senior Social Group, Ottawa. Welcome.
02:57  Kevin Dooley, Irish activist and musician. Irish Lament
06:04  Sr. Rachelle Watier, Sisters of Charity, Ottawa
10:14  Fr. Robert Laroche, St. Joseph's Parish, Sandy Hill, Ottawa
12:23  Rev. Tim Kehoe, St. Thomas the Apostle Anglican church, Ottawa
15:38  Eamonn McKee, Ambassador of Ireland to Canada
26:12  James Maloney, MP, Etobicoke - Lakeshore
32:17  Dr. Mark McGowan, University of St. Michael's College, Toronto
40:33  Michael McBane, Author, "Bytown 1847 Elisabeth Bruyere and the Irish Famine      Refugees."
45:48  Kevin Dooley, Irish activist and musician. Skibbereen (The Great Famine)

Skibbereen: A son asks his father (about Erin)
They say she is a lovely place
Wherein a prince might dwell.
So why did you abandon her
The reason to me tell?

The words and music to Skibbereen by Jim McKenna on the Uillean pipes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW6veTIkH-E

The photos of the Jeanie Johnston were from 2003 when she sailed across the Atlantic to ports along the Eastern seaboard and eventually to Montreal. This ship is a replica of the original which first sailed across the Atlantic in 1848. Unlike earlier “coffin ships,” the Jeanie Johnston completed many voyages across the Atlantic without losing a single life due in part to improved hygiene, sanitation and the presence of a doctor on board. The Jeanie Johnston now lies in port in Dublin.

https://jeaniejohnston.ie/story/the-jeanie-johnston-famine-ship-in-numbers/

For more on the life of Elisabeth Bruyere:

https://www.bruyere.org/en/mother-elisabeth-bruyere

For more on the Black Rock of Montreal:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Commemorative_Stone

For more on the history of Canada’s Grosse Ile quarantine station in the St. Lawrence River east of Quebec City:

https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/immigrants-grosse-ile-1832-1937/Pages/immigrants-grosse-ile.aspx

For more on the Irish monuments in Canada:

https://youtu.be/LDVVXc7UZ6k