Quote:
Originally Posted by isaidso
It's only after living in various regions of Canada that one gets a clearer view of Canadian history rather than the one tailored for local ears. I'm not surprised one iota that Torontonian don't know that Irish Catholics flocked to Montreal to avoid discrimination in Toronto. The history taught in Ontario is very Ontario centric, with mention of Quebec, and an almost tone deaf reaction to the rest of the country. Every region of Canada does this but one shouldn't be fooled into thinking what one was taught is a good representation of what actually happened.
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What's interesting about the Irish diaspora in Canada, is that not only did they flee discrimination in Upper Canada (Ontario), but being catholic in Montreal at that time wasn't the best option either. In fact, a significant portion of the Irish newcomers blended, even assimilated, with the French catholic population of Lower Canada, where they were welcomed. They settled in the rural areas of Bas-Canada. An entire swath of territory, known today as
les Bois-Francs, in Centre-du-Québec, was cleared by them. Well-established French-speaking families are Irish (think of the Nelligans, Flynns, Handfields, Cannons, Johnsons, Nelsons, Ryans, D'Arcy and McGees, Travers, etc.). Also, most of the Irish children whose parents unfortunately died in quarantine, on Grosse Île, were raised by French canadian families. Hence, most of French-speaking Québécois have Irish blood today, too.