North Cork events mark 200 years of ties with Canada
North Cork author and historian Christy Roche, with a copy of his book . Picture: Noel Sweeney.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin is set to address a North Cork commemorative event marking more than two centuries of ties with Canada.
In 1823 and 1825, more than 2,500 Irish men, women, and children, most of them from the Blackwater Valley in North Cork, migrated to Upper Canada as part of a British government scheme.
Spearheaded by Peter Robinson, a Canadian parliamentarian, the project was finalised in Fermoy with the local Tory MP Richard Lysaght Hare, and it was a scheme which would nowadays be considered a two-pronged exercise in ethnic cleansing.
Poor Catholics from a politically troublesome area in Ireland were moved to parts of Canada left underpopulated since the First Nations tribes had been cleared from their ancestral lands.
The first two ships left Cobh for Canada in the summer of 1823, carrying 546 poor Catholic emigrants, with nine more, carrying 2,024 more in 1825.
More than 500 families made the journey across the Atlantic.
In time, when the Irish settlers found themselves desperately unprepared for the brutal Canadian winters, it was the dispossessed First Nations tribes who came to their rescue, displaying more humanity than was ever shown them by those who believed them savages.
As part of a festival to celebrate the 200th anniversary of that resettlement, Ireland Canada Homecoming 2025, two key commemoration events will take place in Mitchelstown next month.
The first, the Peter Robinson Settlers Emigration Scheme Concert, will be held at 8pm on Friday, September 19 at the Saint George’s Arts and Heritage Centre.
The second event, the Peter Robinson Settlers Emigration Scheme Conference, will be held on Saturday, September 20, at the same venue.
The concert features performances by Ceoltóirí Mhúscraí, representing Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, Ballincollig.
Hosted by Ballyhoura Development, the conference will feature an address by the Taoiseach, and a speech by the Canadian ambassador, Dennis King.
Speakers will include Jay Roszman, Gerard Moran, Jane McGaughey, Bill Power, Dennis Carter-Edwards, Glenn O’Meara, Matt Barry, and Jane Halloran .
Local historian Christy Roche will speak about his new book, .
Tickets are limited and available exclusively via Eventbrite, with early booking strongly advised.
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