Canada and the Great Irish Famine

William Jenkins is associate professor of history at York University and the current president of the Canadian Association for Irish Studies. He is the author of Between Raid and Rebellion: The Irish in Buffalo and Toronto, 1867–1916.

• Figures and Tables ixAcknowledgments xiiiCanada Calls to Ireland xviiIntroduction: “A Calamity to the Province” 3William Jenkins1 Shipwrecks and Society: Press Reports of the Irish Emigrant Passage to Canada, 1845–55 55Cian T. McMahon2 Via the Port and into the City: The Irish Famine Migration to Quebec in the Mid-Nineteenth Century 73Robert J. Grace3 Saving Ireland from Famine: Canada’s Role in 1847 111Christine Kinealy4 Catholic Orphans in Protestant Towns: The Churches and the Irish Famine Orphans in British North America, 1847–48 144Mark G. McGowan5 Stephen De Vere’s “Political Lesson”: A Case Study of Famine Irish Emigration, Settlement, and Political and Social Unrest 164Jason King6 Encountering a Ravaged People in the Modern City: The Impact of the Irish Famine Migration on Montreal’s Urban Landscape 190Dan Horner7 Making Space for the Irish: Toronto before and after the 1847 Migration 217William Jenkins8 Madness in the Season of Famine and Distress: Famine Migration, Irish Insanity, and Toronto’s Provincial Lunatic Asylum, 1841–48 251Max Smith9 “Mournful fragments of … the Irish Exodus”? Literary Representations of Irish Canadian Famine Immigration in the Periodical Press 272Marguérite Corporaal10 “A Most Historically Gruesome Ground”: The Burial and Commemoration of Famine Irish in Hamilton, 1847–1927 292Laura J. SmithContributors 325Index 329

"Leading historians illuminate the Famine Irish experience in Canada in discerning and profound ways. An enduringly important contribution." - Mary C. Kelly, Franklin Pierce University and editor of Navigating Historical Crosscurrents in the Irish Atlantic: Essays for Catherine B. Shannon"Canada and the Great Irish Famine provides a rich and long-overdue reassessment, offering yardsticks with which to measure the Atlantic Canadian and Western experiences." - Kevin James, University of Guelph