Irish Heritage Month 2025: from the Emerald Isle to the Great White North
March 2025 is the third official Irish Heritage Month in Canada. As Canada’s national memory institution, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) appreciates the opportunity to reflect on our shared history and the many ways that Irish Canadians have helped shape modern Canada.
Highlighting Irish presence in Canada’s history
Reflecting on the history of Irish Canadians should begin with their arrival in Canada, but for many, this means a solemn recollection of the Irish Potato Famine. The Bridget Hamilton and family fonds in our collections offers a view into the period through correspondence between Irish emigrants.
Upon their arrival, Irish Canadians helped lay the groundwork for the government of Canada. Thomas D’Arcy McGee arrived in Canada in 1857 and advocated for cooperation so fervently that he has been described as “Canada’s first nationalist.” He lived to see Confederation in 1867 and was elected to the 1st Canadian Parliament.
A small group of Irish expatriates gave Canada one of its first trials by fire after Confederation in the form of the Fenian Raids. The Fenians aimed to seize control of Canada and trade it back to Great Britain in exchange for Irish independence. This led to a series of armed conflicts between 1866 and 1871 where government forces fought off the raiders. LAC has a number of interesting documents from these events in our collections, including a letter dated 1867 and addressed to the British Consulate about projected raids.
Throughout these years, in peace and in conflict, Irish Canadians have made contributions beyond measure to Canadian arts, literature, music and culture.
LAC’s collections include a number of records related to the Juno-winning Irish-Canadian group the Carleton Showband, who started playing together in 1960s Toronto and continued playing across the country for more than 25 years.
Research and resources
If you’re interested in learning more about the family history of Irish Canadians, we have a research guide that can help you get started. We also have a curated list of resources on Irish-Canadian genealogy that might interest you.
Documents from our published heritage collection
- Book: Finding Molly Johnson: Irish famine orphans in Canada by Mark George McGowan
- Book: Pionniers irlandais du Québec et de l'Ontario : fermiers, ouvriers et bûcherons by Lucille H Campey
- Book: Le Québec et l'Irlande : culture, histoire, identité by Linda Cardinal
- Book: Produire la mémoire historique canadienne : le cas des migrations de la Famine de 1847, by Mark McGowan
- Dissertation: A Post-Colonial Era? Bridging Ml'kmaq and Irish Experiences of Colonialism, by Aedan Anderson
- Documentary: Hunger's Children (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)
- Memoir: Just one more drive: the true story of a stuttering homosexual and his race car by Robert James O'Brien