CORNWALL, Ontario – Irish Ambassador to Canada Jim Kelly and Deputy Head of the Irish Mission Michael Hurley visited Cornwall and the surrounding region on Friday, Sept. 21, 2018.
The Ambassador was given a tour of the Historic SD&G County Jail before visiting the monument to 52 Irish immigrants who died of disease upon arriving in Cornwall in the 1840s after fleeing the Irish Famine.
After their stop at the monument, the Ambassador was taken for a community breakfast at the Cornwall Golf and Country Club in South Glengarry.
“Locally, Irish people have played a key role in the development and history of Cornwall,” said Mayor Leslie O’Shaughnessy, addressing the breakfast. “Cornwall’s Irish population saw a steep increase in the 1830s with the Cornwall Canal. Thirty percent of Cornwall’s population was Irish in 1971, which was twice the national average. If we are to sustain growth, we must look beyond our borders and why not look to our oldest friends.”
Ambassador Kelly, who was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland and who has served as ambassador since 2016 said that he was enjoying his visit to the area.
“I’m delighted to visit Cornwall,” he said. “It is not every morning that your day starts with a trip to jail.”
Kelly emphasized the ties between Cornwall and Ireland.
“During the most tragic period of our history, the Great Famine, hundreds of thousands fled Ireland, and many came to Canada and settled along the St. Lawrence River,” he said. “As with Syria today, Ireland was the immigrant crisis of the mid-19th century. The Mohawks of the region gave us what they had. It is a chapter of our shared history that we’ve never forgotten and will be forever grateful.”
Kelly said that the connections between Canada and Ireland have been strengthened is recent years, with the past 18 months seeing 15 high level meetings between the two countries. Kelly also pointed to the Canadian-European Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which came into effect Friday, as breaking down regulatory barriers between Ireland and Canada and improving business relations.
After the breakfast, Kelly would continue his trip through the area with Mayor O’Shaughnessy, Warden Ian MacLeod of SD&G and other local representatives on a tour of Grant’s Farm, St. Lawrence College and the Traveling College in Akwesasne.
