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THE CELTIC CONNECTION • OCTOBER 1993
UPDATE ON GROSSE ILE
The Comerford School of Irish Dancing
is now accepting beginners
Please Contact: Erin Hickey or Michelle McWilliams at (604) 984-8866
Classes will be held in North Vancouver
The
LAdy Rose BooksTORE
CaroI Robb & Bardara Prvce-Jones P.O. Box 1 54 Bowen IsIancI, B.C., VON ICO TeI: (604) 947-2929 • Fax: (604) 947-0910
II My Relation
Metaphysical Book store
Native & Celtic Arts, crafts & Curios 2025 West 4th Ave., Vancouver, B.C. V6J1N3
Psychic readers and Astrologer
Phone: 739-2144 phil l'hirondelle & noel blakely
THE VOICE OF IRISH CANADA
A quarterly magazine featuring comprehensive coverage of politics, culture and sports in Ireland and Irish Canada. Plus the best of Irish-Canadian fiction and poetry. And much, much more.
Subscribe now!
Annual Subscription: S1S.00 Sample Copy: S 4.00
Send cheque or money order to: Ireland's Eye 108 Walpole Avenue Toronto, Ontario Canada M4L2J3
For more information call (416) 469-9619
By CELESTE SINCLAIR
Earlier this year, Parks Canada held public hearings in several Canadian cities to hear the views and briefs submitted by Irish groups, organizations and individuals regarding Grosse lie.
This small island in Quebec served as quarantine station during the Irish Famine of the 1840's and became the final resting place for many who left home in search of hope for the future.
Because of the high level of interest and concern expressed by the Irish communities across Canada, Parks Canada have recently released a newsletter providing an update on developments regarding the Grosse lie National Historic Site.
Laurent Tremblay, the acting Director General for the Quebec Region, expressed hope in the release that the update will address most questions that may arise and provide first-hand information to all those interested in the future of Grosse He. The following is a reproduction of his newsletter.
Report on the Consultation
The examination and analysis of the approximately 1,200 briefs and letters submitted during the consultation exercise is progressing well. Despite the volume of
information to be processed, Parks Canada aim to publish the report this fall.
Commemoration Theme
The commemoration theme specific to Grosse He, as one of Canada's National Historic sites, is to be discussed at the next meeting of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, which will be held in November.
The Minister will be informed of the Board's recommendations on Grosse He in early 1994 and it is expected that he will release his findings shortly afterwards.
Visitor Information
As in previous years, Grosse He opened its doors to the public from May to October. By July 26, the site had already received some 7,600 visitors, an increase of 17 percent over last year. Interested parties may call 1-800-463-5643 for details concerning visits.
Reception and Disinfection Building
The immigrant reception and disinfection building, constructed in stages between 1892 and 1927, is one of the most moving testimonies to the island's quarantine activities. This building is in very poor condition and major work is urgently needed to preserve it.
Recently, the Treasury Board granted its approval for stabilizing and rehabilitating the building beginning this fall. Subject to the Treasury Board's subsequent approval, the work itself will commence in 1994 and be completed by the fall of 1995.
It should be pointed out that the function identified for this build-ing was not one of the issues for which the public wished to see changes, so that options for Board recommendations and Minister's decisions will not be affected by proceeding with this undertaking now.
Quiet Everybody, Action!
Grosse He has aroused interest in film circles. Screenlife Inc., in collaboration with the CBC, is producing a documentary on Irish immigration to Canada between 1830 and the end of the 1840's. This will be aired this fall as part of the series Witness.
In addition, Great North Productions is working on a four-hour mini-series drama for CTV and RTE (Radio Telefis Eirann) on Irish immigration during the Great Famine. It is to be filmed in Ireland and Canada during the summer and fall of 1994 and broadcast in the fall of 1995 to emphasize the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Famine.
Magdalen Women in Public Outcry
DUBLIN — The exhumation of a mass grave of "fallen women" has sparked a national outcry and re-opened the debate over who is responsible for the treatment of the "Magdalen" women.
Until the late sixties, many unmarried pregnant women were sent by their families to work— unpaid—in one of the many "Magdalen laundries", run by the Sisters of Charity.
Some of the women were incest victims, shown as pregnant by their fathers in convent records. Others were destititute women who had turned to prostitution. When the Sisters of Charity in Drumcondra sold 11.5 acres of their convent grounds to a developer, memories of an Irish scandal which lasted from early in the last century until the 1970's re-surfaced.
The graves of 133 women who worked in the laundries were exhumed from the property, their remains cremated and reburied in Glasnevin cemetry in Dublin. The women were buried in mass
fraves marked "Magdalen of the orrows," or "Magdalen of the Sacred Heart." — Celeste Sinclair
•
Irish Families Decrease in Size
DUBLIN — Statistics presented to the annual meeting of the Commission for the Laity showed that over the last two decades, the marriage rate in Ireland has been falling steadily. The number of broken marriages is increasing, as well as the number of children born out of wedlock; and family size is falling dramatically. The average family had four children in the late 1960's and this is now down to two. —L.F.
IRISH NEWS IN BRIEF
Reynolds on U.S. Visit
DUBLIN — Taoiseach Albert Reynolds visited Boston, New York, Chicago and St. Louis in September to promote Ireland as an industrial base for U.S. companies planning to set up in Europe. While in Boston and St. Louis, he teamed up with the Galway Development Board which is attempting to find replacement industries in the wake of the Digital closure. — L.F. •
Anti-American Bias in Ireland
DUBLIN — In an article in the magazine Studies, a former first secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Dublin claims that there is a strong anti-American bias among politicians and journalists in Ireland. George Dempsey, now based in Venezuela, blames those who were students in the Sixties, when it was fashionable to blame America for all the ills of the world.
Mr. Dempsey acknowledges that
the mass of the population, while
enjoying "taking the Mickey" out
of the U.S., admires its way of
life. - L.F.
•
Second Surprise
KERRY — Sylvie O'Connor, the publican who gained notoriety by offering £600 to women to dance topless in his bar, provided another surprise recently. He disappeared withouta trace. His employees arrived to find Teach Peig locked up. His creditors then began removing anything of value from the premises. -- L.F.
Granny Banned from Selling
DUBLIN — An 81-year old woman purged her contempt of court by agreeing not to sell fruit and sweets from her barrow outside Dublin's Heuston Station, something she has been doing for the last 68 years. CIE had taken the woman to court because she had failed to comply with previous orders to cease trading. Had Hanna Moran defied the court on this occasion, it is probable that she would have been imprisoned. — L.F.
•
Ireland Praised in U.S. Media
DUBLIN — Ireland seems to be receiving considerable favourable publicity in the U.S. press. The New York Times carried a report on the resilience of the town of Clonmel, despite major setbacks there on the job front. Wexford playwright Billy Roche was also the subject of a laudatory article in The Times. The Boston Sunday Herald published a story similar to that on Clonmel, but about Galway. A newswire story described the new opened Cobh Heritage Centre and now it was attracting U.S. visitors whose ancestors passed through the port on their way to a new life. •
Repeat Offender Finally Jailed
DUBLIN — The practice of granting bail to almost all those charged with crimes was taken to the extreme. Andrew Marlow (18), a drug addict from Fatima Mansions in Dublin, was granted bail four times in one day. Each time he went off and committed another crime. When he recently appeared in a Dublin court, he was jailed for 18 months. — L.F.