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THE CELTIC CONNECTION • MAY 1992
Letter from tfie Vubtisher
Poignant Flashbacks
By MAURA McCAY
Gerry Adams, Head of Sinn Fein, Loses His Seat in Parliament
✓f*» VER SINCE my child-*#- hood in the Gatineau J-^ Valley, north of Ottawa, I have been fascinated with circles. The beginning and the end of the cycle of life. It's amazing to watch the continuity. There is never an end to the circle.
In this month's issue of The Celtic Connection, in our centre-spread, we present an article by Martin O'Malley, a resident of Toronto, whose story comes to us from our collective past....the Irish who emigrated during the famine.
The scenes he describes are very familiar to me. They are flashbacks to my childhood spent in Martindale, Quebec, living on a farm in a rural Irish community. I was raised about a mile up the road from the area which O'Malley refers to in "GoingHome." I found itrather poignant in light of many events in my own life.
Several issues ago, we promised to continue printing The Journal of Gerald Keegan but because of an avalanche of submissions, we are only now able to place that story.
We recently received more current-day news of issues relating to the famine. In 1993, a Famine Museum will be opened in County Roscommon, in a restored mansion in Strokestown. To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the famine, a TV mini-series now being produced in Ireland and on Grosse He, Quebec.
Grosse He is where so many famine survivors arrived from Ireland, only to find death.
It is appalling to contemplate the magnitude of this holocaust but we must never forget our history, otherwise we are in danger of repeating it.
From Toronto, we have received news that Environment Canada has announced plans to develop Grosse He as a National Park. There is deep concern about this move by the Federal Government and support is urged to ensure that the site is properly acknowledged.
Even though it is lengthy, we are publishing "Going Home" in its entirety because we couldn't put it down. There is a lot of interesting background to this story, but I can't even begin to give you all the details in this brief column.
The cemetery, which O'Malley describes in detail, is one which my own mother was deeply involved in restoring many years ago. Since that time, we've all lived several lifetimes.
The fact is, a Celtic cross stands there in the middle of that field, as a reminder to everyone who goes there, of the legacy left by the settlers.
My family is still very connected to the Gatineau Valley. In fact, my grandmother sent me the story from there. It intrigued me so much, we asked permission from the Imperial Oil Review in Toronto to reprint and they kindly agreed.
"Going Home " really does take me home, the sights and scenes it describes, are ones I knew so well....the church where we went every Sunday as kids...the characters who are all still there.
It was a great place to grow up. Lots of music, singing and dancing and millions of cousins. People would laugh and play the fiddle all nightlong. I recall with affection, some very eccentric people I met up there. One old man, Martin Brown, used to hold parties at his cabin way back in the bush. We would dance and he would play us his tape recording of the wolves howling on winter nights outside his cabin.
It just so happened that, here in Vancouver at The Celtic Connection office, we had photos of a Pioneer Cemetery about 3,000 miles away. These pictures were taken in 1982 at a ceremony in that cemetery to dedicate a large Celtic cross. Amid singing and dancing, participants dedicated a plaque on the headstone, saying: May the light of heaven shine on the souls of the Gaels who left Ireland in the great famine to find eternal rest in this soil. They will be remembered as long as love and music lasts."
Recently, someone commented to me that the Irish people seem to be fascinated with death, but I do not see it that way at all. I see it as one with the continuity of life. Knowing who you are, or at least where you come from, might help to give us some guidance as to where we are going. It's all a mystery to me, but one thing I'll say is that it's a long, long way from the Gatineau Valley to the West Coast of Canada. My life in that valley was another world away. Lots of love, '"YY").
By LIAM FERRIE DUBLIN — Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Fein, is no longer a member of Parliament. There were 17 seats available in the election in the North and 16 of these returned the outgoing Member. Mr. Adams' departure was not entirely unexpected as an opinion poll predicted a swing to Dr. Joe Hendron of the SDLP. According to an RTE reporter, who was present at the count, the result was not so much a swing away from Sinn Fein but tactical voting by loyalists.
The vote for the Ulster Unionist Party candidate seems to support this. The RTE reporter went on to say that the UDA had been urging its sympathisers to vote for Dr. Hendron. The UUP, she said, disagreed with this approach as it preferred an abstentionist Gerry Adams to an SDLP MP who would accept the seat.
The only other consistituency which we thought might have been worth watching turned out
to be a tame affair. In South Down, Eddie McGrady of the SDLP just scraped in in 1987. Since then, there has been a big influx of people from Belfast and it was thought that most of them would be Unionist supporters. When the result was announced, Mr. McGrady had a majority of more than 6,000.
Adding up the votes for all 17 constituencies, the percentage share of the poll was as follows:
Ulster Unionist Party 34.5
SDLP 23.5 Democratic Unionist
Party 13.1
Sinn Fein 10.0
Alliance Party 8.7
Conservative Party 5.7
Others 4.5 -
Individual constituencies are as follows:
E. Belfast Peter Robinson DUP
W. Belfast Joe Hendron SDLP
N. Down Jim Kilfedder PU
S. Down Eddie McGrady
Mid-Ulster
Newry/ Armagh
S. Antrim
N. Antrim E. Antrim Upper Bann
N. Belfast
S. Belfast
E. Derry
Fermanagh/ S. Tyrone
Foyle
Lagan Valley Strangford
SDLP
Rev. Wm McCrae DUP
Seamus Mallon SDLP
Clifford Forsythe UUP
Ian Paisley DUP Roy Beggs UUP David Trimble UUP
Cecil Walker UUP
Rev. M. Smyth UUP
William Ross UUP
Ken Maginnis UUP
John Hume SDLP James Molyneux UUP
John Taylor UUP
All = Alliance Party
DUP = Democratic Uniost Party
UUP = Ulster Unionist Party
PU = Popular Unionist
SF = Sinn Fein
WP = Worker's Party
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Dear Editor:
Congratulations on a fine Celtic
Eublication! A resident of New runswick, Gary Silliker, who recently moved to B.C., sent it to me. Gary also has a great repertoire of Celtic music and can play it to your heart's delight.
I am happy to see such a publication as yours. Ten years ago, we started the Irish Canadian Cultural Association of New Brunswick. We now have some 1,500 members and seven chapters throughout the province.
We have accompanied most of our original goals such as Irish-New Brunswick books, an Irish Festival, Irish drama and language classes, Irish courses, and more.
Our first project was an "Early Irish History" poster map of New Brunswick. It lists some 1,500 places where the Irish first settled in New Brunswick and this colourful map also has other interesting facts and pictures. We recently had it reprinted and each copy is laminated.
One of our new goals is to get an Irish studies program at University of New Brunswick and St. Thomas University. For too long, our Celtic culture has been ignored, simply because we let it happen. We, and only we, can revive it and add our literature, history and folklore, music, sports, dances, etc. to make Canada a much richer place culturally.
Publications such as The Celtic Connection are the best way to connect with each other to promote a common cause.
Our association also has a publication, "The Shamrock Leaf." The March issue is 40 pages in length. It shows in pictures and words the activities of our seven chapters plus many other articles of Irish interest.
Farrell McCarthy, Founding President The Irish Canadian Cultural Association of New Brunswick Newcastle, N.B.,
Dear Editor:
The Vancouver Welsh Society wishes to thank all the hardworking staff at The Celtic Connection, as their efforts have helped Welsh people in Vancouver, Western Canada and the U.S. A. become more familiar with us.
It wouldn't be incorrect to say that we have had a larger response to our society from readers of The Celtic Connection than we have ever had from any other publication in this region.
We wish you all continued success and please keep up the good work! The Celtic Connection is always enjoyable to read and an excellent way for the Celtic people to maintain contact with one another. Once again, we say thank you — "Diolch Yn Fawr lawn!"
Lynne H. Fox, Society Member
4. 1 1~<^F^J~* ->TlX'
Volume 2, Number 4
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