☘☘☘ In April of 2019 Irish Heritage Quebec hosted the Great Famine Voices Roadshow. The keynote speaker was Mark McGowan of the University of Toronto. The Irish Embassy in Ottawa has arranged for him to give an updated version of his lecture. This lecture will be live streamed on the Embassy’s
YouTube channel on Thursday 01 October at 7pm EST.
Irish Heritage Quebec invites you to watch it. ☘☘☘
Professor McGowan has described this lecture as follows:
This month the Government of Ireland officially opened the National Famine Way, a 160 km walking trail along the Royal Canal from the Shannon to Dublin. The way was inspired by the trek of 1490 assisted migrants from the estate of Major Denis Mahon at Strokestown, County Roscommon, to Dublin, and then Quebec via Liverpool. About 30% of these migrants died without ever having landed in Quebec. Mark McGowan of the University of Toronto has been the lead researcher tracking what happened to the remnants of 271 families that began this journey in 1847 in the hope of carving out new lives in Canada as they fled the ravages of an Gorta Mor. He follows their pathway from Ireland to Grosse Ile, Quebec City, Rimouski, Lotbiniere, Montreal, Niagara, New York, and New Orleans.