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Changing Attitudes Toward Irish Canadians: The Impact Of The 1847 Famine Influx In The Province Of Canada, Cian Mceneaney

Undergraduate Review

Throughout the nineteenth century, Canada regularly received Irish immigrants who became a tolerated and important part of Canadian society. However, between 1845 and 1852, Ireland endured a dreadful famine which saw more than two million Irish paupers emigrate, with their destinations varying across the world. A large portion of Irish famine immigrants travelled to the comparatively empty British North American colony in Canada, passing almost entirely through Quebec. Canadians at first welcomed the idea of large numbers of immigrants to help expand the western frontier, but with a massive exodus of Irish paupers fleeing Ireland in 1847, what arrived in …