This week was an exciting one for the Irish diaspora and their descendants in Ottawa.
On Tuesday morning at the Built Heritage Committee, I had the privilege to put forward a motion to allow for a modest monument in Macdonald Gardens Park in the neighbourhood of Lower Town, to represent the Irish Famine victims, many of whom perished after landing in Ottawa.
The monument consists of a pair of children’s shoe to scale, cast in bronze along with a plaque with a QR code to explain the tragic story of the Irish Famine Victims of 1847 who are buried within what is now a city park with a heritage designation.
It was my privilege to work with the Ottawa based Irish Way Famine Memorial committee with the support of the Ambassador of Ireland, Eamonn McKee, on the Bronze Shoes project.
This summer, communities across Canada will install identical small pairs of bronze shoes, along with a plaque to commemorate the thousands of Irish people who came to Ottawa in 1847 fleeing hunger and illness.
Ottawa’s commemorative site of MacDonald Gardens Park, off Rideau and Cobourg Streets is a fitting place for this small monument because it is the former cemetery holding the remains of more than 300 famine victims. The remains of these victims were buried in a mass grave with no individual markers. This lack of recognition reflected the low status of these Irish refugees at this time.
On Wednesday morning City Council overwhelming supported this project. I thank my Council colleagues for their enthusiastic support of my motion to participate in this historic initiative.
Please find the article I recently wrote to tell the story of the Bronze Shoes, and the motion which City Council endorsed.
