Christy Kelly-BissonOct 24, 2023
A touching initiative to commemorate many among my ancestors who died fleeing starvation and violence. A good reminder of the importance to recall our ancestors’ struggles when considering the struggles of migrants today.
#NoOneIsIllegal #RefugeesWelcome #Montreal #IrishCanadian #GreatFamine #GortaMor
https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/montreal-is-a-step-closer-to-getting-a-park-to-mark-irish-mass-grave-site
Montreal is a step closer to getting a park to mark Irish mass grave site

The Montreal Irish Memorial Park Foundation became the new owner of the solitary monument known as the Black Rock.

Montreal Gazette
Show threadEarthworm 🐌

@GarlicBreath

Wow. This part gave me especially the shivers:

"Montreal’s mayor at the time, John Mills, commissioned the construction of more than 20 large “fever shacks” in the Pointe-St-Charles neighbourhood, where he and a religious order known as the Grey Nuns led efforts to care for the ill [typhus] newcomers.

“The actions of Montrealers and Quebecers during the months of May to November 1847 represent the largest humanitarian action in Canadian history,” said Scott Phelan, Montreal Irish Monument Park Foundation treasurer.

Many of them, including Mayor Mills himself, lost their lives. Some are among the dead buried in the mass grave."

#ShutDownFortressEurope #DefundFrontex #AbolishBorders

Oct 26, 2023 at 6:44amWeb
Show threadChristy Kelly-BissonOct 26, 2023
@earthworm Yeah, and the fever shacks in Griffintown regularly flooded and froze in the spring with the rise of the St Lawrence. It was a humanitarian disaster.
Show threadEarthworm 🐌Oct 26, 2023

@GarlicBreath

Yeah, but I want to thank you for taking part in not forgetting that we are all immigrants, descendents of immigrants or will be immigrants. It's just a question of timescale...
And something that people easily forget, once they are established and feeling their nationalism making them superior.

Show threadChristy Kelly-BissonOct 26, 2023
@earthworm That is exactly the point I’ve been trying to make. And how our enlistment within white supremacy weaponizes our trauma against future refugees. I wrote about it a few years ago when I was contributing to the Leveller in Ottawa: https://christykellybisson.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/st-patricks-day-should-be-platform-for-migrant-rights-and-descendents-of-the-irish-diaspora-should-champion-its-cause/
St. Patrick’s Day Should be Platform for Migrant Rights: And descendents of the Irish diaspora should champion its cause

This article first appeared in the Leveller Vol.7, No.6 (Spring 2015). Hardly anyone talks about the green elephant in the room — the one shadowing long-standing historical celebrations such as the…

Christy Kelly-Bisson