EDITOR – St Patrick’s Day parades in the US are well-known but maybe not so much is known here about Canada’s equally long tradition of celebrating the day.
Canada’s 2016 census recorded 4.6m Canadians with Irish ancestry – over 13% of the population. March is Irish Heritage month in Canada as it is in the US.
The support of Canada for St Patrick’s Day is reflected in Canada’s government Minister for Diversity and Inclusion who, in March 2023, encouraged: ‘... all Canadians to participate in events taking place across the country and to learn more about the rich heritage and culture of the Irish community here in Canada.’
The first Irish emigrant from Ireland to Canada was recorded in 1661.
A Montreal garrison with Irish soldiers first celebrated the day in 1759 followed by Montreal’s first parade in 1824. It is the oldest and biggest in Canada. The United Irish Societies or Association have been organising the Montreal parade since 1929.
Toronto had a difficult history of St Patrick’s Day parades. They were banned in 1878 because of recurring violence between then mainly Catholic participants and some Protestant protestors against the parades. Toronto’s parades resumed in 1988.
Vancouver city has Irish and Celtic festivities for St Patrick’s Day.
A Canadian commentator described the St Patrick’s Day parades as a cultural phenomenon and welcoming to people from all backgrounds. I also see it as a day of looking forward, in the northern hemisphere, to warmer days from the Spring Equinox which falls on 20 March this year.
Ireland had its first official, national St Patrick’s Day parade in 1903 in Waterford. The 17th fell on a working day and they held it on Sunday, March 15th. Cork city though had its first, very successful St Patrick’s Day official parade, in 1901.
Mary Sullivan,
Cork.
Ukraine and US should take a risk for peace
EDITOR – It was very sad to see a public row between President Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky before the world’s media in the Oval Office at the White House. The only problem is that it will prolong the war and benefit Russia the aggressor. Also there is always the danger of a nuclear strike as Russia is a major nuclear power and could endanger a good portion of humanity.
Also, this war is draining the resources of EU countries and Great Britain. Up to very recently, the United States was the major supplier of arms to Ukraine and that position is changing under President Trump. We should also remember that there are millions of people displaced from Ukraine living in EU countries as a result of the war.
If President Trump feels he has a plan that will bring this war to an end and can deal with Russia, good for him and for world peace. Before he was in politics he proved himself a very successful businessman and is well used to dealing and trading. In any agreement there has to be give and take. If Ukraine can hold on to a major portion of their country and have peace, what’s wrong with that?
As General Michael Collins said after the Treaty agreement in 1921: ‘It’s a start.’ There’s also the old saying that ‘half a loaf is better than nothing’. Fighting on, with the present situation, the risks are very high. I feel they should all take a risk for peace and let’s all hope and pray that common sense will prevail.
Jeremiah McCarthy,
Clonakilty.
A Dublin mindset rules in the new cabinet
EDITOR – I live in rural Ireland. Within a one mile radius I know of a dozen people above 50 years of age alone and without a partner. It is called rural isolation.
Many of them have looked after a parent earlier on. Politicians in Dublin have consistently ignored rural Ireland.
In rural Ireland shops, pubs, post offices and banks are weekly shutting down. They bring in carbon taxes and policy and rules that inhibit building outside towns and cities.
There are 15 ministers in the present government and 11 of these are either from Dublin or Leinster. Dublin mindset rules. If outages of power and floods happened in Dublin, ministers would be scurrying around trying to fix these things.
It is time to shout stop to this neglect.
Michael Hallissey,
Mayfield,
Bandon.
Well done to editor for calling out politicians
EDITOR – Being flooded is a truly dreadful thing and with climate destruction bringing more and more bad weather we need our leaders and agencies to be delivering not blame but better solutions.
So, a big well done to The Southern Star’s editorial (‘Time for scapegoats is surely long gone’) last week calling out the dismal failure of local leadership on better ways forward when it comes to flooding in West Cork.
Eco-baiting (‘More important to protect humans than wildlife’ says Cllrs) is simple diversion from politicians.
Are they so poorly advised that the hundreds, if not thousands, of flood management schemes across the EU that work with nature rather than against it, don’t figure in their dredge-every-river fixation?
The mainstream now in so many places is to create huge flood storage capacity by reconnecting rivers to their floodplains, to ‘slow-the flow’ in the mid and upper catchments, and to create wetlands that can allow the flood peaks to be diverted.
This is the leadership gap – to learn from elsewhere and demand schemes that both protect people and nature.
Mark Robins,
Schull.
