| Irish-Canadians are the fourth largest ethnic group | | | | From Grosse Isle most survivors were moved on |
| in Canada with a population of four and half million | | | | to Montreal with orphaned children been adopted |
| or fourteen percent of the total population. The | | | | by Quebec families. These children kept their Irish |
| earliest recorded Irish presence in Canada was in | | | | surnames and a common Catholic religion also |
| 1537 when a group of fishermen form Cork sailed | | | | allowed Irish immigrants to intermarry with French |
| to Newfoundland. | | | | Canadians, one estimate suggests that as many |
| Many Irish, especially from Co. Waterford settled | | | | as 30 percent of the French-speaking Quebeckers |
| in Newfoundland in the early 1800s, from 1820 | | | | have some Irish ancestry. |
| Irish began arriving throughout Canada, between | | | | A sizeable proportion of the Irish immigrants |
| 1825 and 1845, 60% of all immigrants to Canada | | | | settled in both urban and rural areas of Quebec, |
| were Irish. Irish immigration peaked during and | | | | Montreal and rural areas in Western Canada. The |
| after the Great Irish Famine, a great number | | | | Great Irish Famine had a large impact on Ontario, |
| settling in the provinces of Nova Scotia, Prince | | | | boatloads of destitute immigrants arrived in |
| Edward Island and New Brunswick. The majority | | | | desperate circumstances from Quebec to |
| arrived in Grosse Isle (in present day Quebec) on | | | | Toronto and Kingston. There was an economic |
| which was situated the immigration reception | | | | boom in the following years allowing men to obtain |
| station, many destitute Irish shored up here | | | | employment on the growing rail network, in the |
| because the fare was much cheaper to Canada | | | | construction and logging industries. |
| than America. | | | | |