Irish people and especially the topic of Irish immigration has been subject to generalization throughout history. Only recently has the immigrant experience of Irish people to Canada in the mid 1840s has begun being thoroughly examined. The extent of my knowledge on the overall immigrant experience of Irish people during this time period was all negative. I had heard that they had been subject to prejudice, especially Irish Catholics because in Canada there was a strong Protestant majority. I chose to write my paper on this topic because my father immigrated to Canada from Ireland when he was a child. I wanted to know how it was for Irish Canadians to come to Canada during the 19th century. I hoped to find positive aspects with the goal to hopefully come to conclusion that it was worthwhile for the Irish to immigrate to Canada during the potato famine, and luckily enough that’s exactly what I found. This project provides an example for how Canadian history has had the tendency to be generalized and as historians look closer and new articles are written different conclusions can be found as a result.
