Redeemers or Destroyers of Empire? The Irish, State-Directed Colonization, and the Fight for a British-Canadian West, 1880–1883

Abstract

This article analyzes a proposal to have impoverished western Irish families then suffering from famine and distress colonize the Canadian prairies. London and Ottawa hoped that this “New Ireland” would solve several problems simultaneously. Their masculine, yeoman, loyal, “British” character would be rejuvenated as they pioneered homesteads. A state-directed colonization would ensure that this redemption occurred under the watchful eye of London and Ottawa. As they were rehabilitated, they would serve simultaneously as pioneer producers, consumers of British-made goods, “kith and kin” bolsterers of “Britishness,” and as soldier-settlers defending Canada and the Empire against Irish nationalism, the United States, French Canadians, the Métis, First Peoples, and immigrants from continental Europe. Yet this scheme never materialized. The British were publicly torn between rehabilitating the Irish and ridding itself of a poor, rebellious population. This led Canadians to believe the British would “shovel paupers” onto their shores. The Irish regarded the scheme as nothing more than “transportation” wrapped in a more benign guise. They were also caught between the ethos of self-help and the “New Imperialism” and growing state paternalism. If they could not be redeemed, as Social Darwinism and continued Irish unrest was arguing, then they might actually debase Britishness, and even potentially join the Métis and First Peoples in their disaffection. A growing Canadian identity led many to believe Canada would be better off settling seasoned American and New Immigrant farmers instead. The assisted Irish might undercut western Canadians' hard-won economic and social status as yeomen. Employers too routinely dismissed the Irish as unreliable, lazy, impertinent, and irredeemable.