St-Patrick’s Day

Daejeong, le 17 mars 2021

St-Patrick’s Day is never an ordinary day for me. First of all, it’s my wife’s birthday.

Bon Anniversaire Stephanie!

The Irish have always been part of my life. I was born and raised in Verdun on the island of Montréal. Verdun and our neighbor district of Pointe-St-Charles are where most of the Irish coming to Montréal settle. Even though the first Irish said to come to North America did so before the Vikings, most of my Irish friends are descendants of the massive waves of immigration of the 19th century. Today, the Irish make up almost 15% of Canada’s population. Many of them were, and still are, very involved in all spheres of Canadian society.

Around me, my Irish friends, the Quinn’s, the O’Reilly’s, the Gallagher’s and many others, are very influential in our community. The Irish are involved in so many community organizations. The Dawson Community Center, where I also was a board member for some years, Manna Food bank, and Erin Sports are only three of whom most probably would not have lasted all these years without an Irish involvement. These organizations are active with youth, the elderly, and the fight against poverty. During the day they have activities for women and men, mostly of a certain age. In the mid afternoon, these places transform themselves for after school programs with a lot of sports, computer rooms, and crafts.

St-Patrick’s Day is a big deal in Montréal. The parade is renowned as one of the biggest in the world. I marched in the parade for most of the twelve years I was a city councillor with the float provided by my borough of Verdun. The blue collar workers responsible for building that float always are so proud to put a lot of effort into it and… a lot of green. Festivities start in February and culminate with the parade, which is always on the Sunday closest to March 17. There are so many activities, from the contest to choose the St-Patrick Princesses to the nomination of the Irishman of the Year to the huge Irish Breakfast, a fund raiser event for those activities previously mentioned, held in the old Windsor train station where more than one thousand people gather for some whole Irish fun, including Irish coffee.

In my home, on this day, we have had green beer, green mashed potatoes, my daughter Simone has died her hair green and whatever else green piece of clothing or any other green thing you can think of.

Unfortunately, for a reason we all know, this is the second year in a row the parade will not be held but, still, today, we are all Irish!