Why did the Irish have to create so many social organizations in Canada?

Social Organizations

Very few government-funded organizations existed in the Canada of 1847. The family was the basic social and economic unit and was expected to look after its own members. Canada had no medicare, hospitals, pensions, unemployment benefits, or even a system of public schools funded by the state (government). Taxes were low but government services for citizens were almost nonexistent. Many people went hungry, infant mortality (death of babies) was high, and life expectancy was low.

Organizations such as the St. Andrew’s Society (for Scots) and the St. Patrick’s Society (for Irish) looked after their own ethnic groups. Churches looked after their religious groups. Contrary to what is sometimes written, very little help was given by the Canadian Government to Famine immigrants. Orphans flooded the system of orphanages in 1847, and were adopted by French and English citizens.

 Social organizations such as hospitals were built and paid for by the immigrants themselves. While books often talk about the churches and parishes created by Irish immigrants, the sheer number of charitable organizations they also created is ignored. Montreal, perhaps reflecting the wealth of the Irish Protestant and Catholic communities, became particularly rich in social institutions including orphanages and old peoples’ homes. What does this tell you about the concept of citizenship held by the Irish and other immigrant groups?

 Not all social organizations were charities or linked to churches. Irish sports teams, such as those for lacrosse (the Canadian national sport) attracted vast crowds of spectators brought together from distant towns by the new railway links of the 1850’s. See if you can trace the various sporting activities people played in the second half of the 19th century because the Irish, alongside other Canadians, invented many of our modern sports. Investigate the McGill rules for hockey, lacrosse, basketball, Canadian football, rowing, and the Caledonian Games (19th century word for track and field).