March 28, 2016, Easter Monday was a great day for Ireland and all those with Irish heritage.
It was on this day in 1916 that the last uprising began to drive out the foreign power that occupied the land for hundreds of years. It was a time of great suffering and of genocide against the people of Ireland. At one time the population was close to 10 million and today it is around 3.5 million.
At the time of the famine in the 1870s millions died because all of the food in the country was shipped to absentee landlords who sold it and kept all the money. Many Irish were put on ships that either went to Tasmania and a large number to Canada.
The latter ships came up the St. Lawrence River and had to stop at Groose Isle outside of Quebec City. It was here that they were quarantined. Thousands are buried there. It is now an Irish historical site.
The people of Quebec were very good to these suffering people. I had the great privilege of going to Groose Isle in 2012.
A treaty was signed in 1922 where 26 countries out of 32 in Ireland were given back to the Irish government. Those remaining six countries are called Northern Ireland to this day.
I encourage you to look up both the Easter Uprising in 1916 and also Groose Isle for a much deeper knowledge.
The Irish flag is made up of three colors: green for Eternity, white for Unity and gold for Easter. It is for this great time in our history that the Irish flag, the Canadian flag and the Papal flag are now flying high at 5420 Barriere Town Road.