The statues in Dublin have been there since, if I’m not mistaken, 1999 or so. Ours are much more recent. They date from 2007. Mary McAleese, the President of Ireland, visited to open Ireland Park at that time, opposite the Island Airport.
It was there, at the foot of Bathurst Street, that 38,000 Irish emigrants arrived in the summer of 1847. At that time, the population of Toronto itself was only 20,000. The present population of the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) is just shy of 6 million, so this would be the equivalent of nearly 11 million people arriving here in one year. Imagine the strain on the public purse and resources.
They arrived on “coffin ships”. Remember that Toronto is on the first of the Great Lakes, a long, long way inland... an entire time zone inland from the Atlantic Ocean. That they came this far is astounding. Many, many of them were ill with typhoid, and many of them died here — along with the many brave souls who tended to them, among them Toronto’s first Roman Catholic bishop, Michael Power; like myself, a native Nova Scotian from Halifax.
Stacks of stone, shipped here from (if I recall correctly) County Kerry, were arranged in the shape of a ship. On the sides of the stones have been carved all the known names, so far, of typhoid victims among the Irish immigrants of that summer.
A kiosk of interactive presentations has been created by the City to educate the public.
While I did see people visiting the statues in Dublin, I didn’t see evidence of tribute the way I did at Ireland Park. There, people were laying bouquets, long stemmed roses, pressing coins into the hands of the statues (in particular, that of the expectant mother)...
Most poignant of all, someone had brought four perfect potatoes (in reference to Ireland’s four provinces?) and left them at the head of the famine/typhoid victim.
The only joyful or exhalant of all of Rowan Gillespie’s Famine statues on either side of the Atlantic is this one, a man who seems to behold the future of his people. Beyond him is the city, the province, and the country the Irish Diaspora built, in concert with so many others.
Collectively, these five statues are known as "The Arrival", as I've read those in Dublin are "The Departure".
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