Significance of Irish Immigration to Canada

By 1867, almost one-quarter of the entire population of Canada was Irish; and in the earlier part of the nineteenth century, most of the Irish immigrants were Protestant. One of the most influential causes of this immigration was the promise of land, which in Ireland had become a distant dream of many of its poor inhabitants. Between the years of 1829 to 1859, it is estimated that over 600,000 Irish landed at Grosse Île, the major clearing port of immigrants coming to Canada by sea. In 1855, according to British records, more than two million people left Ireland. Most of them emigrated to North America, either to Canada or the United States.