It is #IrishHeritageMonth and this is the story of the Irish Famine Immigrants in Toronto!
In 1847, Toronto had a population of 20,000 people but between May and October of that year, it saw the influx of 38,560 Irish immigrants, fleeing the Irish Famine.
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The immigrants had travelled on overcrowded ships across the ocean, with the goal of settling on land in Canada West.
Unfortunately, many were sick with typhus.
Bishop Michael Power tended to the immigrants before he died of typhus on Oct. 1, 1847 at the age of 42.
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Knowing a huge influx of immigrants was arriving, Toronto created its first board of public health in February 1847.
The board built a dozen sheds for immigrants suffering from typhus, located on the corner of King and John Street.
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By the end of 1847, 1,186 of the immigrants had died, with 1,100 buried in a mass grave by St. Paul's Basilica at Queen St E. & Power Street.
Despite the influx of people, by 1848 most of the Irish immigrants had moved on beyond Toronto to find family, land & work.
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It is believed only 781 of the Irish Famine immigrants settled in Toronto.
They settled in what became known as Cabbagetown, located near Parliament and Gerrard St. E.
It received that name because the immigrants used their lawns to grow cabbage.
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In 2006, after the Alberta government had a huge surplus, three million people received a cheque for $400.
Officially called Prosperity Bonus, the cheques were more widely known as Ralph Bucks, named after Premier Ralph Klein.
This is the story.
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In November 2004, the Progressive Conservatives won their 10th consecutive majority government. While it was another election win for the party, the party was worried after it saw the popular vote fall from 61.9% to 46.8%, its lowest since 1993.
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In September 2005, Premier Ralph Klein announced that the province had a $6.8 billion surplus due to high oil and gas prices. This was far above the $2.8 billion that was previously estimated in the 2005-06 budget, and part of that would go to Albertans.
From 1928 to 1972, the Alberta Eugenics Board imposed sterilization on individuals deemed by an appointed board to be "mentally defective".
In that time, 2,832 sterilizations were conducted, the vast majority without consent.
This is the story.
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In the early-1900s, eugenics was growing in popularity. By the early-1920s, eugenics supporters began to lobby Alberta's ruling party, the United Farmers of Alberta, to implement eugenics legislation. On March 25, 1927, the UFA introduced a sexual sterilization bill.
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The bill was opposed by the Conservative and Liberal parties and did not reach second reading. It was reintroduced on Feb. 23, 1928 and passed one month later.
The Act formed the Alberta Eugenics Board, which was chaired by Dr. J.M. MacEachran.
In pre-colonial Canada, the First Nations established many prominent settlements.
Two of the most famous were Hochelaga and Stadacona, located on the sites of Montreal and Quebec City.
These two villages were home to nearly 4,000 people.
This is their story.
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It is not known when Hochelaga first appeared.
Historians believe the village was established at some point between 1200 CE and 1500 CE. The village apparently sat at the base of Mount Royal, and was surrounded by farmland.
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The size of the village varied by the time of year. When Jacques Cartier arrived in 1535 it had between 1000 and 3000 people.
Within the village there was at least 50 homes, according to Cartier.
Each home measured 15 metres in length and 3.5-4.5 metres in width.
There is a unique dialect of the Irish language that evolved in Newfoundland and became forever linked with the island.
It is called Newfoundland Irish and many work to keep the language alive.
This is the story.
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Irish immigrants arrived on the island to work in the late-1600s. Over the next 200 years, the Irish language was used heavily on the island, and became its own dialect. Church services were even done in Newfoundland Irish on the island.
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Irish poet Donnchadh Ruadh Mac Commara sailed around the island and used Newfoundland Irish in his Irish language poems. By the 1780s, the Irish were the dominant ethnic group of St. John's and by 1815, 19,000 Irish lived in Newfoundland.
Father David Bauer loved the game of hockey.
A gifted player, he turned down playing pro hockey to become a priest.
But hockey never left him.
He mentored many players and created Canada's men's national hockey team program.
This is his story.
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David Bauer was born on Nov. 2, 1924 in Waterloo, Ontario. The youngest 11 children, his family loved hockey. His brother Bobby went on to play in the NHL, winning two Stanley Cups on his way to the Hockey Hall of Fame. David hoped to one day play in the NHL.
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When he was 15, he attended a training camp for the Boston Bruins. They offered him a contract to play for their farm team but he turned it down as his father believed he was too young and needed a proper education. While attending school, he kept playing hockey.
On Aug. 17, 1923, the 71-branch Home Bank of Canada failed.
Faced with public outcry over constant bank failures, the government acted.
Since 1923, two Canadian banks have failed, while 17,000 have failed in the USA.
This is the story of Home Bank of Canada
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For the first half century of Canada's existence, the only safeguard that customers had with their banks was the competency of management and the hope that assets covered deposits. It was not a good system and by 1923, 40% of Canadian banks had failed.
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Finance Minister W.S. Fielding, who assumed the post in 1896, saw nine bank failures by 1910. Many Canadians, and even industry leaders like H.C. McLeod, the GM of the Bank of Nova Scotia, wanted to have government inspections to prevent fraud in Canada's banks.