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Topics as diverse as the varying experience of Polish migrants in Canada and Ireland; the challenges faced by refugees from south-east Asia in 1970s Ottawa and the identity issues of the Irish at home and abroad were in focus at the weekend during an Association for Canadian Studies in Ireland conference hosted by Waterford Institute of Technology and jointly organised with NUI Galway.

The 15th biennial conference was titled ‘Canada and the World – Yesterday and Today’ and brought together researchers from Irish, Canadian, Lithuanian and Israeli universities who presented on a range of topics centred on Canada and its overseas relations.

Delegates were welcomed by Prof Kieran R Byrne, President, Waterford Institute of Technology and the conference was opened by His Excellency, Pat Binns, Ambassador to the Embassy of Canada in Dublin.

Prof Byrne told the assembled academics that it was “entirely fitting” that they meet in Waterford given the rich tradition of exchange between the southeast of Ireland and the Canadian province of Newfoundland & Labrador.

“Given fresh life and relevance in recent years through initiatives from the Ireland Newfoundland Partnership, this Institute’s own Centre for Newfoundland & Labrador Studies and others on both sides of the Atlantic, the ties between us are real and enduring. They date from the mid-18th Century to early 19th Century when there was a massive pre-famine movement of people from this region to the island of Newfoundland.

“To the present day, surnames like Murphy, Power and Walsh remain commonplace in Newfoundland & Labrador and the local accent carries more than a trace of the southeast of Ireland. In modern times, there are vibrant cultural, economic and social ties between the jurisdictions. We increasingly recognise that though our countries are of very different scale, we can each learn from and support the other in a myriad of ways.”

Ambassador Binns told delegates: “It is fitting that this conference is in Waterford which – as many of you know – is twinned with St John’s, Newfoundland. That relationship has resulted in some great social and economic projects between the two regions. Prof Byrne has just presented me with a book on the shipbuilding history in Waterford and many of the transatlantic vessels from this city will have made St John’s their first port of call.

“I previously met Prof Byrne here when we commemorated the contributions of Co Waterford native John Palliser to Canada in the 19th Century. He was a geographer who explored western Canada. Indeed, the area became known as the ‘Palliser Triangle’ and the surname remains prevalent throughout the west. There are – I believe – further opportunities to research Palliser’s achievements,” he continued.

“I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in on some of today’s presentations. Incidentally, ice hockey – our national sport in Canada – started from hurling. Revd William Cochrane from Omagh came from Trinity College Dublin to King’s College in Nova Scotia and taught the boys how to hurl. When the ponds froze over, they began to play on skates and that was the beginning of a sport that’s now played internationally.”

Revd Dr Christine O’Dowd-Smyth, lecturer in French, Waterford Institute of Technology, was a session chair at the weekend conference as well as being a presenter and co-organiser along with Dr Elizabeth Tilley, NUI Galway. Lecturers Joanne Malone; Mary Keating and Dr Chris Mulhall also worked on the conference event management.

Waterford was also represented among the presenters by John Maher speaking on the lessons the Canadian experience offers in the context of Irish financial regulation; Dr John Ennis examining modern Canadian poetry and postgraduate researcher Rosaline Dalton presenting a cultural and heritage case study on the Guinness Storehouse.

Other session chairs from Waterford Institute of Technology included Dr Seamus O Diolluin; Dr Felicity Kelleher and Anne Marie Lally.

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