Are Catholic settlers different settlers? Sadra Emami, ‘Breaking the Mold: Irish Catholic Migration and Upper Canadian Identity between 1845 and 1867’, Webster Review of International History, 5, 1, 2025 | settler colonial studies blog

Are Catholic settlers different settlers? Sadra Emami, ‘Breaking the Mold: Irish Catholic Migration and Upper Canadian Identity between 1845 and 1867’, Webster Review of International History, 5, 1, 2025

17Jul25

Abstract: This study explores the impact of Irish Catholic migration to Upper Canada between 1845 and 1867, focusing on how these migrants challenged the colony’s existing Protestant and loyalist identity. While Irish immigration to British North America was already established in the early 19th century, the Great Irish Famine (1845–1852) triggered an unprecedented wave of migration. This influx of Irish Catholics, who settled primarily in urban centers like Toronto, disrupted British colonial expectations that immigrants would assimilate into an agrarian, Protestant, and monarchist society. Unlike their Protestant counterparts, Irish Catholics struggled to integrate into the rural economy and instead established distinct communities centred around Catholic institutions, religious schools, and fraternal organizations. Their preference for urban labour over agricultural settlement and their alignment with Irish nationalist causes created tensions with the British colonial government and the Protestant majority. This article argues that Irish Catholics in Upper Canada, far from being passive settlers, actively shaped the cultural and political landscape through religious, social, and political resistance. By examining demographic shifts, institutional development, and sectarian conflict including events like the Guy Fawkes Day episode of 1864.

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