The Anglican Church has donated the parcel of land near Victoria Bridge in Montreal to memorialize 6,000 Irish immigrants who died in the city more than a century-and-a-half ago.
The site at the Black Rock Monument will eventually be turned into The Montreal Irish Monument Park.
“We are profoundly grateful to Bishop Irwin-Gibson and the Anglican Diocese for this generous gift,” said Fergus Keyes, president of The Montreal Irish Monument Park Foundation. “This donation represents a major step in the process to finally create the kind of facility at the Black Rock that recognizes the historical importance of the site not only for the Montreal Irish community, but for all of Montreal.”
In 1859, the Black Rock Monument was erected in memory of more than 6,000 Irish immigrants who lost their lives, largely to typhus — then called ship’s fever — during summer 1847, upon their arrival in Montreal.
The Black Rock site is the oldest memorial to the Irish famine in the world, the largest mass grave of Irish people outside of Ireland, and the largest mass grave of people in Canada.
The Anglican Church has owned the parcel of land since 1870.
