Category: History

It was the winter of 1978 and Christmas was about a week away, Big Tom McElwee and I waited and listened as the screws got closer. On up the wing locks rattled, doors flung open and we listened as bare feet scurried on the corridor as those before us tried to escape the heavier sounding… Continue reading Dixie Elliott on why he supports Richard O’Rawe: I owe it to six brave men who had the courage that I lacked

When we think of the Easter Rising and the groups who took part in it many of the micro groups are forgotten about. The Irish Volunteers and The Irish Citizen Army tend to garner much of the attention. This is understandable for a couple of reasons. 1) All the signatories of the Irish Proclamation came from… Continue reading The Hibernian Rifles

  INTRODUCTION When Father Michael O’Flanagan came into the office of the Connolly Association in 1939 and saw a group of unemployed workers struggling against limitations of space and finance he was deeply moved. “Ye are doing the work of the humble Nazarene,” he said, and thereupon became an honorary member of the Association. What… Continue reading Fr. Michael O’Flanagan: Republican, Activist, Gaelic Scholar

In the sleepy town of Ridgeway, Ontario – just a stone’s throw from Crystal Beach, the “Southern Shore of Canada” and former home to the Niagara region’s most beloved amusement park – there stands a stone memorial cairn,  an unobtrusive roadside monument most travelers overlook as they pass north toward Niagara Falls or east toward… Continue reading The Day the Irish Invaded Canada