Ireland Park

Ireland Park is located on the shores of Lake Ontario on Éireann Quay, adjoining the Canada Malting Silos, at the foot of Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Officially opened in the summer of 2007, Ireland Park commemorates the tens of thousands who fled Ireland during the Great Famine. In 1847 over 38,000 Irish men, women and children landed on the shores of Toronto, where Ireland Park now stands, fleeing famine and eager to start a new life. Although Toronto only had 20,000 inhabitants, the city welcomed the newcomers with open arms. Over 1,100 new immigrants did not survive to make Canada their new home, with many perishing in fever sheds during the Typhus epidemic of 1847. Ireland Park is a tribute to all the Irish ancestors who came with only hope, for a new life in a promising country.The park was designed to be an emotional and evocative place calling up long-lost memories of destitute ancestors who arrived from blight ravaged Ireland on our Canadian shore with hopes for a new life in a new land. The park was designed by Toronto Architect Jonathan Kearns, who is an Irish immigrant himself. The park features oak trees, a cylinder of stacked glass that serves as a beacon of hope and five bronze sculptures created by renowned Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie. The sculptures mirror a similar Famine Memorial in Dublin at the Custom House Quays. The figures in Dublin represent The Departure with Toronto's sculptures being The Arrival. The Hamilton Spectator described the work as follows: