Madam President,

Occasionally it takes a little time to right a wrong.

In 2009, Irish Heritage Quebec (IHQ) from Quebec City objected to a plaque commemorating the 78th Fraser Highlanders being raised on a site long identified with the Irish community of that city. The land was for a time known as St. Louis Cemetery, the Cholera Burial Ground, and St. Patrick’s Cemetery. In 1918, St. Patrick’s School was built there on land provided by St. Patrick’s Parish.

It was my pleasure to write a letter of support as President of the United Irish Societies of Montreal to Irish Heritage Quebec with respect to the removal of the commemorative plaque from St. Patrick’s High School.

Here we are in 2025, some 15 years later, and it gives me great pleasure to receive word today that the plaque has recently been removed from the western facade of St. Patrick’s High School and will be placed at a new location on the Plains of Abraham. Joe Lonergan from IHQ stated that, “The fact that it has taken over 15 years to settle the issue reflects the persistence with which Irish Heritage Quebec sustained its campaign to ensure such an outcome.”

IHQ’s constant and consistent advocacy for the Irish community of Quebec City has been fruitful and I congratulate them on their hard work on this issue.

It takes a little time to right a wrong. However, when the wrong has been corrected, there is a certain level of satisfaction at a job well done.

I congratulate Joe Lonergan, Bryan Gallagher, and all members of Irish Heritage Quebec for their sustained pressure on those in authority to resolve this irritant, and thank Joe for keeping us updated on the progress of the resolution of this issue.

Job well done.

Respectfully submitted,
Ken Quinn, Historian
December 11, 2025

Madam President,

For decades, the famous jaunting car appeared in the annual parade with St. Ann's Parish. When the Parish disappeared, it continued to appear, most recently with the McCambridge family unit.

In years gone b y jaunting cars were a common sight on the roads of Ireland but today they are rare. In Canada, and possibly all of North America, the only one I know of is the one built in 1887 by James Kenehan, a wagon manufacturer, for the St. Ann's Young Men's Society.

The St. Ann's Young Men's Society was founded in 1885. Members seem to have persuaded James Kenehan to build the jaunting car, which they would present as part of their unit in the annual St. Patrick's parades and at special activities.

Kenehan's shop was situated on William Street at the north end of Young Street. Since 1888, it has held a special place in Montreal's St. Patrick's parades and many other Irish celebrations including the St. Patrick's Society Ball.

Mr. Kenehan, originally from Kilkenny Ireland, passed away December 15, 1919 after a period of ill health following a paralytic stroke. According to the Montreal Gazette he was often requested to run for civic office, always declining due to the demands of his wagon manufacturing business.

Over the years since Mr. Kenehan's retirement, the jaunting car has been maintained and/or cared for by Quinn Cartage Co, stored in the Dow Brewery (O'Keefe) garage, at James Lyng High School. Today it is safely in the possession of our friends at King's Transfer Van Lines.

A letter written by James Kenehan's granddaughter Estelle Feltus and published March 13, 1981 in the Gazette's Probe column sought clarification on the rightful ownership of the jaunting car. In response to the letter, Gazette Probe contacted Norman Brown of the United Irish Societies, who said the jaunting car had been given to the St. Ann's Young Men's Society for safe keeping.

The response to the letter mentions that the St. Ann's Young Men's Society approached the United Irish Societies for financial assistance to renovate the jaunting car, estimated at 900$. Mr. Brown is noted a s having said that should Mrs. Feltus want to declare ownership of the car, she'd be requested to pay 900$ and to find a place to store it between parades.

Although Mr. Kenehan's jaunting car has not made an appearance in the annual Parade in a number of years, it holds a special place i n the hearts of those fortunate enough to have ridden on  it as a child, those with a connection to St. Ann's Parish and the St. Ann's Young Men's Society, and all Montrealers o f Irish descent who enjoyed seeing i t in the parade each
year. Who knows, maybe we'll see it again some day.

On this day when the new Montreal mayor and city council have been sworn into office, let
u s remember Montreal's martyr mayor, John Easton Mills, who tended t o the many Irish
refugees on the shores of the St. Lawrence River daily and through his dedication t o the sick
and dying, contracted typhus himself, a disease that ultimately took his life. His time i n office
as mayor was short. However his impact through his acts of kindness have not been
forgotten.

Respectfully submitted,
Ken Quinn, Historian
November 13, 2025

Madame President

Last week I had the pleasure to meet a t Hurley's Irish Pub Mr. Daniel Sutton and his wife
Maureen from Massachusetts. Early during the Covid pandemic, Daniel reached out to the
St. Patrick's Society for information about his ancestor, Richard McShane, and i t was my
pleasure to point him in the right direction.

Richard McShane was born i n 1834 i n Armagh to Patrick and Ann McShane. The family
migrated t o Montreal sometime before October 1847 when Patrick passed away. His burial
record notes h e was interred o n October 26 and that h e was a butcher. Given that h e was
interred in 1847 and that the first burial in Cote des Neiges Cemetery took place in 1855, it
i s highly likely that he was interred i n the St. Antoine Cemetery, which was downtown at the
present day Dorchester Square.

To those with an interest in Montreal history and politics the name McShane is a familiar one,
particularly for those in the Irish community. Hon. James McShane, 21s Mayor of Montreal,
was elected t o the provincial legislature i n 1878 representing Montreal-West under the
Quebec Liberal Party banner and succeeding John Wait McGauvran, a conservative and
grand marshal o f the 1864 and 1865 parades.

Unlike his 1st cousin Mayor James McShane, Richard McShane appears to have been a
Conservative from what I can tell from the newspapers of the day. Although I am unsure i f he
ever ran for public office, Daniel Sutton mentioned that Richard McShane did unsuccessfully
run for the presidency of the St. Patrick's Society against F.B. McNamee.
There is another McShane name familiar to Irish Montrealers. Monsignor Gerald McShane,
longtime pastor o f St. Patrick's Church was the nephew o f Hon. James McShane and,
therefore, the first cousin once removed of Richard McShane.

Richard McShane, described i n the Montreal Star as a well known grocer and provision
merchant, passed away a t his residence at 660 Palace Street the morning of July 13t, 1897.
He was attended to b y Dr. James John Edmund Guerin who, at the time, was the MLA for
Montreal Division no. 6 and who later became 30t Mayor of Montreal followed by his election
a s member o f parliament for St. Ann riding.

Richard was interred July 15th, 1897 a t Cote des Neiges Cemetery. At some point following
his passing, Richard's widow, Anne Moley, moved her family to the Boston area possibly to
be closer to her family as she came from there.

As I said, it was a pleasure t o meet the Suttons and chat about his family and our community.
I would be remiss i f I did not mention the recent passing of an iconic Montrealer, 1990 Chief
Reviewing Officer Sid Stevens.

The UIS selected Sid Stevens a s Chief Reviewing Officer o f the 1990 Parade. There isn't much
meat t o the bio printed i n the 1990 Banquet Program. However thanks to Google and other
resources there is plenty of information about Stevens, who co-founded in 1954 what was to
become the Sun Youth Organization.

Mr. Stevens received numerous awards over the years, which i s something | think h e
downplayed. His dedication t o his community and t o the less fortunate i s something w e
should always remember and strive t o emulate in some small way.

Respectfully submitted,

Ken Quinn, Historian
September 25, 2025

For the 33 years I have been associated with the United Irish Societies of Montreal, the mantra recited by those in positions of authority, including me, is that the annual Parade is a celebration and not a demonstration. In other words, the organization stays above the political fray.

This seems to have not always been the case, however. Although we have always said the first Parade under UIS direction occurred in 1929, the March 16, 1928 Montreal Gazette reports “The parade is under the direction of the committee of the United Irish Societies of Montreal with Prof. John 1. McCaffrey as chairman, and Wm. C. Hickey, jr. as secretary, assisted by the several parochial committees. The design and arrangement of the various floats is in the hands of the publicitysecretary, John Loye.”' Among the very first in the order of procession that year was the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Irish Republican League, and the Gaelic League.

In doing a little research to gain some knowledge about The Irish Republican League of Canada (IRL), I learned that it was a relatively minor organization that attracted only a fraction of support —and opposition — of the Self Determination for Ireland League according to an article found on rte.ie . In July 1 922 the IRL organized a lecture by Irish republican labour activist Jim Larkin at Montreal's Auditorium Hall on Ontario Street.

In a short article found in the November 27, 1922 Le Devoir, John Loye of the Irish Republican League is reported to have written to the Lord Mayor of Dublin “Au nom de l'humanité, nous en appelons au gouvernement de l'Etat libre pour qu'it relâche Mary MacSwiney et cesse l'execution barbare des prisionniers républicains d’lrlande”z Clearly, the IRL was a politically motivated organization as was John Loye.

In postwar Canada in 1947, the world was a changing place. The forces of evil lost to the allies in Europe and things were gradually returning to normal. The March 11 Montreal Gazette reported that The Catholic Register, a weekly publication for English speaking Catholics, stated editorially that Yugoslav Consul General in Montreal Zako Popovitch “has lied about His Holiness the Pope ... about the slandered Archbishop of Zagreb and insulted the Roman Catholic Church in general” by implying both the Church and the Pope were accused of the forced conversion of Serbs and of collaborating with the Germans during the war. The 1947 St. Patrick's Parade, held on Sunday March 16, went on as planned without incident. However, at the post parade dinner that evening held at the Queen's Hotel, things seconded a resolution that Yugoslav Consu[ General Zako Popovitch be declared persona non grata in Canada and that he be recalled through regular diplomatic channels. The news of the unanimously passed resolution was transmitted to Prime Minister Mackenzie King and External Affairs Minister Louis St. Laurent.* By April, Popovitch was instructed by the Yugoslav government that he was to return to Belgrade. Into the 1960s and 1970s the Parade progressed towards the family friendly, and increasingly multi cultural celebration we have come to expect.

There have been, however, a number of parade entries or spectating groups that have challenged the mantra of it being a celebration and not a demonstration. For example, according to the March 20, 1972 Montreal Star, a group called AID — Action for Irish Distress was permitted to participate that year. In an advertisement in the Montreal Star by AID promoting a religious service at “Our Lady, Queen of the World”to take place on February 2, 1972 they list
In Memoriam the names of thirteen men “Shot to death in Derry, Ireland, Sunday, January 30, 1972”which, as we know, was Bloody Sunday. And so the inclusion of AID in the 1972 Parade completely surprises me.

According to the March 15, 1976 Montreal Star reporting on the previous day's parade, it is noted that “The Montreal Pro Life organization struck a serious note with a f[oat depicting babes in arms, children at play and old folk around the fireplace and “The United Farm Workers of America got in on the picture with a small float striking at discrimination against grape pickers.” Both can be considered politically motivated entries, I think.

In 1989, on the unrealized threat of Mouvement Québec frangais disrupting that year's celebration, Grand Marshal Rev. Bill McCarthy said “All went well and that's how it should be. This is a celebration, not a demonstration.”6 In our parade booklet, commonly known today as the SGB, in recent years in the rules and regulations section, the organization states “... any applicant with intent of having a demonstration or promoting a politica[ cause of any kind will not be accepted.” In the late 1990s into the 2000s, the message in the rules and certainly find other instances where our presidents, parade directors, and other officials have publicly pronounced on the Parade's non political vocation.

In recent years we have had the occasional flare up of linguistic shenanigans from French language groups that amounted to nothing. We have also seen the Protest Against Police Brutality group catch on in recent to our avoidance of March 15 as Parade Day and threaten to crash our party. It has never materialized.

In a February 9, 2009 e-mail from Parade Director Beverly Murphy to Ying Zhu of the Falun Dafa group, Beverly advised Falun Dafa that it would not be allowed back in the Parade. She stated “Last year there were political pamphlets handed out to the spectators watching the parade even though it was clearly stated in our rules that we are a non political event and we wiil not tolerate any political advertising” Falun Dafa mounted a campaign to put pressure on politicians, on clergy, and on the Parade's main sponsor. The United Irish Societies held steady and stood by its decision.

Respectfully submitted,

Ken Quinn, Historian January 16, 2025

Ken's blog can be found HERE