Irish Canadian Politics after the Rising
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Garth Stevenson: Irish-Canadian Politics after the Rising Irish Republicanism in Canada declined rapidly after the 1860s, in part because Irish immigration to Canada declined and many with republican sympathies left Canada for the United States. After 1914 most Canadians, including Irish Catholic Canadians, supported participation in the war. Hence the initial response to Easter 1916 was hostile, even among pro-Irish Canadians like Wilfrid Laurier. However the executions after the Rising led to a sudden change in opinion in Canada. After 1916 and continuing until the Anglo-Irish treaty in 1921, Irish Republican politics revived in Canada, particularly in Montreal. Activists like Katherine Hughes and John Loye and organizations like the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Friends of Irish Freedom, and the Self-Determination for Ireland League helped to keep it alive and kept contact with Irish republicans in Ireland and the United States. However, when the Irish civil war started in 1922, most of the activists in Canada supported the pro-treaty side and republicanism declined.
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