Skip to main content

About Canada Ireland Foundation

Canada Ireland Foundation (formerly Ireland Park Foundation) is dedicated to celebrating the story of the Irish in Canada. The Foundation creates and maintains commemorative public spaces. In addition, the Foundation provides opportunities ‎for artists from both nations to travel to each other's countries and facilitates cultural internships.The Foundation engages academics to produce unique research on the history and contribution of Irish migrants and their descendants to Canada. The Foundation hosts various events to celebrate with our constituents the role of the Irish in Canada and Canada’s influence in Irish affairs.

Welcome to Ireland Park from Robert G. Kearns, Chair and Founder of Canada Ireland Foundation.

Ireland Park

Ireland Park is the principal memorial to the Irish Famine experience in Toronto. It is a bridge from the past to the future. It is the story of a destitute people overcoming unimaginable hardship and suffering. It speaks to the kindness and generosity of Canadians—traits which are as consistent now as in 1847.

Ireland Park commemorates the Irish migrants who came to Toronto in 1847, and by dint of its presence, summons stories of their descendants who survived and went on to build the city, to contribute to the growth of Ontario and of Canada.

Ireland Park is a cemetery without bodies. It is a quiet contemplative place on the Toronto waterfront, slightly removed to the west. It is a park made up of a limestone sculptural wall, a glass tower as a beacon of inspiration and hope to migrants from other parts of the world today, and five bronze sculptures by Rowan Gillespie.

The principal figure of a tall man is depicted with his arms raised in exaltation at the prospect of Toronto before him. Standing to the rear of this figure is a pregnant woman, whose condition speaks to the prospect of new life and hope in a new land. In contrast, another woman is depicted collapsed to the ground in the last moments of life. Further behind these figures stands a young boy, whose clumsily gathered hands suggest his apprehension about his future. Completing the group stands a male figure ‘Pius Mulvey’, inspired by Joseph O’Connor’s book ‘Star of the Sea’.

Canada Ireland Foundation

Grasett Park

In the summer of 1847, at a time when the City of Toronto had a population of no more than 20,000 inhabitants, 38,560 Irish migrants landed on the city’s waterfront. The administrative powers of Toronto mounted what would have been a gargantuan task to assess, process, and filter this number of people through the city and onwards to their destinations. At the center of this effort was the City’s medical profession, which had to attend to the those afflicted with Typhus, an incurable and often fatal illness which was rampant amongst the migrants. Dr George Robert Grasett and many of his fellow doctors, emigration agents, nurses, and orderlies gave their lives in caring for Irish Famine emigrants.

Dr. George Robert Grasett Park is their story.

These notable individuals played a pivotal role in a period of great transition in Toronto and in Canada. The essential medical and humanitarian service they provided to the newly arrived and desperate Irish migrants laid the foundation for the Canada we know today. These people not only aided the influx of Irish migrants who became the ancestors of modern day Canadians, but also established a heritage of kindness to those less fortunate than themselves that carries on to this very day. It is with this in mind that Canada Ireland Foundation wishes to remind those who pass this park that the sacrifice of these individuals is not just the legacy of the past, but a legacy that enriches our present and inspires our future.

Grasett Park

Four standing sculptures with man with upraised arms in foreground, and fifth sculpture of figure lying down in middle ground. Limestone wall in backgrounds. Ground covered with snow, and three trees with no leaves behind sculptures.
Ireland Park Sculptures and Limestone Wall in winter.
Rear view of upper torso and back of head of male sculpture with arms upraised, facing CN Tower in background. Blue sky with clouds.
Rowan Gillespie sculpture of Jubilant Man with arms upraised facing CN Tower in Ireland Park Toronto.
Sculpture of figure lying down in foreground, surrounded by three sculptural figures standing in middle ground, including male figure with arms upraised facing CN Tower and city skyline across an expanse of water. Two white yachts in background.
Rowan Gillespie sculpture of Jubilant Man with arms upraised facing CN Tower in Ireland Park Toronto.
Upper torso and head of sculpture or pregnant woman, beneath polar blue sky.
Upper torso and head of sculpture of pregnant woman, Ireland Park.
Night scene of two sculptural figures viewed from behind, with one on left hunched over and one on right with arms upraised facing CN Tower. City skyline harbour in background.
Night Scene of Rowan Gillespie Sculptures of Pius Mulvey and Jubilant Man facing Toronto skyline and CN Tower in Ireland Park.
Night scene of lit up glass cylinder beacon, with illuminated columns of stone wall on left, large cement building in right background.
Night scene of lit up Beacon of Hope and Sculptural Wall in Ireland Park.
Night scene of sculptural figure of woman lying down on the ground, propping herself up on her arms and legs. Sculpture mounted on circular plinth.
Night scene of Rowan Gillespie Sculpture of dying woman, Ireland Park.
Limestone sculptural wall with three vertical columns on left, irregular rectangular shaped stones on right, and entrance way between them. Tree and blue sky in background.
Ireland Park Limestone Sculptural Wall.
Diagonal view of limestone sculptural wall at sunset, with tree and silhouetted cloud and building in background.
Ireland Park Limestone Sculptural Wall at sunset.
Architectural Diagram with corner view of park, with street grid engraved on ground and irregular shaped glass sculptures resembling sheds above them. Three trees in park, with red clad building in background. Sign on granite wall reads: Dr. George Robert Grasett Park.
Architectural Diagram Corner View of Dr George Robert Grasett Park at Adelaide and King Street, Toronto.
Architectural Diagram with overhead view of park, with street grid engraved on ground and irregular glass shaped sculptures resembling sheds above them, and three stone benches with people sitting on them. Several people depicted walking through the park. Park is flanked with red clad building on left, busy street with cars on right.
Architectural Diagram with overhead view of Dr George Robert Grasett Park at Adelaide and King Street, Toronto.