Hydro Quebec substation opened, park honouring Irish victims coming

Hydro-Quebec opened a new substation on Bridge Street and will commemorate the thousands of Irish immigrants who died in Montreal in the 1800s.

The state-owned company spend several years building the new substation near the entrance of the Victoria Bridge.

Work will soon begin on transforming part of the area around the "Black Rock" Montreal Irish monument into a park.

The park's design was unveiled when the new substation was announced.

The monument was erected in 1859 by construction workers in memory of the 6,000 or so Irish migrants who died of typhus as they tried to start a new life in Canada.

"The space will remember not only the 6,000 Irish that passed away and were buried in this spot but those Montrealers who came and who offered us care and comfort; these caregivers," said Montreal Irish Monument Park Foundation director Fergus Keyes.

"Many of these caregivers, including John Mills, the mayor of Montreal in 1847, came to help the Irish, caught typhus from the Irish. The Irish were very sick and [he] gave up his own life, dying in 1847."

John Easton Mills (1796-1847) was a fur merchant and banker before becoming mayor of Montreal from 1846 to 1847. He helped finance the construction of St. Patrick's Basilica on Rene-Levesque Boulevard.