Montreal’s Irish community held its annual march on Sunday to the Black Rock memorial.
The giant tombstone sits near the Victoria Bridge and commemorates the site of a burial ground.
What is now a parking lot was a mass grave in the 1800s for 6,000 Irish immigrants killed by typhus in 1847.
The annual procession marks the darkest time in the Irish community’s history. Today it also marked a turning point in a battle to have it properly recognized.
For five years, members of the community have been fighting for a memorial park and museum that would replace the parking lot, but recently learned Hydro Quebec is buying the land. Many say the sacred ground has been ignored for far too long.
“It’s very disrespectful and they should have done this right from the beginning,” said Heather Williamson.
The utility plans to build a sub-station on the property.
“It’s essential for the growth in the area, and for the new train that will be coming,” said Hydro Quebec president Marc Boucher.
NDP leader Tom Mulcair doesn’t agree.
“There are lots of things required for the light rail project, but desecrating the graves of 6000 people who died in a famine is not one of them,” he said. “There are a lot of places Hydro can build that substation. This is unacceptable, this decision has to be reversed.”
Hydro Quebec is promising to work hand-in-hand with Montreal’s Irish community.
“We’ll sit down with them and find the best way forward,” said Boucher.
The sale of the property closes in July and Hydro Quebec is aiming to have the site ready by 2023.
It will begin an archaeological survey as early as September, to determine exactly what lies beneath the parking lot.
