Robert Kearns
The relationship between Ireland and Canada might not be one that most Irish people know much about, but it’s a friendship that has had an important and multi-faceted historical role.
One man from Dublin, Robert G Kearns, has spent much of the last forty years working to shed new light on this relationship, and to deepen the connection between the two countries in this way.
Canada Emigration
Kearns grew up in Dublin, studying Archaeology and Greek and Roman Civilizations at UCD and working briefly in the fashion industry before emigrating to Canada in 1979 in what he describes as “the spirit of adventure”. On arrival in Toronto, Kearns found work in the life insurance industry.
However throughout his time in Canada, the connection he felt with Ireland remained strong. He first became involved in the Ireland Funds in 1980, becoming chairman on November 2nd, 1989 — his own tenth anniversary of arriving in Toronto. “I thought this was an interesting way for me to maintain connections with Ireland in the promotion of peace and reconciliation,” Kearns says. “I felt that Canada had many stories to tell and to share with the people of Ireland.”
The Ireland Funds took a strong interest in integrated education in Northern Ireland, something that led to Kearns himself receiving correspondence from opponents like the Bishop of Chicago, telling him to stay away from this area — a warning he ignored.
Canada Ireland Foundation
As times changed, so did philanthropic priorities in Canada. In 1997, the 150th anniversary of the Great Irish Famine, and inspired by the work of Norma Smurfit, Kearns founded the Canada Ireland Foundation, celebrating the story of the Irish in Canada. This includes shining a light on the Irish famine migrants who came to Canada in 1847.
Toronto’s Ireland Park, designed by Jonathan Kearns, features sculptures by Rowan Gillespie that are counterparts to Gillespie’s Famine Memorial at Custom House Quay in Dublin. The sculptures in Dublin feature seven figures leaving famine-stricken Ireland whereas, in Toronto, there are five sculptures representing the loss of life on the Atlantic voyage.
The Foundation also commemorates the Canadian medical professionals who volunteered to help Famine migrants afflicted with typhus or cholera. “Thanks to academic research by Professor Mark McGowan, we now know of 84 doctors, nurses and hospital orderlies who died in 1847, helping sick Irish migrants,” he explains.
Their contribution is celebrated in Grasett Park, named for Dr George Robert Grasett, who lobbied to be appointed as attending surgeon of the emigrant hospital in Toronto. “He was appointed on the 18th of June, and he died of typhus on the 16th of July,” says Kearns.
Presidential Distinguished Service Award
Kearns’s passion for the friendship between Ireland and Canada is evident when he speaks about it. “We want to celebrate the contribution that people from Ireland have made in Canada, which is a spectacular country and one that has embraced diversity and inclusiveness.”
He received the Presidential Distinguished Service Award in 2016 in recognition of his contributions. “I was very moved by it,” he says. “It came as a complete surprise, I had no idea it was even being contemplated.”
Kearns is also quick to acknowledge the work of his colleagues in the Foundation, and the board of directors. “None of this is a one-man show, and they’ve really come on a journey with me since 1997.” It’s a journey that has changed the relationship between these two countries for the better.