In the fall of 2022, History & Celtic Studies prof. Mark McGowan joined local historians and the local Irish of New Brunswick to tell the little known story of the 16,000 emigrants who fled from famine-stricken Ireland in 1847 to the British North American colony (now Canadian province) of New Brunswick.
Two thousand of them perished at quarantine stations such as Partridge Island (Saint John), Middle Island (Miramichi), and Hospital Island (Saint Andrews). The project pays tribute to them and the self-sacrifice of their caregivers, such as Dr James Patrick Collins who lost his life on Partridge Island, and Dr John Vondy who died caring for Irish emigrants on Middle Island.
The film also offers a rare glimpse of Partridge Island where six hundred Irish migrants lie buried on a site that has long been closed to the public.
In addition to McGowan, it includes insight from Prof. Stewart Donovan and Denis Noël from the New Brunswick provincial archives and University of New Brunswick Prof. Emeritus Peter Toner. The 36-minute film is available on YouTube.