April 4, 2002:

Excerpt from an article on Griffintown by David O'Keefe:

"Many Irish immigrants who arrived through this gateway in the early and mid-1800s were 
escaping some of the harshest conditions of poverty and famine. In Ireland, land reform 
and famine had forced many to cast their eyes across the Atlantic Ocean, and close to half 
a million Irish made their way to Canada. For many their first introduction to North American 
life came at Griffintown. By no means a utopia, Griffintown at least offered employment and 
a sense of community in its shantytown existence. Although some observers reported that 
conditions in the "Griff" (as it was known) were not much better in some ways than the 
conditions the Irish masses had just fled, opportunities to work in the factories, the 
harbours, and on the construction of the Grand Trunk Railway, the Victoria Bridge and the 
Lachine Canal were welcome. In fact, modern industry in Canada was born on the Lachine Canal 
and one could say that Griffintown was its midwife.
 The Canal, which cut across Griffintown, attracted the greatest density of early industries 
in Montreal and made Griffintown Canada's most industrialized area. The Lachine Canal 
(the first major works program in the Canadas) set a pattern for providing work for the 
newly-arrived immigrants who settled in the Griff. For the Irish immigrants, it was the 
perfect job as it required nothing more technical than familiarity with a spade. The basic 
qualification was the stamina to endure a 15-hour day of back-breaking labour in the hot, 
humid Montreal summer. Working conditions along the Canal route for most Griffintowners 
were not unlike those portrayed by Dickens and in 1843, the first labour strike in Canada 
occurred with many a Griffintown labourer taking part."

Source: Historical Backgrounder to "The Ghosts of Griffintown" by David O'Keefe 

See also: Main page for the television documentary The Ghosts of Griffintown     


Dear Mr. Lewis

Thank you for your note.  I would prefer if you want to use an excerpt from 
my site, that you refer to it as a website for the television documentary 
'Ghosts of GRIFFINTOWN'.  I would love to hear from anyone interested in this 
neighbourhood.  I have produced a coffee-table book called '20th Century 
GRIFFINTOWN in Pictures'.  The profits from the book are used to fund the 
documentary itself which should be completed this fall.  

Richard Burman
Director