Irish in Toronto

Today, I’ll be chatting with Danielle Olivierre and Casey Egan, better known as Girlies in the 6ix. Two best friends from Dublin with two very different stories. Brought together as teenagers thanks to their shared love of Canadian Justin Bieber, it is only fitting that their stories have led them to Toronto where they have established Girlies in the 6ix, a community for ladies in Toronto to make...

Today, I’ll be chatting with Gemma Healy-Murphy. Born and raised in Tralee, County Kerry, Gemma came to Toronto in 2011 with her then boyfriend, now husband, Barry. Gemma is a litigator at McMillan LLP. She sits on the board of I/CAN, the Irish Canadian Immigration Centre and she is a founder of the Canada Ireland Bar Association. Herself and Barry are also raising two young children here in Toron...

Today, I’ll be chatting with Erin and Paul Loughnane. They are both driving forces of the St. Mike’s club here in the city, playing a massive role in playing and coaching over the past 20 to 30 years. Erin and Paul were both born in Canada but have become immersed in the GAA scene here in Toronto. In this chat, we talk about their different relationships with Ireland, their journeys to becoming pr...

Today, I’ll be chatting with Hugo Straney. Hugo is the voice of the Irish community here in Canada and has been since he began hosting his own show on CHIN Radio back in 1988.I would say that Hugo is the most ubiquitous Irish person in Toronto. He shows up everywhere, from commentating on the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and the GAA finals to hosting the Toronto Rose of Tralee and his own radio show e...

Today, I’ll be chatting with Cathy Murphy. Cathy is the Executive Director at I/CAN, the Irish Canadian Immigration Centre. Cathy is one of the most prominent and visible people in the Irish community here in Toronto. In this chat, we discuss her role as the inaugural Executive Director of I/CAN and how she has helped thousands of Irish emigrants each year since the establishment of the Immigratio...

Today, I’ll be chatting with Michael Barry. Born and raised in North Belfast, Michael has been in Toronto for over three decades. Michael is the co-founder of the Toronto Irish Film Festival, an event which takes place at the beginning of March each year and has become consolidated in the film festival calendar in a city which is famous for its film festivals. He now manages the successful website...

Today, I’ll be chatting with Gréagóir Ó Dáire. Born and raised in Mississauga, Ontario with Irish and Scottish ancestry, Greg enrolled in the Celtic Studies Programme at the University of St. Michael’s College in 2009 and this has had a profound impact on his life. Following a PhD at Harvard, Greg now works as a Senior Lecturer in Irish Studies at Uppsala University in Sweden. I was lucky to catch...

Today, I’ll be chatting with Paul Farrelly. Born and raised in Meath, Paul has been in Toronto since 1972. Paul is a frequent visitor to my office at the University of St. Michael’s College and we were having so many great chats about his life here in Toronto that it only made sense to record at least one of our conversations.  Paul talks about how the Irish arts scene in Toronto made it feel easy...

Today, I’ll be chatting with Caroline Schweppe. Born and raised in Dublin, Caroline came to Toronto in 1989 and hasn’t looked back since. I met Caroline at a civic reception on St. Patrick’s Day this year and knew instantly that I had to get her on the podcast as she has a remarkable story to tell. She’s a unique person within the Irish community here in Toronto and I think you will all enjoy this...

Today, I’ll be chatting with Steo Murphy. Born and raised in Ennis in Co. Clare, Steo moved to Toronto in 2017 and now works in the city as a barber. We actually recorded this chat from his apartment five minutes after he had given me a chop.  In this chat, we talk about why Steo came to Toronto, why he stayed, and the struggles he had with securing permanent residency which included being stuck i...

Today, I’ll be chatting with Greg Quinn, the Acting British Consul General Calgary and former British Consul General Toronto. Born and raised in Portadown in County Armagh during the Troubles, Greg has a unique story to tell.  I met Greg at the Toronto Irish Film Festival following a screening of the wonderful documentary, Young Plato. We got chatting and I told him that at the University of St. M...

Today, I’ll be chatting with Ian Kinsella. Born and raised in Dublin, Ian spent some time in Australia before making the big decision to move to Toronto.  Myself and Ian are good friends so there’s no structure to the conversation, we just chat freely. We chat about his role in setting up a Canadian branch of the Irish recruiting firm Morgan McKinley, his struggles as a child in school in Rathgar,...

Today, I’ll be chatting with Mary McAuliffe. Mary is an avid listener of the podcast during her commutes on the TTC. Born and raised in Cork, she spent twenty years in Dublin before making the big decision to move to Toronto. Mary’s emigrant story is not the typical one. Herself and her husband had two children aged eleven and nine, a mortgage and seemingly the rest of their lives ahead of them in...

Today, I’ll be chatting with Richard Harte. Richard is an actor here in Toronto. Born in Dublin, he and his mother emigrated to Canada when he was six years old, eventually settling in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Amongst many things, we discuss Richard’s identity as an Irish-Canadian and how that has contributed to his acting career, especially playing Irish characters.  Adam Seelig, the Artistic Direct...

Today, I’ll be chatting with Dianne MacDonald. Dianne was born in St. Catharines to an Irish mother from Cavan. Despite growing up in southern Ontario and having never spent a considerable amount of time in Ireland, Dianne is comfortably fluent in Irish. In fact, this conversation was the first time we had ever chatted in English. She is an inspiration to anyone looking to learn the language. As s...

Today, I’ll be chatting with Antóin Ó Trinliúin. Antóin is my colleague here in the Celtic Studies Program at the University of St. Michael’s College having received an award from the Ireland Canada University Foundation to teach Irish in Toronto. Antóin has been here since September 2022 and will be going back to Ireland before the beginning of the summer.  I wanted to get Antóin on the podcast t...

Ahmed is doing his undergrad here at the University of Toronto. I came across him back in October when we were out playing hurling on campus and he came over to tell me how amazed he was to see GAA at the University of Toronto.  In this action-packed chat, we discuss what it was like to grow up in Dublin with Sudanese origins, what it’s like being an Irish person in Toronto, specifically a black I...

Today, I’ll be chatting with Mark McGowan. When I first started working at the University of St. Michael’s College here at the University of Toronto, Mark was my Principal and remains a good friend and colleague. He is a Professor of History and Celtic Studies, a historian renowned for his work on the Catholic Church in Canada and the Great Irish Famine, as well as the lasting impact that the Fami...

Today, I will be chatting with Colm Sharkey. A native of Ballyboden in Dublin, Sharkey came to Toronto during the recession in 2009. Not content with having the pressure of finding a new job in a new country, along with two close friends, he decided to revive hurling in Toronto. The sport had been dormant in the city since the 1980s and Sharkey paints a great picture of what it was like to rejuven...

Today, I’ll be speaking with Father Dan Donovan. Dan is a priest of the Archdiocese of Toronto and taught at the Faculty of Theology at the University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto until his retirement in 2002. Since then, he has taught part time in the Christianity and Culture program at St. Michael’s. Some of you may know Father Dan from the Daily TV Mass where he perform...

Con and Cathy welcomed me into their home and we had a wonderful chat about how they met in Cork in the 60s, what brought them to Canada, why they chose to make Toronto their permanent home among many other topics.  A topic which may be of interest to many is Con’s ban from the GAA for playing soccer as a schoolboy in Cork in the 70s and how this affected him.  We also had quite a meaningful conve...

In this episode,  I speak with Karen McDermott. Karen is a realtor in Toronto who has helped hundreds of Irish people find accommodation in the city. Having moved to Canada from Monaghan at the age of nine, Karen speaks about her Irish-Canadian identity and the struggles she had assimilating as a child.  We chat about Karen’s work in real estate and she gives advice to new Irish people moving to T...

From shoveling snow and playing goalie on a hockey team in Québec to playing Fitzgibbon Cup with IT Carlow, enjoy the story of Nic Redmond. 

David Wilson is a Professor working with the Celtic Studies Program at the University of St. Michael's College and with the Department of History at the University of Toronto as well as being the General Editor of the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. In this conversation, we discuss how he came from Whitehead, County Antrim to living in Seaton Village in downtown Toronto.  Feel free to send...

Maureen was born in Toronto but when her father decided to purchase a pub in his hometown of Drumshambo, Co. Leitrim, she along with her six siblings experienced what it was like to grow up as a child in Ireland.  At the age of 19, Maureen decided to come back to Toronto and has been living here ever since. Dancing is her passion and she chairs the Comhaltas branches of Toronto and Canada East. Ma...