0:00:05 > 0:00:07'A land of spectacular contrasts.
0:00:08 > 0:00:13'Vast prairies, a dense forest bounded by three oceans.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17'Canada is the second largest country in the world.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20'You could fit the whole of Northern Ireland
0:00:20 > 0:00:23'inside one of its national parks.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27'Yet people from Ulster have had a remarkable
0:00:27 > 0:00:32'influence on the history and geography of this vast nation,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35'spanning two centuries and across 5,000 miles.
0:00:39 > 0:00:44'Today, 4.5 million Canadians can trace their roots back to Ireland.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47'But there was a time when the Irish made up
0:00:47 > 0:00:49'a quarter of the population here.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55'And the majority came from the nine counties of Ulster.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01'English-speaking Canada had a noticeable Ulster accent.'
0:01:04 > 0:01:07This is the story of people from Ulster who,
0:01:07 > 0:01:10from the 18th century to the present day,
0:01:10 > 0:01:12have made this country their home.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16Of how they came here in such large numbers that they didn't merely
0:01:16 > 0:01:20adapt to the Canadian way of life, they helped to shape its culture,
0:01:20 > 0:01:24its society, its politics and its economy.
0:01:49 > 0:01:54Emigration from Ulster to Canada began as a trickle in the 1700s,
0:01:54 > 0:01:58but by the 1830s, the floodgates had opened
0:01:58 > 0:02:01and a steady stream of migrants were pushing westwards
0:02:01 > 0:02:03to the newly-opened-up territories
0:02:03 > 0:02:06of Upper Canada, today's Ontario province.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18Some of those Ulster settlers came here,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21to Amherst Island on Lake Ontario.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24It's a very beautiful, very peaceful place
0:02:24 > 0:02:28with just about 400 residents living here all year round.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31These dry-stone walls that you find on the island
0:02:31 > 0:02:36are very unusual in Canada and very reminiscent of home.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40That's because they were built by farmers from the Ards Peninsula.
0:02:43 > 0:02:44Just two miles from the mainland
0:02:44 > 0:02:48and 10 miles across the water from New York state,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Amherst Island was once home to First Nations groups,
0:02:51 > 0:02:54then to Americans fleeing the War of Independence,
0:02:54 > 0:02:58and was, for many years, owned by a series of Irish landlords.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12But it's the story of the people from County Down who came here
0:03:12 > 0:03:17in the 19th century, who cleared the trees and ploughed up the fields
0:03:17 > 0:03:20and made this place their home that I really want to find out about.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30The last dairy farmers on the island, Bruce Caughey and his daughters,
0:03:30 > 0:03:32are the descendants of one of those immigrant families
0:03:32 > 0:03:37who came here from Ballymullen, near Kircubbin, in 1848.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42Bruce, why don't you tell me a little bit about how much you know
0:03:42 > 0:03:46about your ancestors and when they started arriving on this island.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51Amherst Island was on the main street of Canada in 1850,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54because a lot of travel was by the water.
0:03:54 > 0:04:00But I understand that three brothers left Ireland together.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04And they left Ireland in 1850
0:04:04 > 0:04:07and I think it was during the potato famine,
0:04:07 > 0:04:10what we call the potato famine here,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13and I think they needed to seek employment.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15They came here as labourers, basically, farm labourers.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18And they worked on farms in the community.
0:04:24 > 0:04:29We visited the place, the house that the Caughey family left from.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31And that was in Kircubbin.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36It was a stone house and there were animals in it at that point.
0:04:36 > 0:04:41But I really felt a sense of, "I've been here before."
0:04:41 > 0:04:46And, er... For whatever reason, but I really did.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50You've been to the Ards Peninsula, as well. Did it look like home?
0:04:50 > 0:04:52I felt it did, yeah.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55I remember driving down the road and you kind of get this feeling,
0:04:55 > 0:04:58"This feels like I'm on the Third Concession",
0:04:58 > 0:04:59and then it would go away.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02You'd kind of have these glimpses of Amherst Island
0:05:02 > 0:05:03when we were driving around.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05And certainly, the stone walls
0:05:05 > 0:05:08and the pillars around the gates of the church.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10And the church is here.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12- I mean, the little Presbyterian church.- Mm-hm.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16- Barn-style, traditional Irish-looking Presbyterian church.- Yeah.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19The church kind of gives people the sense of community
0:05:19 > 0:05:24and that's something that I think I, for myself and for my family,
0:05:24 > 0:05:26take from my ancestors.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31Do you think it's part of your story?
0:05:31 > 0:05:35For sure, yeah. And part of our children's story, too, right?
0:05:35 > 0:05:39I think it's important not to miss a generation on that stuff
0:05:39 > 0:05:44because...you know, you can lose it if you don't teach the kids.
0:05:44 > 0:05:45Yeah.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52I think the people from the Ards made this island, you know,
0:05:52 > 0:05:54maybe to look and be a bit like home.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56Just everything they did.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59They developed the farms as they knew how,
0:05:59 > 0:06:02which was from their roots.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04How many generations of your family have lived on the island?
0:06:04 > 0:06:07I would be the sixth generation.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10And my children will be the seventh generation.
0:06:10 > 0:06:12But we're actually the fifth...
0:06:12 > 0:06:16I'm the fifth generation to live in this same house on the island,
0:06:16 > 0:06:17on the Third Concession.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20I think that strength is something we can draw on, as well.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23We think, you know, we have hard times,
0:06:23 > 0:06:25but when we think of what our ancestors went through
0:06:25 > 0:06:28to create something like this and a farm and a place that they can...
0:06:28 > 0:06:33That lasted for over a century, it's quite something.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40In fact, the Caugheys' ancestors were among 105 families
0:06:40 > 0:06:45who emigrated from just one parish in the Ards Peninsula
0:06:45 > 0:06:47between 1820 and 1860.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54To make sense of why they came here, you've got to understand what they
0:06:54 > 0:06:58were leaving behind and what they were hoping for in the new world.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06By the 1820s, the Ards Peninsula had become overcrowded.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08A European-wide economic depression
0:07:08 > 0:07:11hit small tenant farmers hard.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15Their incomes slumped, yet there was little opportunity to expand.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19Canada offered them a chance to improve their prospects
0:07:19 > 0:07:21and secure their children's future.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32What makes this story so unusual is just how many of the emigrants
0:07:32 > 0:07:35came from the same tiny townland.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39Half the families who left St Andrew's Parish,
0:07:39 > 0:07:43including the Caugheys, came from a crossroads called Ballymullen.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47After they'd gone, Ballymullen disappeared from the map.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55'Like so many of those early migrants,
0:07:55 > 0:07:57'the families who moved to Amherst
0:07:57 > 0:08:02'came from a farming background and settled in rural parts of Canada.
0:08:02 > 0:08:03'Those who came after them
0:08:03 > 0:08:07'were more likely to gravitate to developing cities, like Toronto.'
0:08:20 > 0:08:23Toronto is the third-largest city in North America.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27It's one of the most culturally-diverse cities in the entire world.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31Nearly 50% of its residents were born outside Canada.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39It was already fast becoming one of the main destinations
0:08:39 > 0:08:43for new immigrants 150 years ago, but back then,
0:08:43 > 0:08:47the Irish were the single biggest ethnic group.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51In some districts, more than 50% of the population was Irish.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54And the majority of them were from Ulster.
0:08:57 > 0:09:02'In fact, Toronto was once known as the Belfast of Canada.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06'To find out, why I've come to meet Dr William Jenkins
0:09:06 > 0:09:08'at the home of an Irish institution
0:09:08 > 0:09:11'that made a deep impression on Canadian society.'
0:09:14 > 0:09:18Well, the earliest reference that I've found to this name,
0:09:18 > 0:09:22this label, the Belfast of Canada, comes from 1861.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24And one of the reasons for that, of course,
0:09:24 > 0:09:28is that the sheer numbers and presence of Orange lodges,
0:09:28 > 0:09:32or even, sort of, the Ulster legacy imprinted upon the landscape
0:09:32 > 0:09:35with things like the names of taverns, for instance.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38Taverns with names like The Tyrone Inn,
0:09:38 > 0:09:40The Coleraine Tavern,
0:09:40 > 0:09:44The North of Ireland Tavern and, of course, The William III Tavern.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48So people could see imprinted on ordinary buildings
0:09:48 > 0:09:51the fact that there were people from the North of Ireland here
0:09:51 > 0:09:55and that their institutions were also here.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57If you look around in public life,
0:09:57 > 0:10:00if you look at who's speaking at political rallies,
0:10:00 > 0:10:02you'll hear Ulster accents.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05The churches on any given weekend,
0:10:05 > 0:10:10a lot of the time, you'll hear an accent that is recognisably Ulster.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13The Orange Order arrived
0:10:13 > 0:10:15with Irish Protestant immigrants in the 1800s.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17And as their numbers grew,
0:10:17 > 0:10:21so did the spread of Orangeism right across Canada.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24And lodges served a variety of functions,
0:10:24 > 0:10:27operating as mutual-benefit societies,
0:10:27 > 0:10:29social clubs and job-finding agencies.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34What we know about the Orange Lodge in Toronto, for instance
0:10:34 > 0:10:36in the second half of the 19th century is that
0:10:36 > 0:10:40you're talking about a group of people who were largely,
0:10:40 > 0:10:42but not exclusively working class.
0:10:42 > 0:10:47So for those sorts of people, in which their mission to find a job,
0:10:47 > 0:10:52for instance, especially for their sons and daughters, was paramount,
0:10:52 > 0:10:55the Orange lodges might actually offer them
0:10:55 > 0:10:58some sort of in in terms of, um...
0:10:58 > 0:11:02helping them to become acquainted with the local labour market,
0:11:02 > 0:11:06where jobs were likely to be found.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10What was the high point of the Orange tradition's influence in Canada?
0:11:10 > 0:11:13The heyday was the late 19th century and the early 20th century.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16In other words, the 20 years before World War I.
0:11:16 > 0:11:21That's when lodge growth is especially pronounced.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24So in Toronto in 1886, for example,
0:11:24 > 0:11:27there are 34 lodges in the city.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30By 1914, there are 72.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32So you had lodges with names like
0:11:32 > 0:11:36Ulster Black Watch, Belfast Purple Star,
0:11:36 > 0:11:38Magherafelt,
0:11:38 > 0:11:42and my all-time favourite, Sandy Row Volunteers.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48And these lodges were incredibly influential in Toronto.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52Comparable to Catholic Irish power in New York and Chicago,
0:11:52 > 0:11:56the Orange Order virtually ran municipal government in Toronto.
0:11:56 > 0:12:01In fact, almost every mayor from 1860 to 1950 was an Orangeman.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06And the way in which that influence came out most effectively,
0:12:06 > 0:12:09I think, was on 12th July.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11Not simply because of the sheer size of the parade
0:12:11 > 0:12:14or that it could be two miles in length
0:12:14 > 0:12:17and it would occupy the principal streets of the city,
0:12:17 > 0:12:20but also because of the fact that who was in it.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24The mayor was at the head of the parade, you had employees
0:12:24 > 0:12:29and the water works, the fire brigade, the police force.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33And the 12th July wasn't an official public holiday,
0:12:33 > 0:12:37but because so many of the employees in these essential services
0:12:37 > 0:12:40were Orangemen, they simply took the day off.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46The Orange Order had expanded beyond its Irish roots
0:12:46 > 0:12:49to become a Canadian institution.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52And the reason it was so successful
0:12:52 > 0:12:56was that its ideals reflected what Canadian society
0:12:56 > 0:13:00of the 19th and early 20th century wanted to be.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05They were basically helping British North America
0:13:05 > 0:13:07to become and remain British.
0:13:07 > 0:13:12On the ground, they were basically supporting this idea of a loyal,
0:13:12 > 0:13:14um...English-speaking,
0:13:14 > 0:13:20Protestant, white, Anglo-Saxon vision of Canada.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25By the end of World War II,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28membership of the Orange Order was in decline.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32It was becoming less and less relevant to a Canadian society
0:13:32 > 0:13:34that was increasingly diverse.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38And nowhere is that change more evident than here.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41This is Fatih Mosque in eastern Toronto.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44Originally the home of Dian Orange Lodge.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48Named in honour of the very first lodge in Ireland.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53The Orange Order may not be the social network it once was,
0:13:53 > 0:13:56but immigrants from Ulster have always found
0:13:56 > 0:14:00other ways to stay in touch and carry on traditions from home.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02BAND PLAYS
0:14:11 > 0:14:14This is the Ulster Accordion Band of Toronto.
0:14:19 > 0:14:21- What's your name?- Eileen Scott.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24- How long have you been here, Eileen? - Since '58.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26You're disguising that very well.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29I love saying I'm from Ireland. You never lose that.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31Well, you haven't lost your accent, that's for sure.
0:14:31 > 0:14:32Er...I have a wee bit,
0:14:32 > 0:14:36but when I'm with a bunch of Irish people, it comes out.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38- It comes out again? - I don't want to lose it.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41- Are you all from Northern Ireland? - Yep.- Yep.- Where are you from?
0:14:41 > 0:14:43- Portadown.- You're from Portadown, are you?- I'm from Portadown.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45Portadown, yeah.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51The band is a social club.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54It was formed initially in 1954.
0:14:54 > 0:14:59And it was a couple of guys from Northern Ireland
0:14:59 > 0:15:03that wanted to keep the tradition of accordion music going.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08We were the first button-keyed accordion band in...
0:15:08 > 0:15:10marching band in North America.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14And to this day, I believe we are the only button-keyed
0:15:14 > 0:15:16accordion band in North America.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19There have been a few in between that have come and gone,
0:15:19 > 0:15:21but we are still surviving.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27I was in the band when I was about 12, I guess,
0:15:27 > 0:15:29for about five or six years, then I quit.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32And I came back when I was 58.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34We have a lot of fun.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37We play a lot of senior homes, a lot of hospitals
0:15:37 > 0:15:39and a lot of parades, stuff like that.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43Amazing. I didn't even know you could play a typewriter.
0:15:43 > 0:15:44THEY LAUGH
0:15:44 > 0:15:46That's not bad. That's not bad.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49We've heard a lot. That's not bad.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52I joined it in '57.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56And I've been with it ever since.
0:15:56 > 0:16:02My future wife came alone the year before I did.
0:16:02 > 0:16:03And we happened to...
0:16:03 > 0:16:06I happened to hear about this accordion band
0:16:06 > 0:16:09that had a dance on a Saturday night.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12And she was at that same dance.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16So then when we finally got together,
0:16:16 > 0:16:18it's been carried on since then.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21She's originally from Dungannon.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23You travelled a long way to meet a woman from Dungannon, didn't you?
0:16:23 > 0:16:26Absolutely. Absolutely!
0:16:30 > 0:16:33- Where are you from originally, Bobby?- The Shankill Road.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35July 29th, we arrived here.
0:16:35 > 0:16:40Ruby had her fur coat, I had my three-piece suit.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42We got picked up in a big convertible car
0:16:42 > 0:16:45with leather upholstery and we're driving along.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47It was like Hollywood.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49Honest to God, it was like Hollywood.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51And then we got to this apartment building
0:16:51 > 0:16:52and we were in a basement apartment.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56And Ruby says to me, "What have we done"?
0:16:56 > 0:16:58But, you know what? It worked out good.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01The first couple of times I went home,
0:17:01 > 0:17:03every time I went into a bar, "There's Bobby!
0:17:03 > 0:17:05"You're banned, Bobby! You're banned, Bobby."
0:17:05 > 0:17:07APPLAUSE
0:17:07 > 0:17:10But it's still home. It doesn't matter...
0:17:10 > 0:17:12You don't think of this as your home?
0:17:13 > 0:17:15If anybody says to me, "What are you?"
0:17:15 > 0:17:19I say, "I'm an Irishman. I'm from Belfast."
0:17:19 > 0:17:20BAND PLAY
0:17:22 > 0:17:24We've been called all sorts of things.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27We've been called the Ulcer Accordion Band,
0:17:27 > 0:17:31we've been called the Lister Accordion Band in the United States,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34but they usually know by the time we leave.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45One Canadian institution with Irish roots whose name is as familiar
0:17:45 > 0:17:50to Canadians as Marks & Spencer or Tesco is to us is Eaton's.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54Once the largest department store chain in Canada,
0:17:54 > 0:17:56it had 125 shops,
0:17:56 > 0:17:59stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03Almost every household in the country received its catalogue.
0:18:03 > 0:18:08And it sold everything from hosiery to pre-fabricated houses.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17And the man who created this business empire began his working life
0:18:17 > 0:18:20as a grocer's assistant in Portglenone.
0:18:23 > 0:18:28Born in 1834, Timothy Eaton was the youngest of nine children.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31His father, a prosperous tenant farmer,
0:18:31 > 0:18:33died two months before he was born.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36At the age of 13, he began an apprenticeship
0:18:36 > 0:18:38in a shop in Portglenone.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41The hours were long and legend has it
0:18:41 > 0:18:42he had to sleep under the counter.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46So when his mother died in 1854, Timothy left the shop
0:18:46 > 0:18:51to join three of his sisters and two brothers in Canada.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54To find out how Timothy Eaton went from
0:18:54 > 0:18:56an unpromising career in County Antrim
0:18:56 > 0:19:00to become one of the best-known and richest men in Canada,
0:19:00 > 0:19:04I've come to meet his great grandson, John Craig Eaton II.
0:19:08 > 0:19:14He first of all had a small store in St Mary's in Ontario.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19He wanted to get to the big market, which was Toronto.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23So he upped stakes and moved to Toronto.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27But in 1869, he bought William Jennings'
0:19:27 > 0:19:30dry goods business in December,
0:19:30 > 0:19:32and he never looked back.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40With the opening of his first store in Toronto,
0:19:40 > 0:19:44Timothy Eaton set about changing the way Canadians shopped.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46There was a lot of bartering
0:19:46 > 0:19:52and bargaining on how much a person should pay for their goods.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55And he decided that he would price his goods.
0:19:55 > 0:20:00In other words, you'd come in the store, the price was on the goods
0:20:00 > 0:20:02and you paid cash money and that was it, period.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08This was, at the time, a revolutionary idea.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11And one that appealed to female shoppers in particular.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16He had his famous guarantee,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19"Goods Satisfactory or Money Refunded",
0:20:19 > 0:20:23put in so that if a woman who came down to buy
0:20:23 > 0:20:27knew that he would stand behind his goods
0:20:27 > 0:20:30and if she wasn't content or happy,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33then she would get her money back.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36Another really interesting aspect of this story
0:20:36 > 0:20:41- is how Timothy Eaton involved women in the business.- Yes.
0:20:41 > 0:20:46Well, he realised that women were much more comfortable
0:20:46 > 0:20:48dealing with other women.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50So he hired some, er...women
0:20:50 > 0:20:54to, er...be his sales personnel.
0:20:54 > 0:21:00And that was an interesting and new thing to do.
0:21:00 > 0:21:05And where Timothy Eaton led, his competitors followed.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09Even in his decision to cut the store opening hours.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12Well, I think they thought he was a little bit mad,
0:21:12 > 0:21:14er...or strange.
0:21:14 > 0:21:21However, when his formula for business started to work out,
0:21:21 > 0:21:23they quickly decided that,
0:21:23 > 0:21:27"he's on to something and we'd better get on the bandwagon,
0:21:27 > 0:21:29"or we're going to be left behind,"
0:21:29 > 0:21:32because his business did multiply
0:21:32 > 0:21:35and grow very, very quickly.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41Eaton's catalogue was Timothy's son's idea.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43Immigrant farmers were pouring into
0:21:43 > 0:21:48the newly-opened provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta,
0:21:48 > 0:21:52yet their nearest store could be hundreds of miles away.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56Through Eaton's mail order catalogue, they could have farm implements,
0:21:56 > 0:22:00household goods, clothes and toys delivered to their door.
0:22:04 > 0:22:09A lot of people in the west who grew up with the catalogue
0:22:09 > 0:22:13saw a world that they thought would never exist anywhere else.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18And at that point, and well before that, actually,
0:22:18 > 0:22:19Eaton's is a household name.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21Yes. Yes, it was.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26And it survived the Great Depression,
0:22:26 > 0:22:30it survived two world wars
0:22:30 > 0:22:36and, er...it was a great store.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40And we were one of the biggest employers in Canada
0:22:40 > 0:22:42for quite a while.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44The only bigger ones were, of course, the government
0:22:44 > 0:22:46and the railroads.
0:22:46 > 0:22:53But we employed part-time and fulltime, 65,000 at our peak.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00In September 1906, The Globe newspaper wrote,
0:23:00 > 0:23:03"There is hardly a name in Canada,
0:23:03 > 0:23:05"with the possible exception of the Prime Minister,
0:23:05 > 0:23:08"so well known to the people at large
0:23:08 > 0:23:10"as that of Mr Timothy Eaton".
0:23:12 > 0:23:16Yet, after generations of being the number one department store
0:23:16 > 0:23:21in Canada, Eaton's closed its doors in 1999,
0:23:21 > 0:23:25and one of the few reminders of their incredible success story
0:23:25 > 0:23:28is found here at the Royal Ontario Museum.
0:23:34 > 0:23:35This statue of Timothy Eaton
0:23:35 > 0:23:38originally stood in his Toronto department store.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42It became a handy meeting point for customers.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45In his poem Meeting Mom at Eaton's,
0:23:45 > 0:23:48the Canadian poet George Morrissette describes how
0:23:48 > 0:23:53"Timothy in bronze was sternly watching me wait for my mother."
0:23:53 > 0:23:58And it became a tradition amongst customers to rub the toe of his foot,
0:23:58 > 0:24:02perhaps in the hope that some of his success would rub off on them.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08Eaton's never forgot their Irish connections
0:24:08 > 0:24:13and many Ulster immigrants got their first job at one of their stores.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17But even without Eaton's or the social and political network
0:24:17 > 0:24:20offered by institutions like the Orange Order,
0:24:20 > 0:24:24people from Northern Ireland are still making their mark in Canada.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33Elizabeth Dowdeswell is the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario,
0:24:33 > 0:24:36the Queen's representative in this province.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39It's a role steeped in history and tradition and one that often
0:24:39 > 0:24:42brings her into contact with new immigrants to Canada.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45..for entrusting me with the responsibility of serving
0:24:45 > 0:24:49as the 29th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51'In this position,
0:24:51 > 0:24:54'as I have been interviewing people who've won
0:24:54 > 0:24:57'the Order of Ontario awards, for example,'
0:24:57 > 0:25:00I'm finding a lot of the immigrant story.
0:25:00 > 0:25:06People who grew up wanting to find a better life
0:25:06 > 0:25:09for themselves in some way,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12strongly influenced by education
0:25:12 > 0:25:17and then making their fortune in this new country that seemed to be
0:25:17 > 0:25:23so open to everyone, a land of opportunity, in many ways.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25Thank you, merci.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29In fact, Elizabeth is part of the immigrant story herself.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33She came to Canada at the age of four from Northern Ireland.
0:25:35 > 0:25:41My parents came from Larne and from very close to Ballymena,
0:25:41 > 0:25:43from Cullybackey.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46I think my father and a couple of his buddies decided there
0:25:46 > 0:25:50didn't look to be a promising future for him in Ireland
0:25:50 > 0:25:53and so they left for Canada.
0:25:53 > 0:25:58And my mother, a couple of months later, flew over,
0:25:58 > 0:26:00her first time on a plane,
0:26:00 > 0:26:04with the two children, myself and my brother, at that time.
0:26:04 > 0:26:09But it was my uncle who said to me at one point,
0:26:09 > 0:26:13"Do you have any idea how courageous your mother was?"
0:26:14 > 0:26:19And that was a word that had never been used to tell our story.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21And I said, "What do you mean?"
0:26:21 > 0:26:28And he said, "She had two small children, she was by herself,
0:26:28 > 0:26:32"she left the country for the first time ever,
0:26:32 > 0:26:36"she took an aeroplane for the first time ever,
0:26:36 > 0:26:39"going to a country that she knew nothing about."
0:26:40 > 0:26:42He said, "And I know,
0:26:42 > 0:26:44"because I'm the one who drove her to the airport."
0:26:45 > 0:26:48They were very close.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52But it was a description of her that I had never heard
0:26:52 > 0:26:56and so that combination of courage and risk-taking, I think,
0:26:56 > 0:26:58was very important.
0:27:01 > 0:27:06How do you think those risk-taking personal attributes affected you
0:27:06 > 0:27:08and your career here in Canada?
0:27:10 > 0:27:12I'm not sure whether it was...
0:27:14 > 0:27:19..Irish characteristics or simply the characteristics of my parents,
0:27:19 > 0:27:24but it was clear that education was highly prized.
0:27:24 > 0:27:30There was never any thought about not going on to further education.
0:27:30 > 0:27:36And creating the best possible sense of confidence that you really
0:27:36 > 0:27:39could do anything you wanted to do.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41And, in fact, in many ways,
0:27:41 > 0:27:44I think my parents, actually,
0:27:44 > 0:27:47they certainly thought about their family back home.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50But they were really all about the future.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53Once they came to Canada, they were a part of Canada.
0:27:53 > 0:27:58I remember my father saying once, when he was asked the question
0:27:58 > 0:28:00whether he'd had any regrets,
0:28:00 > 0:28:03and he said, "Never a regret at all."
0:28:03 > 0:28:08He said that...
0:28:08 > 0:28:10Canada gave him so many opportunities
0:28:10 > 0:28:15and he hoped that he had brought the best of Ireland to Canada.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30Men and women from Ulster have come to Canada with one aim,
0:28:30 > 0:28:32to provide a better, more secure,
0:28:32 > 0:28:36more prosperous life for themselves and their families.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40And in doing so, they have contributed to the wealth of this
0:28:40 > 0:28:44great nation and to the social and political institutions it holds dear.