Library contents

Joe Lonergan grew up in Quebec City’s Montcalm neighbourhood, descended from Irish families who settled there in the 1820s. Raised in a working-class household, he was active in Irish republican advocacy from the 1960s onward. He taught for 35 years at Saint Patrick’s High School in Quebec. In the 2000s, he became president of Irish Heritage Quebec, and was at the forefront of an effort to take down a plaque commemorating a British regiment’s participation in the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham from the high school walls. He reflects on how Irish identity in Quebec City has evolved over his lifetime.