The Self-Determination for Ireland League of Canada and Newfoundland
Dr Patrick Mannion
Between 1920 and 1922, a formidable network of Irish nationalists emerged in British North America: the Self-Determination for Ireland League of Canada and Newfoundland (SDIL). Thousands of men and women joined its branches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, while thousands more attended the League’s meetings, lectures, rallies, and other public events.
The SDIL galvanised popular support for Irish self-government across the vast dominion, and connected individuals of Irish birth and descent to the broader, transnational movement for Irish freedom. At the same time, pro-imperialist groups opposed to Ireland’s self-determination, led primarily by the ultra-loyal Orange Order, vigorously countered the SDIL, and some of the League’s events descended into chaos or even violence.
The rise and fall of the SDIL provides a fine example of how local or regional enthusiasm for the cause of Ireland could be channeled into a coherent, efficient diasporic campaign.
The League, meanwhile, reflected many of the challenges unique to Irish-Canadian nationalism. Though its leaders were undoubtedly committed republican nationalists in close contact with their counterparts in the United States, the SDIL’s public rhetoric was carefully crafted to be inoffensive within a British imperial setting, and to appeal to Canada’s large cohort of constitutional Irish nationalists.
Remarkably, throughout its brief existence, the SDIL never came under the direct influence of the far larger and more powerful Irish-American nationalist movement. It remained distinctly Canadian, clearly exemplifying the depth and variety of overseas nationalist networks at the heart of the global Irish revolution.
Although support for Irish Home Rule was widespread, organised public campaigns in favour of Irish independence were relatively rare in Canada from 1916 to early-1919.
The end of the war and the dramatic growth of the nationalist movement south of the border, however, established a new context for engagement with the politics of Ireland.
Throughout 1919, local support for Irish self-determination grew.
This was primarily articulated through societal resolutions – championed by transnational ethnic associations such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) or local Irish groups like Halifax’s Charitable Irish Society or Montreal’s St Patrick’s Society.
Meanwhile, several branches of the republican Friends of Irish Freedom (FOIF) were established in Canada – indicating a direct, cross-border transfer of diaspora nationalist networks from the United States. The FOIF, though, was an awkward fit for British North America. The remnants of wartime’s overriding British-imperial jingoism still held sway throughout the 1920s, discouraging many from supporting the radical FOIF. Some individuals of Irish descent genuinely struggled to envisage their homeland without its imperial connection. Others were sympathetic to any form of Irish self-determination, but fears of stigmatisation and accusations of disloyalty precluded them from joining the FOIF.
In order to create a cohesive, unified nationalist movement in Canada, a new organisation was required.
There were more immediate reasons, too, for directing Irish-Canadian nationalism away from American networks.
In early-1920, Éamon de Valera was in the midst of his United States tour. Behind the scenes of the incredibly successful public speaking circuit, as well as the ongoing republican bond drive that raised millions of dollars for Dáil Éireann, tensions were growing between de Valera and several prominent figures within Irish-American nationalism, most notably FOIF leaders Daniel Cohalan and John Devoy. Although an outright schism had not yet occurred, the distrust was sufficient for de Valera to favour the establishment of a distinct, independent Irish nationalist organisation in Canada.
To this end, de Valera approached one of the most efficient republican activists in the United States – Canadian-born Katherine Hughes.
Katherine Hughes as vital in setting up the Self-Determination for Ireland League of Canada and Newfoundland (Image: Library and Archives Canada, MIKAN No. 4106511)
Originally from Prince Edward Island and of Irish descent, Hughes had taken a position working for the Government of Alberta in London in 1913. There, she mixed with members of the Gaelic League, learned Irish, and was gradually converted into a staunch supporter of Sinn Féin and Irish republicanism. In 1919, Hughes was working for the Irish National Bureau in Washington DC where she gained a reputation as a skilled propagandist and orator.
She spent the final months of that year touring the US South, establishing branches of the FOIF. Hughes’ organisational experience, Canadian origins, and devout loyalty to de Valera made her an ideal candidate for work in the “Canadian field.”
The Self-Determination for Ireland League of Canada and Newfoundland originated in Montreal in May 1920. The city was emerging as a hotbed of Irish-Canadian nationalism.
As early as 9 January 1919, a pro-Sinn Féin rally had taken place there, organised primarily by members of the AOH, and by the beginning of 1920, a branch of the Friends of Irish Freedom was in place. Meanwhile, wary of the radical, republican platform of the American FOIF, the middle-class members of Montreal’s St Patrick’s Society established a new nationalist group in February: the Irish Canadian National League (ICNL), which adopted the less controversial, Wilsonian mantra of “self-determination” for Ireland.
The two groups operated independently, so Hughes’ first task was to unite them. Her chief ally in this task was Robert Lindsay Crawford – undoubtedly one of the global Irish revolution’s most fascinating figures. An Irish-Protestant journalist, born in Lisburn, Co. Antrim, Crawford was a former member of the Orange Order, but broke with their militant unionist ethos in the early years of the 20th century. He was eventually expelled from the Order for publicly supporting Home Rule for Ireland, and emigrated to Canada where he worked for the Toronto Globe. After the Easter Rising, he, like Katherine Hughes, emerged as an ardent supporter of Sinn Féin and republican Irish nationalism.
Between them, Hughes and Crawford succeeded in uniting the two nationalist factions in Montreal. Following a preliminary meeting between the ICNL and the FOIF on 16 May, each group met at Montreal’s Congress Hall on 19 May and passed resolutions encouraging all members to join the new Self-Determination for Ireland League. The title was drawn from its British equivalent, the Irish Self-Determination League of Great Britain, and like its ICNL predecessor, the SDIL embraced the objective of “self-determination” for Ireland. This was broad enough to attract both republican and constitutional nationalists and, its leaders hoped, inoffensive to imperially-minded Anglo-Canadians.
The next stage in the expansion of Irish nationalist networks in Canada was the growth of the SDIL beyond Montreal.
Montreal, the birthplace of the Self-Determination League of Canada and Newfoundland (Image: New York Public Library)
This was accomplished through Katherine Hughes’ tremendously successful “Facts About Ireland” tour, which took her from city to city across the Dominion, establishing branches of the SDIL as she went. Before arrival, Hughes would make contact with individuals sympathetic to Irish nationalism. It was they who laid the groundwork for the establishment of a branch, such as putting together a provisional committee and securing a venue for Hughes’ public lecture.
Well-known and well-established Catholics of Irish descent were sought to chair these meetings, lending both publicity and credibility to the nascent organisation. The tour began in the Maritimes in early-July 1920. Her first public event, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 2 July, was poorly attended, but after successful events in Sydney, Cape Breton Island (4 July) and her home town of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (8 July), she returned to Nova Scotia’s capital for a formidable event chaired by Deputy Mayor John W. Regan. Within a week, 600 people had joined the new Halifax branch of the SDIL, chaired by former Nova Scotia supreme court justice, Nicholas H. Meagher.
Mindful of the British-imperial context in which she was speaking, Hughes’ rhetoric at these meetings was cautious.
She presented logical, economic arguments in favour of Irish self-determination, but to win over Canadian support, she couched her arguments in distinctly pro-imperial terms.
Some form of Irish independence was necessary to ensure the peace and security of the Empire, while the independence of small nations like Ireland was inherent in Britain’s war aims, for which many young Canadian soldiers had died. Following her successful visit to Halifax, Hughes passed through New Brunswick, before heading to the Canadian west for SDIL meetings in Regina, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Port Arthur. The tour concluded back in the far east, as Hughes’ gave the SDIL an added transnational dimension by establishing a branch in St John’s, capital of the then-independent Dominion of Newfoundland in early-October. Crawford, meanwhile, organised League branches in Quebec and Ontario.
Although there were complaints about Hughes’ “treasonable utterances” during her tour of the Canadian prairies, generally her lectures were well received.
Organised opposition to the League began to mount in advance of its first national convention in October 1920. Originally scheduled for Toronto, it was moved to Ottawa following opposition from the influential Orange Order – though increasingly sour relations between Hughes and Crawford may also have played a role in the decision to switch venues.
600 delegates assembled at St Patrick’s Hall, Ottawa, on 16 and 17 October 1920. As with Katherine Hughes’ public lectures, the formal resolutions that emerged from the Convention were loyal in tone and avoided any formal support for Sinn Féin or for an Irish republic. One of the meeting’s more uniquely Canadian features was its negotiation of the complex terrain of linguistic duality. The post-war period was one of flourishing French-Canadian nationalism, and its leaders maintained a keen interest in Ireland’s fight against imperialism. Representatives from the French-Canadian St Jean Baptiste Society attended the convention, while prominent Quebec nationalists Armand Lavergne and Henri Bourassa were active members of the SDIL.
Through the remainder of the autumn, opposition to the League increased.
This was led primarily by the Orange Order, but other groups, such as Halifax’s British Empire Alliance, were specifically established to counter the SDIL.
Lindsay Crawford, who had been named the League’s national president at the Ottawa Convention, began a speaking tour of the Maritimes and Newfoundland in November.
This was countered far more aggressively than Hughes’ lectures in the same region the previous summer. On 3 December, for example, Crawford’s speech at Fredericton, New Brunswick, was disrupted by hecklers. Several days later, in Moncton on 7 December, the local police chief ordered the SDIL meeting dispersed, fearing a riot. Crawford was attacked upon leaving the venue, and, according to the Orange Order’s press organ, the Sentinel, forced to kiss the Union Jack. In Newfoundland, the Provincial Grand Lodge followed the lead of their Canadian brethren. At a meeting in St John’s on 1 December, where “the roll showed the largest number registered at a regular meeting of [the] body,” strong resolutions against the “treasonous” SDIL were passed.
The situation was so tense that the Catholic Archbishop, Edward Roche, wrote to Newfoundland League Chairman R.T. McGrath urging restraint in any public response to the Orangemen so as to avoid in Newfoundland “the throes of a sectarian war.”
The SDIL functioned as an effective arm of the global propaganda war waged by Irish nationalists.
Arguments in favour of Ireland’s self-determination were circulated by the organisation’s headquarters to the branches, where press secretaries ensured their distribution to local newspapers or published their own newsletters.
Writing to Hughes, an SDIL member from Winnipeg stated simply: “Literature – tons of it – that is what we need.” Large public events, often involving prominent nationalist speakers, took place all across the Dominion, extending the League’s influence far beyond just those who paid their membership dues. Surprisingly, although the league boasted thousands of paid-up members, it was rather ineffective as a fundraising mechanism. Public collections for Sinn Féin would have been counter to its balanced, self-determination mantra, and by the beginning of 1921 the League was seriously short of funds.
Nevertheless, public meetings and the dissemination of propaganda continued through the first half of 1921.
The signing of a truce between the Irish Republican Army and British forces on 11 July, and the subsequent Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed on 6 December, gradually eroded the League’s public role. Although some within the organisation refused to accept the Treaty or the establishment of an Irish Free State, the vast majority of its members in Canada and Newfoundland regarded this as a satisfactory conclusion to the “Irish Question.” The 1921 SDIL National Convention was a rather sedate affair, and most League branches were wound up over the course of 1922.
The establishment of an interconnected network of local branches under the umbrella of a centralised national organisation was essential to the reinvigoration of Irish nationalism in British North America.
By retaining full independence from much larger Irish-American nationalist groups, the SDIL was able to tailor its rhetoric to suit uniquely Canadian circumstances. Stopping short of publicly calling for a fully-independent Irish Republic, the League was able to draw support from a wide cross section of sympathetic Irish Canadians and Newfoundlanders. Despite generally operating within a framework of imperial loyalty, however, the SDIL drew sustained and sometimes virulent opposition from pro-imperial organisations like the Orange Order.
In responding to such challenges, the League demonstrates the variability and striking adaptability of the networks of global Irish nationalism.
Dr Patrick Mannion is a Research Fellow in Irish History at the University of Edinburgh, where he is working as part of the AHRC-funded project, “A Global History of Irish Revolution, 1916-1923.”
