The Globe and Mail - 02.03.2020

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For more than 100 years, photographers have preserved

an extraordinary collection of 20th-century news pho-

tography for The Globe and Mail. Each week, The Globe

features one of these images on a particular theme. Since

St. Patrick’s Day falls in March, we’re looking at Irish

culture in Canada this month.

G

rosse Île, Que., is the largest of a small ar-

chipelago of islands in the St. Lawrence

that served as a quarantine depot for the

port of Quebec between 1832 and 1937. Ini-

tially established to contain a cholera epidemic, it is

now the largest resting place in Canada for those

who died as a result of disease during the great mi-

gration forced by the Irish Potato Famine: More

than 8,072 Irish emigrants are buried in its ceme-

tery, shown above. Countless more died on the voy-

age from Ireland in unsanitary vessels known as

“coffin ships.” Approximately 100,000 emigrants

made it to Canada in 1847 alone. Another 6,000 of

those who died after arrival are buried at a second-

ary site at Pointe-Saint-Charles in Montreal. More

than four million migrants came through Grosse Île

in its century of operation. The site is now managed

by Parks Canada and, in 1996, it was designated the

Irish Memorial National Historic Site. As of the 2016

census, 4.6 million Canadians claim Irish ancestry,

the fourth-largest ethnic identity behind English,

Scottish and French. In 1909, the a fraternal Irish

group, the Ancient Order of Hibernians erected 14-

metre granite Celtic cross on the west of the island.

It reads: “Sacred to the memory of thousands of

Irish Emigrants who, to persevere the faith, suffered

hunger and exile in 1847-1848, and stricken with

fever, ended here their sorrowful pilgrimage.”

SHANE DINGMAN

Subscribers and registered users of globeandmail.com

can dig deeper into our News Photo Archive at

tgam.ca/newsphotoarchive.

NEWSPHOTOARCHIVE

IRISHEMIGRANTSCOME

TOCANADAIN‘COFFINSHIPS’

PARKS CANADA

A2 OTHEGLOBEANDMAIL | MONDAY,MARCH2,

MOMENTINTIME

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W

hen French President

Emmanuel Macron

leaned in to give Premier

Giuseppe Conte the Italian dou-

ble-cheek kiss not once, but on

two separate occasions, during a

Franco-Italian summit in Naples

this week, it was much more than

a greeting.

It was a signal to citizens not to

fear their neighbours as a new vi-

rus from China spreads, with Ita-

ly established as Europe’s hot

spot.

Friendly kissing in the time of

coronavirus has become a fresh

dilemma, especially in effusive

Southern Europe, with perhaps

the power to reshape customs.

But even more-reserved norther-

ners are grappling with whether

to forgo the hallowed handshake.

The government’s special

commissioner for coronavirus,

Angelo Borrelli, has suggested

that Italians’ demonstrative na-

ture could be contributing to the

virus’ spread, with more than

1,100 people testing positive and

29 deaths, almost all in the coun-

try’s north.

But there have been no official

edicts on the social custom of

kissing, which sociologists say is

rooted in Italy’s Mediterranean

culture as well as its strong family

and social structure.

“We have a collective social life

that is very florid, very expansive.

We have lots of contact, we shake

hands, we kiss each other, we hug

each other,” Mr. Borelli told re-

porters.

“Maybe it is better in this peri-

od not to shake hands, and do

not have too much contact, and

try to be a bit less expansive,

which is different from how I

am.”

In neighbouring France,

Health Minister Olivier Véran on

Saturday advised people to cut

back on “la bise,” the custom in

France and elsewhere in Europe

of giving greetings with kisses, or

air kisses, on the cheeks, along

with shaking hands.

France, which has had 100

cases and two deaths so far, made

a similar recommendation dur-

ing the swine flu epidemic a dec-

ade ago.

Swiss people should consider

dropping the everyday greeting

of kissing each other on the

cheeks, to avoid spreading the

coronavirus, Switzerland’s

Health Minister Alain Berset said

in remarks published on Sunday.

In Switzerland, as in neigh-

bouring France, it is common for

women and people of opposite

sexes to greet each other with

alternating kisses on both

cheeks. The Swiss version gener-

ally involves an asymmetrical

three in total, in contrast to the

two more usual for “la bise” (the

kiss) across the border.

“We know that keeping one’s

distance socially is the best way

to slow the spread of the virus.

That is why renouncing greeting

kisses is a measure that should be

seriously taken into considera-

tion,” Mr. Berset told the Sonn-

tagsZeitung newspaper, when

asked if he was advising against

the greeting.

In Spain, a country rooted with

a strong tradition of cheek-kiss-

ing in social as well as many pro-

fessional exchanges, is so far con-

tinuing the practice unabated.

Spain has registered 71 coronavi-

rus infections.

In Germany, where children

are taught to shake hands with

adults and the firmness of the

grip can be seen as correlating to

personality strength, health

experts and doctors are trying to

persuade people to quit tradi-

tional etiquette.

At Virchow hospital in Berlin,

doctors not only stopped shaking

hands with their patients – even

non-contagious ones – but are ac-

tively encouraging them to fol-

low the example as cases in Ger-

many hit 66.

Health experts have been

warning that shaking hands is a

prime way to spread the disease.

In northern Italy, the virus is

taking a deep social toll, curtail-

ingthe usual opportunities to

meet.

With schools, museums and

most public offices officially

closed until Monday, many peo-

ple are staying at home and

avoiding all social contact. Italy’s

financial capital, Milan, is as

empty as in the peak summer ho-

liday period, with many compa-

nies giving professionals the op-

tion to work from home, and

some restaurants and neighbour-

hood shops closed because of a

lack of business. Ones that re-

main open are unseasonably

empty.

During Milan Fashion Week,

cheek kissing was dropped as the

week went on and cases spiralled

in favour of other acknowledg-

ments, such as a little double kiss

to fingertips that one fashionista

dubbed, “the new coronavirus

kiss.”

Associated Press,

with files from Reuters

Cultureoffriendlykissingposesadilemma

inEuropeascoronavirusspreads

COLLEENBARRYMILAN

Renouncing greeting

kisses is a measure that

should be seriously

taken into consideration.

ALAINBERSET

SWITZERLAND’S HEALTH MINISTER