The President, Mrs McAleese, at the official start of the first State visit to Canada by an Irish Head of State, yesterday thanked the Canadians for their support and direct assistance in the Northern Ireland peace process.
She was greeted with a 21-gun salute in the federal capital, and will spend the next 12 days visiting provinces in central and eastern Canada and meeting members of the Irish community.
Mrs McAleese and her party, including her husband, Dr Martin McAleese, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, and Mrs Annette Andrews flew into Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, on Friday evening for a round of engagements in Canada's smallest province. The biggest ethnic group in its population of only 150,000 is Scottish, a quarter claim Irish descent and the remainder are of French descent.
Thanking the Canadians for their role in the peace process at a dinner on Saturday night, hosted by the Federal Minister for Labour, Mr Lawrence McAuley, she also paid tribute to Mr Andrews, saying he had played an extraordinary role, and she praised the second secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Gallagher, who is also travelling with her, for his work.
In his speech Mr McAuley spoke of the humanity Mrs McAleese had brought to her role, her decision to dispense with much of the protocol and formality and how, while a devout Catholic she had undertaken to attend services in all churches. What better way, he said, to bring about her aim of a united Ireland?
On arrival at Government House in Ottawa, where she was greeted by the Governor General, Mr Romeo LeBlanc, and where she and her husband were staying for two nights, she said relations between their two countries were now closer and more friendly than ever and the two shared a common outlook on many of the world's problems.
Canada had provided a haven and a home for generations of Irish people over many centuries, and while they had become loyal citizens they also had kept hold of their Irish heritage. During her visit, the President said, she would be thanking Canadians for their support for the peace process and telling them about the modern European country Ireland had developed into in recent years - more outward looking, very much more prosperous economically and now at last putting behind it a troubling history of conflict. Irish people now would not come to Canada because they had to leave home but because they were attracted to it.
Later at a reception for the Irish community in Ottawa, hosted by the Irish Ambassador, Mr Paul Dempsey and Mrs Dempsey, the President said their city was like other parts of Canada in that the Irish had left their imprint.
"It used to be said in Ireland that the government in Dublin was run by expatriate Cork men. (And that the fastest way of getting 10 Corkmen into a mini was to tell them it was going to Dublin.) I gather that there is a similar phenomenon in Ottawa and that, as the Federal Government has expanded, the city has become more cosmopolitan."
She spoke of Thomas D'Arcy McGee, a father of the Confederation and a minister of the first federal government. On her visit, the President said, she would not only celebrate Irish involvement in Canada in the past but also renew kinship, strengthen old links and encourage the development of new ones.