Consulate Newsletter - August 2022

News

25 August 2022

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Consulate General of Ireland, Vancouver

August 2022

Consulate General of Ireland, Vancouver Office Staff (L-R):

Ms. Bláithín Noone, Executive Assistant to Office of the Consul General & General Office Manager; Vice-Consul Mr. Adam Duffy Consul General Mr. Frank Flood; and Mrs. Kamilla Losik, Finance Administrator & Consular Officer

Farewell Message from Consul General Frank Flood and his wife, Órla Ní Bhróithe

A Cairde Gael,

On behalf of Orla and myself, I would like to sincerely thank all the members of the Irish community that have been so supportive and kind to us during our time here. Everywhere we went from Prince George to the Okanagan, Victoria and White Rock the Irish community have made us feel very much at home. Not to forget to mention the very special Irish community in the Greater Vancouver Area.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and after four years in Beautiful British Columbia, the time has come for us to head home to Ireland. We do so with very mixed feelings, beautiful BC is a hard place to leave but we are really looking forward to spending a lot more time with family and friends.

Our time here was of course, very much overshadowed by the pandemic but if you had to be away from home during this time, BC was certainly a really good alternative. The manner in which the Irish organisations came together to support the Irish community was exceptional and inspiring. It was a genuine honour and a privilege to work with the great leaders and volunteers of the Brigid’s Festival, Celticfest, the Chamber of Commerce, the Irish Women’s Network, the Irish Graduates Association, IrishinBC, the Okanagan Irish Society, The Irish Club of White Rock, Vancouver Queer Irish and of course the GAA community to name but a few.

It was also a pleasure and an honour to get to meet the friends of Ireland in the wider Canadian community, particularly those in the UBC Learning Exchange Centre in the Downtown Eastside and the great indigenous and Irish musicians of Hearts Beat. The indigenous drum, crafted for me, will have a place of pride in our home – perhaps partly as the only instrument I could ever learn to play!

We are of course, also very proud of the work and achievements of the Consulate team in Vancouver since it was established in 2018. None of which could have been possible without the support of the Irish community and the exceptional officers in the Consulate. At present, we are fortunate to have Adam Duffy, Bláithín Noone and Kamilla Losik, while Jenny Bourke and Luke Hanlon, not forgetting the former Honorary Consul John Cheevers, all played key roles in getting the Consulate established and functioning to such a high standard.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the team in the Embassy in Ottawa for their total support and professional approach in support of the Consulate. The very sad and sudden passing of our former Ambassador Jim Kelly was a tragic loss to his family and friends and came as a great shock to all who knew Jim. He was the key protagonist for the establishment of the Consulate and I know Ambassador Eamonn McKee and my successor Cathy Geagan will continue to grow and maintain the high standards that Jim would have wanted the Consulate to aspire to.

Finally, there has been the “send-off”. To say that Órla and I immensely enjoyed and appreciated the various goodbye events and messages of goodwill would be a real understatement. We will look back in particular on the Irish Community event, in St John’s Hall with great fondness. So thanks to all involved in organising this event including the “one and onlys” - Eilis Courtney, Harry Cussen, Maura de Freitas, Paddy Fay, and William Donnellan for making it such a lovely occasion and a very suitable send off. Thanks for the memories.

Beir bua agus beannacht.

Le gach dea-ghuí,

Frank & Órla

Introduction to incoming Consul General, Cathy Geagan

Cathy Geagan is the incoming Consul General of Ireland in Vancouver, taking up position on 15 August. She is currently Deputy Director of the Culture Unit at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin, working on cultural diplomacy and the enrichment of cultural programming across Ireland’s Mission network. Prior to that, Cathy was the Assistant Director for Ireland’s participation at Expo 2020 Dubai, and worked in the Department’s Asia Pacific section.

Before joining the foreign service she worked extensively on peace and reconciliation programmes in Ireland as well as in a variety of international NGOs and remains passionate about social justice issues and the environment.

Cathy grew up in Meath as part of a large family, but has always spent a lot of time in her father’s home county of Galway and is still recovering from the outcome of the recent All-Ireland final. She is an avid reader, and loves animals, the arts, and long walks with lots of trees.

“It is my honour to be appointed Ireland’s second Consul General in Vancouver and to join Ireland’s great team in Canada. I’ll be joined by my husband Marc Balbirnie, and we are both really looking forward to our time in Western Canada getting to know the Irish community and experiencing as much of the beautiful Canadian outdoors as possible. I look forward to getting out and about and to having the opportunity to meet as many of you as possible during my term”.

Events Update

Saint Patrick’s Day 2022

This year was the first ‘in-person’ Saint Patrick’s event hosted since 2019. As such, there was huge interest in the event and in the end, there was a confirmed 174 people in attendance. The reception was one of the largest the Vancouver Club have had since the pandemic began. Representatives of the Irish community, Consular Corps, Vancouver City Councillors and key business contacts (as invited by EI & the IDA) attended. Remarks were given by CG Frank Flood and VC Adam Duffy, ahead of the keynote addresses by BC Minister Bruce Ralston, Honorary Consul of Ukraine Mir Huculak, and Minister Michael McGrath T.D.

Education Mins Visit
Min Niall Collins led an Education in Ireland mission to BC from Sunday 26 June until Wednesday 29th June. The trade mission was organised by Enterprise Ireland with the support of the Consulate. The Minister had a packed agenda of meetings and attended the BCCIE conference in Whistler. Min Collins also signed an education MoU between Ireland and BC at a reception in the Consulate and met with BC Min Ravi Kahlon who visited Ireland in May.

Pride
The Consulate held a Vancouver Pride reception on Wednesday 27 July in the Consulate function room. The event was co-hosted by Vancouver Queer Irish and featured the “Out in the World” exhibition, which features the stories of the queer Irish diaspora and their impact on history and politics across the globe. Chris Morrissey, who along with her late partner Bridget Coll was featured in the exhibition, was our guest of honour and spoke to the attendees about her life with Bridget and their shared passion for activism.

The Consulate also took part in the Vancouver Pride Parade on Sunday 31 July walking (and sometime dancing) alongside Vancouver Queer Irish. This was VQIs first Pride Parade in Vancouver and the Consulate were honoured to be a part of it this year.

Community Farewell to Consul General Frank Flood and Orlá Ní Bhróithe
The Irish community threw an intimate farewell evening on Thursday 28 July. The event was held at The Rogue Folk Club in Kitsilano and staffed by volunteers from the club. The Consulate would like to thank Maura De Freitas, Eilis Courtney, Harry Cussen, Patrick Chessell, Steve Edge, Patrick Fay and Blake Williams for organising.

Consulate Staff with CG Frank Flood and his wife Órlá Ní Bhróithe

Social Media Statistics

Follower count: 275

LinkedIn is our newest social media page having only been created in July of 2021. Since then we have gained 275 followers. We focus LinkedIn posts to our business network and tend not to post everything that goes on Twitter or Facebook, rather keeping it to essential updates and business/trade related material. In January we had only 98 followers, so our growth in the last six months has been excellent. As expected our best month was March, as a result of our Saint Patrick’s Day and Minister McGrath’s visit posts, with 156 profile visits in the month. On March 19^th alone we gained 13 new followers, 9% of our new followers from Jan - July.

Follower count: 1,499

Twitter is our second largest platform and along with Facebook is where we post every notice from Consulate. Twitter also makes it very easy to quickly share posts from our partners, so is our best platform for social media collaboration. Since January we have gained 158 new followers. Following our usual trend, March was a best month with 6,076 profile visits, 23 new followers, and over 44,000 impressions. Our monthly business breakfast posts are a consistent and popular, but our highest performing tweets relate to ESP, Ukraine, and the visit of Minister McGrath.

Follower count: 1,519

Facebook continues to be our largest platform and gets the most consistent community interaction for the Consulate. While in Ireland the platform is diminishing in importance for the 18-24 demographic, it is still very popular in Vancouver. The most active pages for Irish newcomers to Vancouver are all on Facebook so even those who haven’t used the site for years tend to use it for this purpose. We gained 124 new followers in the last six months, which is the lowest number of new followers gained across our three pages, however it is our best platform for direct interactions from our audience.

Minister of State for Skills and Further Education, Niall Collins T.D. (left) signing the MoU between BC and Ireland with BC Minister Anne Kang

Upcoming Events - 2022

First Thursday Business Breakfast

Organised and held in the Consulate function room from 7.30am - 9.00am on the 1st Thursday of the month, this is one of the Consulate's regular business networking events. As well as hosting guests speakers to present on a range of topics, we also invite new & returning attendees to introduce themselves regarding business or personal opportunities. For more information, follow us on Facebook & Twitter @IrlinVancouver

Parent & Toddler Meet-Up Group

Held on the 4th Friday morning monthly from 10am - 12pm. This event is to provide an opportunity to parents in the Irish Community to meet and enjoy a coffee, make new friends or catch up with old connections as well as provide a safe space for young children to explore. For more information, follow us on Facebook & Twitter @IrlinVancouver

Irish Women's Network (IWN) Coffee Morning

Hosted by the IWN of BC and held in the Consulate on the 1st Friday morning every month from 10am - 12pm. All members of the community (newcomers to retirees and in between!) are welcome to come for a good cup of Irish tea, see the beautiful new meeting space in the Consulate, maybe borrow a book from the lending library and most importantly reconnect with old friends and make some new ones. Register your attendance here

I/CAN (Irish Canadian Immigration Centre) Newcomer event

Are you new to Vancouver and job-hunting? Join I/CAN for a free monthly webinar with tips on resumes, cover letters, networking as well as a list of local recruiters and other Vancouver resources. This webinar is targeted at assisting Irish community members with job searches and linking them with the Irish community in BC. Follow them on Facebook (@IrishCdn), Twitter (@irishcdnorg) and Instagram (@ican1620) for full event information.

Pictured L - R: Minister of Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath, T.D.; Minister Bruce Ralston; Premier John Horgan; CG Frank Flood.

Expansion of the Consulate and our Remit

In January 2022 the Consulate had its remit expanded to cover Alberta, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories as well as British Columbia. With the Consulate already operating at full capacity, we requested sanction to hire a third local staff officer to help the existing team to manage this additional workload. The Consulate was successful, and we began the hiring process in June for our Events and Western Canada Officer. We hope to update you all with an introduction to this Officer when they start later this month.

Consular Statistics

In the first half of the year the Consulate has answered 970 consular queries. 91 of these came from our new territories of responsibility, Albert, Yukon and NWT. The majority of our queries related to passports and foreign birth registrations.

Over this period we had 11 serious cases and it is generally the case we have at least one serious cases ongoing at all times. Unfortunately two of these serious cases were the deaths of young Irish people in Vancouver. One of these cases which was in the public domain was of course the tragic passing of Eoghan Byrne. The Consulate would like to thank Air Canada, STEMCELL, and the Vancouver Police Department for all the assistance they gave Eoghan’s family at such a difficult time. We would also like to thank the whole Irish community here who came together to support the Byrne family and each other.

Contact Network (B.C.)

Ireland - Canada Chamber of Commerce, Vancouver (ICCCVan)

Website - www.icccvan.ca

Email - hello@icccvan.ca

The Irish Women's Network of B.C. (IWN of B.C.)

Website - www.irishwomenbc.net

Email - irishwomensnetwork@gmail.com

Telephone - +1 (604) 325-7560

Irish Canadian Immigration Centre (I/CAN)

Website - www.irishcanadianimmigrationcentre.org

Facebook - @IrishCdn

Telephone - +1 (416) 603-9549 or + 1 (877) 603-9549 (National Free Toll)

Irish in B.C.

To find out about the latest news regarding the Irish community here in BC, please sign up to their newsletter here

Facebook - @irishinvancouver

Instagram - @irishinbc

Website - www.irishinbc.ca

*Irish Covid-19 Support Group includes representatives from the Irish Running Crew, Darkness into Light Vancouver, the Irish Sports and Social Club (GAA), the Okanagan Irish Society, the Irish Benevolent Society of B.C., the Irish Canadian Immigration Centre, the Consulate General of Ireland, Irish in Victoria and others.