The strong ties between the south-east and the Canadian province of Newfoundland were highlighted yesterday when the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr Danny Williams, was conferred with an honorary fellowship at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT).
The mass movement of people through the port of Waterford to Newfoundland during the late 18th and early 19th centuries helped populate and shape Newfoundland, with many influences of the Waterford migrants still evident there today, WIT deputy chairman, Cllr Jack Walsh, said.
"It is important that the historic ties between our island peoples on opposite sides of the Atlantic are given fresh impetus in this 21st century" he said.
Mr Williams said as well as the ties of history, Ireland, Newfoundland and Labrador share a history of economic dependence on natural resources and a shift in recent times to reliance on the value-added services sector.
Prof Kieran R. Byrne, director of WIT, noted that the first record of a Waterford ship on the Grand Banks in Newfoundland dates from 470 years ago.
Prof Byrne said that one estimate by researchers at Memorial University in Newfoundland is that 75 per cent of all Irish immigrants to Newfoundland were from the south-east.
"It is also noteworthy that the huge wave of migration came a long time ahead of the mid-19th century migrations that began with the Great Famine in the 1840s. The legacy left by those from Waterford and the surrounding south-east lives on in a very real way to the present day."
Mr Williams has led the Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador since 2001 and has been Premier since October 2003. He spoke of the many links between Newfoundland and Waterford, including the fact that the river which flows through the province's capital city, St John's, is named the Waterford river.
"This is just one symbol of the many ties that exist between our province and this great country, and I am deeply touched and humbled to be here in Waterford receiving this honorary fellowship," he said.
Mr Williams was accompanied by his wife, Maureen. Their visit to Waterford also celebrated the city's ties with its twin city of St John's, and the growing relationship between the WIT and Memorial University of Newfoundland.
