In late nineteenth-century Toronto, municipal politics were so dominated by the Irish Protestants of the Orange Order that the city was known as the "Belfast of Canada." For almost a century, virtually every mayor of Toronto was an Orangeman and the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne was a civic holiday. Toronto, the Belfast of Canada explores the intolerant origins of today's cosmopolitan city.

Using lodge membership lists, census data, and municipal records, William J. Smyth details the Orange Order's role in creating Toronto's municipal culture of militant Protestantism, loyalism, and monarchism. One of Canada's foremost experts on the Orange Order, Smyth analyses the Orange Order's influence between 1850 and 1950, the city's frequent public displays of sectarian tensions, and its occasional bouts of rioting and mayhem.

"Toronto, the Belfast of Canada is grounded in a rich analysis of documentary, statistical, journalistic, and institutional sources. It provides a great deal of insight into the realpolitic of Toronto and the complex ethnic underpinnings of an evolving cultural identity." -- Brian Osborne, Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography, Queen's University

About the Author
William J. Smyth is the president emeritus of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth and a past president of the Geographical Society of Ireland and the Association of Canadian Studies in Ireland.

Reviews

Toronto, the Belfast of Canada locates Orangeism in a wider imperial frame, and deftly handles the comparisons with other territories - not least Belfast, where Smyth's cross-analysis is detailed. He correctly correlates Canadian Orangeism with the Order in Ulster. ... Smyth is able to show that, in a comparative emigrant context, Orangeism in Canada was unique, and at the heart of it was Toronto.

-- Donald Macraild * Times Higher Education, August 13, 2015 *

'It is one of the few studies exploring Order's interface with public power structures and contributes significantly to the growing literature of diasporic global Orangeism.'

-- Deborah Butcher * Journal of Historical Geography vol 30:1-2:2015 *

'This is a well written and impressively researched study of the role and impact of the orange order fraternity in shaping of a civic culture in Toronto between 1850 and 1950.'

-- William Jenkins * Canadian Historical Review vol 97:02:2016 *

'Smyth's book is an enlightening, well-written, and rigorous exploration through the hierarchical patronage system and ethno-religious moralism of the Orange Order as it manifested in Toronto and paralleled Belfast's history from 1850-1950.'

-- Tristan Sturm * American Review of Canadian Studies vol 47:02:2017 *

'Smyth's exploration of Toronto's Orange culture is fascinating and illuminating... This is a rich and important contribution to the studies of the Irish diaspora on both a local and a transnational level.'

-- Jane G.V. McGaughey * Canadian Journal of Irish Studies vol 40:2017 *

"This is a well-written and impressively researched study of the role and impact of the Orange Order fraternity in the shaping of a civic culture in Toronto between 1850 and 1950."

-- William Jenkins * Historical Studies Vol 83:2017 *

"The wealth of demographic and statistical analysis over such a wide timeframe makes Toronto, the Belfast of Canada an important read for scholars of Protestantism and the Irish in Ontario."

-- Elliot Warsfold, Western University * British Journal of Canadian Studies, vol 30 no 2 *


Awards
Winner of Floyd S. Chalmers Award for Best Book in Ontario History awarded by The Champlain Society 2016 (Canada).



Book Information
ISBN 9781442614680
Author William J. Smyth
Format Paperback
Page Count 328
Imprint University of Toronto Press
Publisher University of Toronto Press
Weight(grams) 500g
Dimensions(mm) 231mm * 152mm * 22mm