Irish in Canada: ‘I swore I’d never be homeless again’

Ronan Denyer, originally from Sligo, moved to Vancouver in 2017 to pursue a PhD in neuroscience at the University of British Columbia. When the pandemic first broke out and restrictions were introduced, his research activities were shut down so he could only work on projects he could do remotely.

“In a way, having an enforced break like that was kind of helpful overall I think. In research, I find you are constantly doing four things at once . . . so having some time and space to get on top of everything without having to keep collecting new data was a net positive,” he says.

Aside from his work being disrupted, Denyer also had new obstacles to consider in his personal life. He is in a long-distance relationship with his partner, Iseult Gillespie, who is pursuing a PhD in at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

By the time the pandemic broke out, Denyer says they were already “pros” at long-distance. He says an important rule in maintaining a long-distance relationship is knowing when you will see each other again; having the next visit planned or a flight booked is crucial.

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'The facade of 'we can't afford that' or 'we need to balance the budget' is just firmly in the bin for me now'

It became especially challenging to book those next visits once the US-Canada border closed for non-essential travel in March 2020. Both Irish, neither of them was allowed into each other’s country of residence for most of the first year of the pandemic.

The irony was that they ended up spending a lot more time together than usual. “When the pandemic first hit I was actually in the US with my partner for a three-week visit and just ended up staying for three months and working remotely on what I could since most travel was halted. We ended up spending quite a lot of time in Ireland staying with my parents as Ireland was the only place we could both go,” he says.

But there was always the stress in that first year, he says, of trying to navigate the shifting landscape of border closures, travel regulations and quarantines. “I spent two months total in quarantine that year.”

After they were both vaccinated, travel became easier and Denyer says things are almost back to normal now. In December he flew to Madison, where he and Gillespie spent their first Christmas away from Ireland together.

The pandemic affected the logistics of Denyer’s work and personal life, but he said it also “radically” changed the way he thinks about society and politics.

Governments around the world brought in pandemic policies that changed the way we live our lives, pumped billions into relief packages for businesses and workers and into public health measures such as  free testing and vaccination. All this made Denyer consider that the solutions to the problems we face as a society might not be complex at all but actually quite simple.

“The facade of ‘we can’t afford that’ or ‘we need to balance the budget’ is just firmly in the bin for me now,” he says. “I think it’s important to keep momentum on that and try to bring the same perspective and energy to the other pre-eminent issues facing humanity.”

Denyer has felt more of a pull towards Ireland over the past two years, but doesn’t necessarily think it’s because of the pandemic. It’s more to do with the stage he’s at in life and professionally. “Vancouver is just so far from home and I do miss being geographically closer to my family and being able to easily visit without each visit being a big ‘event’.”

But working in scientific research means that ultimately he has “to go where the wind takes you a bit”.

Katie Jones, originally from Terenure, Co Dublin, has lived in Vancouver for four years. She moved there with her partner, Alex, who is Irish but grew up in Vancouver as a child.

Jones left a career in advertising in Dublin for a better work-life balance in Vancouver and easier access to nature, something she says has been therapeutic for her during the pandemic.

The couple felt fortunate to be in Canada and didn’t feel the pull of home during the pandemic. “The healthcare system is excellent, and at no point were we pressured to return to the office for work. In fact, my partner’s company got rid of their office entirely as they didn’t feel comfortable putting people at risk when working from home has been just as productive,” she says.

Jones says that lockdowns seemed to be more “intense” in Ireland compared with in Vancouver throughout the pandemic. But by December 2021, the government in British Columbia had introduced similar restrictions to Ireland in wake of the Omicron wave.

Organised indoor events, including New Year’s Eve parties, were not permitted, while bars, nightclubs and gyms were ordered to close. Indoor events at venues, such as concerts and sports games, were reduced to 50 per cent capacity. The ministry of health also postponed non-urgent scheduled surgeries.

Jones flew home to Dublin in December 2021 to surprise her parents for Christmas, the first time she’d been home since March 2019. She was “much more aware of Covid-19” being back in Ireland.

“I’ve noticed that you can’t really seem to get away from it with the constant media coverage. It definitely makes me feel more anxious, and I understand why friends and family have been so mentally drained from it all.

“In Vancouver, it’s more generally accepted that this is our new normal, but in Ireland I get the sense that people are holding out for an end date.”

Jones says there are also positives to being back in Dublin. Having been away for so long, she is exploring the city with "fresh eyes". "I have never seen Dublin so alive. A lot of our local villages like Terenure and Rathmines have loads of new bars and cafes and it's really amazing to see how resilient these communities have been."

John Kennedy from Belfast moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, 12 years ago with his wife and three children. Kennedy worked as an editorial cartoonist at various newspapers in Ireland and the UK before moving to Canada. Although work was going well for him at the time, he said he and his wife wanted to give their children a different life and new opportunities in Canada.

“My wife and I grew up in the Troubles and I didn’t want our children growing up in that atmosphere,” he says. “Things are changing hopefully now but there’s the same old nonsense. We wanted them to have a chance in life not to be judged by their colour or their religions.”

Kennedy has long settled into life in Halifax and says business is booming. During the pandemic, his client and exhibition work built up, and at an exhibition before Christmas he sold every piece he had.

We miss the bond and support of our families; we miss taking our kids to Portsalon in Co Donegal, our favourite beach

Using his work to raise funds for charity, particularly local homeless charities, is also important to Kennedy: He was homeless for a time in Belfast and says he was supported by SDLP members who got him out of an “unfortunate position”.

“I swore I’d never be homeless again and I haven’t been and I’ve moved on. We’ve worked hard to get to where we are today.”

Now he tries to give back as much as he can, and has held exhibitions over the years where the proceeds go to local soup kitchens.

Kennedy says the pandemic has been tough for everyone in Nova Scotia, but thinks the government has handled it well and that he never felt unsafe.

As a cartoonist, Kennedy is used to being in isolation at his drawing table. However, he said his biggest concern was the effect on his wife and children’s mental health. “I see frustration in their faces every day and it’s hard to watch.”

His daughter Síofra is a sound engineer working in radio but lost her job due to lockdown restrictions. His sons Seán and Brénainn had their schooling “disrupted so much that their graduations and even their careers have been put on hold”.

However, Kennedy says with more restrictions and travel bans being lifted, they are all beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel.

The pandemic also escalated his feelings about Ireland “to the point of understanding real homesickness”.

"We miss Ireland every day, every single day," he says. "We miss the bond and support of our families; we miss taking our kids to Portsalon beach in Co Donegal, our favourite beach; we miss climbing Cave Hill in Belfast; I miss fish and chips and even heading to the pub with friends."

Kennedy says they would like to move home someday and to retire somewhere in Ireland. But sometimes, he adds, you have to go away to make it, to learn, and to do well.

“We’re part of the Irish diaspora and we’re very proud of it. We miss home, of course. We’ll be back some day, don’t know when, it depends on how things go.”