CANADA'S TURN TO HELP IRELAND

New Zealand Tablet, 4 March 1920, Page 33

CANADA'S TURN TO HELP IRELAND

In discussing the recent convention of the Irish race in Australia, the Canadian Frrnrwn, of Kingston, Ontario, asks: —“Why is Canada’s voice silent t Pause awhile am reflect that we sent half a million of our sons across the seas to fight for the principles for which Ireland is doing battle to-day. Our sons donned the khaki not for Empire! but for freedom. Our representatives sat in the Peace Conference and by their very presence assumed responsibility for the settlement that was made at Versailles. We are a member of the League of Nations. By our participation in the war and in the making of peace we have bridged the seas that.separate ns from the Old World and its problems, and never again can we argue that such problems are no concern of ours. If wo arc' sincere in our adhesion to the League of Nations’ theorv, we cannot logically maintain that our remoteness from the sent of trouble absolves us from responsibility for its settlement. . . . Britain s Irish policy is a blow at Freedom everywhere. An international wrong committed with impunity is a menace to every nation. Hence the Irish Question is a Canadian question, and the voice of Canada should he raised on behalf of Ireland. Trish-Canadians should sound the first note of protest. America and Australia have spoken. Now 7 it is Canada’s turn. The time has come to put into practice within our own Empire those principles of self-determination which 'our countrymen fought to uphold in regard to Serbia, Poland, and other places in Europe,’ says the Daily He mid of London, England. Surely, all liberty-loving Canadians are agreed as Why not, then, an Irish Race Convention in Canada as the first step towards making the Dominion's sympathy vocal 7?” ' '