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Understanding Scots of many mindsets in Canada
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Contact:
Harry McGrath, 604.268.6810, hmcgrath@sfu.ca
Harry McGrath, 604.268.6810, hmcgrath@sfu.ca
September 17, 2003
On the phone, Harry McGrath’s Scottish brogue rolls off his tongue like thick molasses. Born in Glasgow, the recently hired coordinator of Simon Fraser University’s centre for Scottish studies confesses with a lilt, "I don’t own a kilt or anything Scottish." But that does not make this former Catholic high school teacher and administrator (East Vancouver, Port Coquitlam) any less passionate about his heritage.
In fact, McGrath’s fascination with Vancouver’s multi-facetted Scottish community in the 1920s makes him a fitting representative for the centre for Scottish studies (CSS). One of the centre’s goals is to research the many types of Scottish immigrants who helped mold the Vancouver and British Columbia of today.
That dovetails nicely with McGrath’s part-time pursuit of a master’s in Scottish history through the centre. "I’m particularly interested in testing the notion that immigrant Scots in BC had concentric loyalties," explains McGrath, a Port Coquitlam resident. "They were simultaneously loyal to Scotland, colonial Britain, and Canada and BC. as their homelands." McGrath is collecting, for the centre, oral histories from Scots in British Columbia. His graduate thesis is examining Scottish reactions to one of Vancouver’s most famous unsolved murders in 1924. A Chinese houseboy was accused and then acquitted of murdering Janet Smith, a 22-year-old Scottish nursemaid working in a highbrow Shaughnessy home. The case got Vancouver’s numerous Scottish societies debating race relations.
McGrath will present his thesis during an upcoming Day of Scottish Culture organized by the CSS Saturday, September 20, 9:45 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Scottish Culture Centre. Also making presentations that day, are Ted Cowan and Jack Lee. Cowan, a professor of Scottish history at Glasgow University, will talk about the destruction of Gaelic Scotland in the 1600s. Lee, the pipe sergeant of the four-time world champion SFU Pipe Band, will talk about the changing world of piping.
—30—
electronic photo available on request
Website: Centre for Scottish studies: www.sfu.ca/scottish/
In fact, McGrath’s fascination with Vancouver’s multi-facetted Scottish community in the 1920s makes him a fitting representative for the centre for Scottish studies (CSS). One of the centre’s goals is to research the many types of Scottish immigrants who helped mold the Vancouver and British Columbia of today.
That dovetails nicely with McGrath’s part-time pursuit of a master’s in Scottish history through the centre. "I’m particularly interested in testing the notion that immigrant Scots in BC had concentric loyalties," explains McGrath, a Port Coquitlam resident. "They were simultaneously loyal to Scotland, colonial Britain, and Canada and BC. as their homelands." McGrath is collecting, for the centre, oral histories from Scots in British Columbia. His graduate thesis is examining Scottish reactions to one of Vancouver’s most famous unsolved murders in 1924. A Chinese houseboy was accused and then acquitted of murdering Janet Smith, a 22-year-old Scottish nursemaid working in a highbrow Shaughnessy home. The case got Vancouver’s numerous Scottish societies debating race relations.
McGrath will present his thesis during an upcoming Day of Scottish Culture organized by the CSS Saturday, September 20, 9:45 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Scottish Culture Centre. Also making presentations that day, are Ted Cowan and Jack Lee. Cowan, a professor of Scottish history at Glasgow University, will talk about the destruction of Gaelic Scotland in the 1600s. Lee, the pipe sergeant of the four-time world champion SFU Pipe Band, will talk about the changing world of piping.
—30—
electronic photo available on request
Website: Centre for Scottish studies: www.sfu.ca/scottish/