Montreal is home to one of the largest and oldest St. Patrick’s Day parades in North America and for the 200th time organizers are celebrating the annual spectacle.

The United Irish Societies of Montreal (UIS), organizer of the parade since 1928, has chosen the theme of “Emerald Connections” as a way of emphasizing both the Irish heritage and the multiculturalism of Montreal—the “importance that the Irish place on inclusion and community,” according to the UIS website.

First staged in 1824 as a nationalist procession of Catholics and Protestants of Irish descent, the parade has weaved its way through both the streets and the history of the city.

For Grand Marshal Danny Doyle, the parade has played a central role in his personal history. Doyle said the only year he has missed a parade was in 1980 when he and his wife were on their honeymoon.

“Like good Irish Catholics we got married on the parade weekend,” said Doyle.

Sixth of 12 children born in the historic working-class neighbourhood of Griffintown, Doyle recalls attending the parade as a child when it often felt more like a duty than a pleasure.

“You had to be dressed a certain way. It wasn’t, ‘Would you like to go on the parade?’ It was, ‘We’re all going on parade.’ 

“Growing up it felt like a military day. There was a lot of marching.”

According to UIS historian Ken Quinn, what started out as a demonstration of nationalist pride evolved into a largely Catholic procession. By 1856, Protestants were encouraged by Fr. Patrick Dowd, the “unofficial bishop” of the burgeoning Irish Catholic population, to form their own organization. The Irish Protestant Benevolent Society of Montreal was established that year and continues to this day. 

“The influence of Irish Catholics in Montreal became greater and greater to the point where it was really a Catholic procession until the early 1950s,” said Quinn.

Quinn, recipient of the 2025 Liam Daly Heritage Award, has been involved with parade organization for over 30 years. Unlike Doyle, he didn’t get involved in the parade until he was in high school.

“My first actual parade was in 1985, and my role was to carry a banner in front of the bus for the Father Dowd Home. They had us dressed in these ugly green jackets with ugly green tuques and ugly green gloves, but it got me some credit for community service.”

Snowstorms, sectarian tensions, the death of a pope and the COVID era have all either threatened or derailed the parade, but the Irish spirit has persisted in keeping the parade marching through the streets of Montreal.

The parade was cancelled in 1878, officially because of the death of Pope Pius IX on Feb. 7, but more likely, according to Quinn, because “in the previous summer there was a dust up on July the 12th, a day important to the Protestants, and a young Protestant gentleman by the name of Thomas Lett Hackett was attacked coming out of church, shot and killed.” Concerned, as they were, about the parade providing a staging ground for a further escalation of violence, the death of the pope provided a convenient excuse for parade organizers to cancel the event. 

Due to COVID restrictions, the parade was also cancelled in both 2020 and 2021. When allowed to resume in 2022, the parade was, according to Doyle and Quinn, “like going back to our roots.”

“Other than one fire truck, the Tillman fire truck, which you steer from behind, it was an all walking, all pedestrian parade, just like in 1824,” said Quinn.

Doyle says that the volunteers who come out every year to organize the parade are the backbone of the event.

“There should be a serious documentary on these guys because it’s an amazing amount of work. It’s all volunteer. They do it because they love it. It blows me out of the water. Every time I watch a parade, I think of those guys.”

He is also immensely proud to have been named Grand Marshal.

“I get a little teary-eyed. I’m just a regular guy, born in Griffintown. I’m not a big shot; I’ve had a very humble life. But I had fun, everything I’ve done through the UIS, Erin Sports Society, St. Gabriel Church, all the people I’ve met, it’s been a blast.” 

The 200th edition of the Montreal St. Patrick’s Day Parade will take place on Sunday, March 16 at 12 noon, corner of Saint Marc and de Maisonneuve. The traditional Green Mass will be celebrated at St. Patrick’s Basilica at 10 a.m.