St. Michael’s Basilica in Toronto, built by Irish bricklayers. The author worked here for a year as an electrician on a major renovation. Photo by BriYYZ/Flickr.

It’s St. Patrick’s Day again. Time for another round of green beer, ridiculous grinning leprechauns, and people puking in the streets. Green beads, sparkly clover hats, and Guinness. Did you know that the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Toronto was actually illegal until 1988? I grew up spending my elementary school years in a city that still tried to erase our presence—this Orange Protestant stronghold they called “Toronto the Good.”

Today, the parade exists—and in many ways, it’s a lively, joyful celebration. I usually march with my trade union, and it’s mostly green with a little bit of orange. The music is mostly Irish, but besides the Irish performers, the organizers include participants from other ethnicities. This year there were steel pan drums, mariachi bands, and a dragon dance. It’s a festive scene, and if you’ve been part of it, you know why people love it.

The parade reflects what St. Patrick’s Day in Toronto could be—a truly inclusive, politically aware celebration of Irish history—if the event weren’t still so constrained. Solidarity organization Irish4Palestine was barred from marching this year, despite the long-standing history of Irish-Palestinian solidarity. Anything deemed too political is excluded, and Irish republicanism is largely downplayed, leaving participants to present a safe, sanitized version of themselves on the streets.

Those of us who belong to the Irish diaspora here in Canada could call ourselves Irish-Canadians, but a hyphenated identity doesn’t resonate; it means nothing but some subset of Irish-American, an ethnicity made from the McDonald’s Shamrock Shake and green sparkles. It’s........

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