From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Cornish/Colin H. Williams
The first Cornish associations in North America, which were designed to assist immigrants in securing employment and housing, disseminate news from home, and provide a social focus for the dispersed community, proved ephemeral. Recent years, however, have witnessed a revival of interest in Cornish identity both in Cornwall and abroad, and this in turn has led to the emergence of new Cornish associations. Always troubled by the lack of recognition accorded them by the English, many Cornish now stress their homeland’s character as a Celtic nation with its own language, flag, and tartan kilts. Besides endeavouring to revive the Cornish language, these activists encourage Cornish membership in the Celtic League, based in Dublin, Ireland. Their efforts have also led to the rebirth of the Victoria Cornish Society, originally founded in 1862 and restarted in the 1870s and again in the 1930s. As well, Dorothy Sweet of Victoria and Truro, chairperson of the Cornwall Family History Society from its foundation in 1981, has helped create a network of about 5,000 correspondents.
An additional stimulus to Cornish identity has been the work of A.C. Todd of Exeter University, who since the early 1960s has explored the story of Cornish pioneers in North America and lectured to Cornish descendants. Important, too, is the bi-annual “Gathering of Cornish Cousins,” organized by the North American Cornish Society, which has active branches in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal. A feature of the seventh gathering, held in August 1991 at the University of Victoria, was the first Cornish bardic ceremony in North America, a ceremony that included eleven robed bards assisted by young attendants in full Cornish kilt and costume. This festival also included the singing of Celtic and Maritime folk songs, the reciting of historical narratives, Cornish language lessons, brass bands and choirs, and various Cornish foodstuffs, such as pasties and saffron buns. The names of the participants reflected the Cornish presence in North America: Pengilli, Liddicoat, Tregonning, Varcoe, Jollife, Curnow, Jenkin, Davey. The ninth gathering, held in Calumet, Michigan, in 1995, commemorated the pioneer Cornish settlers of the Lake Superior region.
Items about the Cornish diaspora appear in the Cornwall Family History Society’s Reviews (Truro, Cornwall; 1976–), the Cornish World (Redruth, Cornwall; 1993–) and via electronic mail through the London Cornish Newsletter (London). Radio Cornwall (Truro) broadcasts news of the Canadian Cornish societies five times per year, while Cornish and Welsh societies sponsor promotional events such as the Cornish Choir’s tour of the Great Lakes region in 1994.
The Cornish continue to struggle for recognition as a national group distinct from the English. They have contributed to the creation of Canada, not with the help of group structures but as individuals from a position of strength within the dominant culture. The current revival of interest in Cornish identity is both real and substantive. Though the content may be largely retrospective, the methods of communicating a sense of Cornishness in Canada are decidedly modern.
