Article content It is important to be open to learning new aspects of our history that were formerly not known or understood fully. Sometimes new information about the past calls for action to deepen and even enhance what we thought we knew. Part of the legacy we want to leave our grandchildren is an honest story of our collective roots. Many Ottawa residents grew up hearing about the Great Irish Famine, which drove more than 100,000 poor and starving Irish people to leave their homeland in the 1840s and ‘50s and come to Canada in search of a better life. Many famine victims died because of typhus and other afflictions caused by poor living conditions on the ships and when they got here as well. Our history as a city includes tales of heroic people like Élisabeth Bruyère and a few brave clergy, doctors and nurses who risked their own...