At the height of the famine, up to 30,000 Irish immigrants arrived in Montréal every year, hoping to settle here happily. Unfortunately, the unhealthy conditions that prevailed in the boats the Irish took to cross the Atlantic Ocean caused the spread of typhus. Several of those who survived the crossing died in the dispensaries established along the port after they arrived in Montréal.

As a result of the typhus epidemic, 6,000 of these newly arrived Irish immigrants died. They were buried in a mass grave in Victoriatown (Village-aux-Oies/Goose Village). The Black Rock, a monument erected at this location, at the entrance to the Victoria Bridge, commemorates this sad episode that marked the establishment of the Irish population in Montréal.

Those who survived the crossing generally settled where they landed, namely in Griffintown and Pointe-Saint-Charles.

Today, the names of several streets, such as Place Dublin, recall this Irish presence.