Irish Quebecers (, ) are residents of the Canadian province of Quebec who have Irish ancestry. In 2016, there were 446,215 Quebecers who identified themselves as having partial or exclusive Irish descent in Quebec, representing 5.46% of the population. Demographics As of the 2016 Census, there were 446,215 Quebecers who identified themselves as Irish representing 5.46% of the population. In the city of Montreal, there are 92,145 people of declared Irish heritage. Irish culture and community organizations are mostly kept alive by the English-speaking population such as the United Irish Societies of Montreal. Many others have assimilated into the French-speaking majority population. Saint Patrick's Day Parade The longest-running Saint Patrick's Day parade in Canada is held each year in Montreal, Quebec. The parades have been held since 1824 and have been organized by the United Irish Societies of Montreal since 1929. However, St. Patrick's Day itself has been celebrated in Montreal as far back as 1759 by Irish soldiers in the Montreal Garrison during the British conquest of New France. History New France (1608–1763) In the seventeenth century, Irish residing in France were among those sent to colonize the Saint Lawrence Valley in New France. After the Reformation, Irish Catholic nobility, soldiers, and clergy would serve Catholic Monarchs in France, Spain, and the Low Countries. Nearly 35,000 Irish served in the French military in the seventeenth century. By 1700 there were approximately one hundred Irish-born families among the 2,500 families registered in New France, along with an additional thirty families of mixed Irish and French backgrounds. Only 10 colonists had arrived from Ireland directly. In the early eighteenth century, many Irish Catholics arrived from New England seeking to practice their religion more freely. During the Seven Years' War, French authorities also encouraged desertion among the Irish serving in the British army in North America. In 1757, Governor Pierre Rigaud de Vaudreuil raised an Irish company consisting of deserters and prisoners of war who had served with the enemy British army; this company returned to France after the war. Most of these Irish soldiers, settlers, and deserters assimilated into French-Canadian society. Lower Canada (early 1800s) Overpopulation and the enclosure movement in Ireland along with established commercial shipping routes between Quebec City and ports in Dublin and Liverpool encouraged large waves of Irish emigration to Lower Canada starting in 1815. Most of these emigrants would come to cities in Lower Canada, establishing