Canadian-American Club Holds Annual Gala/Fundraiser on November 3 in Watertown

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The Canadian American Club in Watertown MA is holding its annual Gala/Fundraiser on Sunday, November 3, 2019, from 1-8 p.m.  Suggested donation is $20.

 Among the performers are the Boston Scottish Fiddle Orchestra and the Reynolds-Hanafin-Cooley Boston chapter of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann.  See full line-up of performers here.

The Canadian-American Club is the outgrowth of a group of Canadian expatriates dating back to the 1930, according to author Michael Quinlin.  The group formed a Canadian-American League on May 19, 1937.  A story in The Boston Globe published on the following day, wrote that the group was "seeking 1,000 charter members....(and) more than 200 attended" the first meeting.

Attorney Joseph S. O'Neill, the organizer and first president of the Canadian-American League, was originally from Prince Edward Island, according to his obituary in The Boston Globe published on August 20, 1938.  Other officers at the time included Alexander C. Chisholm, treasurer; Mrs. Colin W. MacDonald, secretary; and Jeannette C. Chisholm, assistant secretary.

Judging from the many Scottish and Irish names cited in the Globe story, the organizers were largely comprised of immigrants who had come to the Boston area from the Maritime provinces.


In June 1969, the group purchased the building at  at 202 Arlington Street in Watertown, which eventually became known as the Canadian American Club. A number of Canadian government officials visited the Club in the early years, such as Nova Scotia Premier Gerald A. Regan in 1972, to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Canadian-American League; and Cecil Miller, Speaker of the Provincial House, Prince Edward Island in 1973.  

 According to the group, "the Canadian American Club celebrates Canadian culture in all its diversity and particularly fosters the distinctive Gaelic traditional music and dance of the Maritimes."

 Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann has been holding its monthly sessions and dances at the Club since the late 1970s.  

 Find year round details on Irish, Scottish and Cape Breton music in Massachusetts by visiting IrishMassachusetts.com.


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