Shiners were gangs of Irish immigrants that formed in the early days of

Bytown Bytown is the former name of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded on September 26, 1826, incorporated as a town on January 1, 1850, and superseded by the incorporation of the City of Ottawa on January 1, 1855. The founding was marked by a sod ...

, later

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, mainly active during the 1830s. After the completion of the

Rideau Canal The Rideau Canal is a 202-kilometre long canal that links the Ottawa River at Ottawa with the Cataraqui River and Lake Ontario at Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Its 46 Lock (water navigation), locks raise boats from the Ottawa River 83 metres (272 ...

in 1832, many Irish workers were left unemployed. The timber industry, the major economic activity in the region at the time, mainly employed

French-Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French colonists first arriving in France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of French Canadians live in the prov ...

labourers, who were reputed to be hard-working and better skilled. Out of frustration, some of the unemployed banded together to try to create jobs for themselves by intimidation. This started the

Shiners' War The Shiners' Wars were violent outbreaks in Bytown (now Ottawa) from 1835 to 1845 between Irish-Catholic immigrants, led by Peter Aylen, and French Canadians, led by Joseph Montferrand. The war began when Aylen, a major Irish timber operator, ...

. At this time, the town of Bytown did not have a permanent police force. From street fights, the violence escalated into robbery and murder. James Johnston, a prominent businessman and journalist, was beaten and his home was attacked. One of the

lumber baron A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

s, Peter Aylen, only employed Irish workers and called himself "King of the Shiners". The logger

Joseph Montferrand Joseph "Jos" Montferrand (; born Joseph Favre ; October 25, 1802 – October 4, 1864) was a French-Canadian logger, strongman, and folk hero of the working man and was the inspiration for the legendary Ottawa Valley figure Big Joe Mufferaw. L ...

took the side of the French-Canadians, inspiring many tales elevating him to the status of local legend. In 1837, the town magistrates formed armed patrols to monitor the town at night. This largely put an end to the gangs and violence, although some outbreaks continued to occur into the 1840s.

References

History of Ottawa History of Gatineau Pre-Confederation Ontario Irish-Canadian culture in Ontario Gangs in Ontario Timber industry in Canada {{Ottawa-stub