Article content

CASTINE, Me. — A tiny history museum in this Maine town is reminding Canadians of what could have been, mounting an exhibition on the little-known story of a lost Canadian province: New Ireland.

British forces in pre-Confederation Canada seized Northern Maine during the final months of the War of 1812, sensing little local ability to resist and well aware of the strategic value of controlling the region separating Quebec and New Brunswick.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or New Ireland: How Maine almost became part of Canada at the end of the War of 1812 Back to video

Had the land-grab succeeded, it would have yielded roughly 50,000 square kilometres of territory — an area two-thirds the size of present-day New Brunswick. And it would have had a profound impact not just on the location of Canada’s East Coast border, but on the country’s future economic development and, possibly, the timing of Confederation itself.

“If British diplomats and strategic thinkers had been more strongly committed to this idea, a very alternative outcome is easy to imagine,” said Liam Riordan, a professor of history at the University of Maine, Orono.