Aralt Mac Giolla Chainnigh is fluent in Irish and works extensively to establish a firmer sense of Irish-Canadian heritage through Cumann na Gaeltachta, Canada.

He is a leading organizer of Gaeltacht Bhaile na hÉireann, an area in Ontario that is the first Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking area) outside of Ireland.

“I could envision people coming from all the Irish Gaeltachts, meeting at our Gaeltacht and going on an Irish-language tour of the Niagara Falls,” Aralt told Gaelport.com. “[Canada] is not like America where there is a strong Irish-American identity. We never really escaped the British Empire and there isn’t a globally defined Irish-Canadian identity. Cumann na Gaeltachta, Canada, won this year’s Glór na nGael’s Global Gaeilge award for promoting the Irish language.

Aralt, a captain in the Canadian police force, is also a researcher into circumstellar morphology in symbiotic star systems. He is the President of the North American Association for Celtic Language Teachers and is a professor of physics at the Royal Military College of Canada.

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