The Unveiling of the Emigrants Statue
Rt Hon Alex Salmond MSP, First Minister of Scotland
arrives at Couper Park
The unveiling of The Emigrants, a statue commemorating the achievements and resilience of those who left these shores
during the Highland Clearances and make new lives
for themselves overseas.
First Minister Alex Salmond holds the brolly as Eilidh Mackenzie from Lewis sings the Gaelic song 'O Teannaibh dluth
is togaibh fonn' during the unveiling ceremony.
CCL chairman Dennis Macleod revealed that an identical statue to the one in Helmsdale had recently been unveiled by the Red River near Winnipeg,
a city founded by some of those who
left the Strath of Kildonan for Canada.“It’s my personal ambition to have the same statue
erected in all the areas where the Highlanders settled,” he said.
“We now have two, and I can see five or six eventually,
in places including the US and Australia.”