Polish Canadians

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Polish Canadian
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Total population
984,565 [1]
3.15% of the Canadian Population
Regions with significant populations
Ontario, Western Canada, Atlantic Canada, Quebec
Languages

Polish, English and/or French
Religion

Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish
Related ethnic groups

Polonia, Western Slavs

Polish Canadians are Citizens of Canada with Polish ancestry, and Poles who immigrated to Canada from abroad. According to the 2001 census by Statistics Canada, 984,585 Canadians claim full or partial Polish ancestry.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

The earliest Polish immigrants to Canada were members of the Watt and De Meuron military regiments from Saxony and Switzerland sent overseas to help the British Army in North America. Several were émigrés from Poland who took part in the November Uprising of 1830 and the 1863 insurrection against the Russian "occupation" of their own homeland.[2]

The first Polish immigrant on record, Dominik Barcz, is known to have come to Canada in 1752. He was a fur merchant from Gdańsk who settled in Montreal. He was followed in 1757 by Charles Blaskowicz, who worked as deputy surveyor-general of lands. In 1776 arrived army surgeon, August Franz Globensky. His grandson, Charles Auguste Maximilien Globensky was elected to the House of Commons in Ottawa in 1875.

Sir Casimir S. Gzowski from Historic Sites of Ontario.
Canada provinces 1867-1870.

In 1841, Casimir Stanislaus Gzowski arrived in Canada from the partitioned Poland via U.S.A. and for 50 years worked in engineering, military and community sectors in Toronto and Southern Ontario, for which he was knighted by Queen Victoria. His great-grandson, Peter Gzowski. become one of Canad's famous radio personalities.

Charles Horecki immigrated in 1872. He was an engineer with the cross-Canada railway construction from Edmonton to the Pacific Ocean through the Peace River Valley. Today, a mountain and a body of water in British Columbia are named after him.

[edit] Group-settlers

The first significant group of Polish group-settlers were Kashubians from Northern Poland, who were escaping Prussian oppression resulting from the occupation. They arrived in Renfrew County of Ontario in 1858, where they founded the settlements of Wilno, Barry’s Bay, and Round Lake (Ontario). By 1890 there were about 270 Kashubian families working in the Madawaska Valley of Renfrew County, mostly in the lumber industry of the Ottawa Valley.

The consecutive waves of Polish immigrants in periods from 1890–1914, 1920–1939, and 1941 to this day, settled across Canada from Cape Breton to Vancouver, and made numerous and significant contributions to the agricultural, manufacturing, engineering, teaching, publishing, religious, mining, cultural, professional, sports, military, research, business, governmental and political life in Canada.

[edit] Religious services

All Polish Canadians including their descendants are encouraged by organizations such as the Congress, to preserve their background and retain some ties with Poland and its people. In the past, the most significant role in the preservation of various aspects of Polish traditions and customs among the Polish communities in Canada fell for the Polish urban parishes, which retain the use of Polish language during services.[3]

The first Polish Catholic priest visited Polish immigrants in 1862 in Kitchener. The first church serving Polish immigrants was built in 1875 in Wilno, Ontario. In Winnipeg, the Holy Ghost Church was built in 1899.

The first Polish-Canadian Roman Catholic bishop is Reverend Mathew Ustrzycki, consecrated in June 1985, auxiliary bishop of the Hamilton Diocese. There are Polish-Canadian priests in many congregations and orders, such as the Franciscans, Jesuits, Redemptorists, Saletinians, Resurrectionists, Oblates, Michaelites, and the Society of Christ. In addition, 80 priests are serving in 120 parishes.

Toronto Memorial to Katyn Victims

[edit] Largest Polish Canadian communities

The Pope John Paul II statue, Toronto
The largest Polish festival in Canada held in Roncesvalles, Toronto annually

[edit] The Victoria Cross

Numerous Polish-Canadians have been recognized with awards and appointments by the Queen and the Canadian governments as well as universities and various organizations. One of the most notable recipients was Andrew Mynarski, pilot-gunner from Winnipeg, awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously for extreme valor in World War II.

[edit] Polish Canadian recipients of the Order of Canada

  • B. Dubienski of Winnipeg, lawyer
  • Jan Drygala of Oshawa, WWII staff-sergeant of the Polish Army.
  • Captain Andrew Garlicki of Ottawa
  • Rt. Rev. Monsignor Anthony Gocki of Regina
  • Rev. Anthony Hylla, Oblate priest
  • Rev. Michael Smith, missionary Oblate priest
  • Casimir Stanczykowski of Montreal, multilingual radio station founder and broadcaster
  • Stefan Sznuk, Group Captain
  • Peter Taraska of Winnipeg, Knight of St. Gregory, alderman and citizenship judge
  • Irena Ungar, Citizenship Judge
  • Dr. Henry Wojcicki, Edmonton, distinguished psychiatrist, Univ. of Alberta senator [2]
  • Walter Gretzky, Brantford, Ontario, Canada, father of Wayne Gretzky

[edit] Polish Canadian Queen’s Counsels and lawyers appointed as judges

Their Honors
  • Judge Paul Staniszewski, of Toronto, Montreal and the County Court of Windsor
  • Judge P. Swiecicki, of the Superior Court of BC in Vancouver
  • Judge Allan H. J. Wachowich, of the Court of Queen’s Bench in Edmonton
  • Judge E.F. Wrzeszczinski-Wren, of the County Court of Toronto.

[edit] Notable Polish Canadians

[edit] Science and Engineering

[edit] Education

[edit] Politics

[edit] Music

Walter Buczynski - composer, Kinga Mitrowska - singer, Kornel Wolak - clarinet virtuoso

[edit] Culture and Media

[edit] Actors

[edit] Military

[edit] Sports

[edit] Fictional Characters

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Statistics Canada, [1], 2001 Census, last modified: 2005-01-25. Accessed 2008-01-03.
  2. ^ Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2002, Archival Sources for the Study of Polish Canadians. Accessed 2008-01-03
  3. ^ Henry Radecki, Ethnic organizational dynamics: the Polish group in Canada. Page 102  Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, 1979 - 275 pages
  4. ^ Archival Sources for the Study of Polish Canadians

[edit] External links
Europe
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Elsewhere
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