Polish Canadian

Wayne Gretzky • Peter Gzowski Aleksandra Wozniak • Geddy Lee
Total population
984,565 [1] 3.15% of the Canadian Population
Regions with significant populations
Ontario, Western Canada, Atlantic Canada, Quebec
Languages
English, Polish, 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 1 History 2 Group-settlers 3 Religious services 4 Largest Polish Canadian communities 5 The Victoria Cross 6 Polish Canadian recipients of the Order of Canada 7 Polish Canadian Queen’s Counsels and lawyers appointed as judges 8 Notable Polish Canadians 8.1 Science and Engineering 8.2 Education 8.3 Politics 8.4 Public Service 8.5 Music 8.6 Culture and Media 8.7 Actors 8.8 Military 8.9 Sports 8.10 Fictional Characters 9 See also 10 References 11 External links

[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.

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.

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.

[edit] Largest Polish Canadian communities

Alberta Calgary, Alberta Edmonton, Alberta British Columbia Surrey, British Columbia Vancouver, British Columbia Victoria, British Columbia Manitoba Winnipeg, Manitoba Nova Scotia Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Halifax, Nova Scotia

Ontario Hamilton, Ontario London, Ontario Mississauga, Ontario Ottawa, Ontario Toronto, Ontario Roncesvalles Wilno, Ontario Quebec Montreal, Quebec Quebec City, Quebec

[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 receipient being 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]

[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

• Dr. Tadeusz Blachut of Ottawa, member of the National Research Council, a photogram metric expert
• Zbigniew Krupski, the Executive Vice-Chairman of the Bell Telephone company of Canada
• Adam Skorek, professor and Fellow of the "Engineering Institute of Canada". http://www.eic-ici.ca/english/tour/fellows.html. 
• J. Norton-Spychalski, a co-founder of the Computing Devices of Canada in 1949
• Witold Rybczynski - architect, professor and writer
• P. Wyszkowski, Chief Structural Engineer of Toronto’s Bloor Street subway
• Janusz Żurakowski Battle of Britain fighter pilot, Test pilot of the Avro Arrow plane of the Avro Aircraft Company in Malton, awarded Canada’s top Aviation Award, the McKee Trophy in 1959

[edit] Education

• Isaac Hellmuth, from Warsaw, via England, one of the founders of the University of Western Ontario.

[edit] Politics

• Leon David Crestohl - Liberal MP Cartier 1950-1963
• Jan Dukszta - former Ontario NDP MPP
• Gary Filmon - former Premier of Manitoba
• Jesse Flis - Liberal MP Parkdale—High Park 1979-1984; 1988-1997
• Casimir Gzowski - Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
• Stanley Haidasz - Liberal MP: for Trinity: 1957-1958, for Parkdale: 1962-1978, Minister of State, Senator
• Stan Kazmierczak Keyes - former national chair of Liberal Party of Canada; Liberal MP Hamilton West 1988-2004
• Alexandre Edouard Kierzkowski - Liberal MP St. Hyacinthe 1867-1970, First MP of Polish Decent
• Ken Kowalski, former Deputy Premier of Alberta, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
• Don Mazankowski - Deputy Prime Minister for Brian Mulroney, Progressive Conservative MP Vegreville 1968-1993
• Gary Malkowski - former Ontario NDP MPP, Canada's first deaf parliamentarian
• Fred Rose - Labour Progressive (Communist) MP Cartier 1943-1947; his capture as a Soviet spy helped to start the Cold War
• Paul Yakabuski - former Ontario Progressive Conservative MPP
• Elaine Ziemba - former Ontario NDP MPP

[edit] Public Service

• Frank Glogowski - Vice-Chairman of the Immigration Appeal Board
• Peter Taraska of Winnipeg - Citizenship Court Judge
• Irene Ungar of Toronto - Citizenship Court Judge
• Stan Zybala - a Deputy-Director of the Multicultural Directorate

[edit] Music

• Tadeusz Biernacki - conductor, pianist, arranger
• Dan Bryk - singer-songwriter
• Basia Bulat - singer-songwriter
• Janina Fialkowska - renown pianist, born in Montreal[3]
• Karolina Ingleton - singer-songwriter
• Marek Jablonski - pianist-virtuoso, born in Cracow[4]
• Steve Jocz - drummer for Sum 41
• Ben Kowalewicz - lead singer for Billy Talent
• Geddy Lee - bassist, keyboardist and lead vocalist for Rush
• Margaret Maye - singer and actress
• Daniel Wnukowski - pianist

[edit] Culture and Media

• Andrzej Busza - poet,
• Bogdan Czaykowski - poet, translator, essayist
• Peter Gzowski - broadcaster, writer and reporter
• Rafal Heydel-Mankoo - historian and royal commentator for CTV
• Wacław Iwaniuk - poet in Polish, literary critic and essayist ^[4]
• Anne Mroczkowski - journalist, news anchor
• Bogumil Pacak-Gamalski - poet, essayist, publisher of 'Strumien' [5]
• George Radwanski - Editor-in-Chief of the Toronto Star
• Chava Rosenfarb - novelist, poet in Yiddish, wife of Henry Morgentaler
• Adam Smoluk - director, screenwriter and actor
• Mark Starowicz - head of CBC Television Documentary Programming unit, journalist and TV producer
• Richard Tylman - poet in English and Polish, essayist, translator, and painter

[edit] Actors

• Magda Apanowicz - actress

[edit] Military

• Andrew Charles Mynarski - VC, Second World War airman
• Stefan Sznuk - Major General.
• Walter J. Natynczyk - Chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Forces

[edit] Sports

• Turk Broda - ice hockey goalie
• Wayne Gretzky - former hockey star and former coach of the Phoenix Coyotes.
• Rafael Kalamat - golf professional
• Michael Klukowski - soccer player for Club Brugge
• Tomasz Kucharzewski - martial artist
• Jim Peplinski - Calgary Flames NHL
• Chris Pozniak - soccer player who currently plays for San Jose Earthquakes.
• Tomasz Radzinski - soccer player
• Krzysztof Soszynski - Mixed Martial Artist
• Larry Trader - played for Detroit, St. Louis, Montreal, 1982-1988
• Wojtek Wolski - Colorado Avalanche Player NHL
• John Tavares - ice hockey player for the New York Islanders
• Aleksandra Wozniak - professional tennis Player

[edit] Fictional Characters

• Sasquatch (comics), a Marvel superhero
• Jude Lizowsky, a 6teen character

[edit] See also

• Great Emigration
• Canadian-Polish Congress
• Polish Americans
• Polish Cathedral style of North American church architecture
• Polish British
• Polish Australian

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Canadian Polish Congress

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