Sir Casimir S. Gzowski from Historic Sites ofOntarioCanada provinces 1867–1870
The first Polish immigrant on record, was Dominik Barcz, came to Canada in 1752. He was a fur merchant fromGdańsk who settled inMontreal. He was followed in 1757 by Charles Blaskowicz, a 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.[3]
In 1841,Casimir Stanislaus Gzowski arrived in Canada from partitioned Poland via the US, and for 50 years worked in the engineering, military and community sectors inToronto andSouthern Ontario, for which he was knighted by Queen Victoria. His great-great-grandson,Peter Gzowski, became one of Canada's famous radio personalities.
Charles Horecki immigrated in 1872. He was an engineer with the cross-Canada railway construction fromEdmonton to the Pacific Ocean through the Peace River Valley. Today, a mountain and a body of water inBritish Columbia are named after him.[citation needed]
Polish immigration stopped during World War I and between the wars, over 100,000 Polish immigrants arrived in Canada.[5]
The first significant group of Polish group-settlers were ethnicKashubians from northern Poland, who were escaping Prussian and German oppression resulting from theoccupation after the partitions. They arrived inRenfrew County ofOntario in 1858, where they founded the settlements ofWilno,Barry's Bay, andRound Lake.[18] By 1890 there were about 270 Kashubian families working in theMadawaska Valley of Renfrew County, mostly in thelumber industry of theOttawa Valley.
The consecutive waves of Polish immigrants in periods from 1890–1914, 1920–1939, and 1941 to this day, settled across Canada fromCape Breton toVancouver, 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.[citation needed]
All Polish Canadians including their descendants are encouraged by organizations such as theCongress, 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 the Polish language during services.[20]
The firstPolish Catholic priest visited Polish immigrants in 1862 in Kitchener. The first church serving Polish immigrants was built in 1875 inWilno,Ontario. InWinnipeg, the Holy Ghost Church was built in 1899 with the church in Winnipeg publishing the first Polish newspaper in Canada,Gazeta Katolicka in 1908.[21] In Sydney, Nova Scotia,St. Mary's Polish Parish was established in 1913 by immigrant steelworkers and coal miners, many of whom had previously formed the St. Michael's Polish Benefit Society (est. 1909). The parish remains the only Polish parish in Atlantic Canada, although there is a Polish mission (St. Faustina) in Halifax.
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 serve in 120 parishes.
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 wasAndrew Mynarski, pilot-gunner from Winnipeg, awarded theVictoria Cross posthumously for extreme valor inWorld War II.
^Sheldon Kirshner (Sep 15, 2004)."Database"(PDF).The Polish-Jewish Heritage Foundation of Canada. The Canadian Jewish News, Toronto. Archived fromthe original(PDF file, direct download 351 KB) on May 15, 2013. RetrievedMarch 9, 2013.
^Heydenkorn, Benedykt (Spring–Summer 1982)."Polish press in Canada".Polyphony: The Bulletin of the Multicultural History Society of Ontario.4 (1): 35. Retrieved2 August 2013.
^Services, Government of Canada, Office of the Secretary to the Governor General, Information and Media."Order of Canada".Archive.gg.ca. Retrieved27 May 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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