 The national Polish emblem and Maple Leaf combine for a banner that will be used in the Canadian Polish Congress parade May 27. Maria Pruchnicki-Karczmarczyk (seated in foreground), Bolek Magolon (left) and Krystyna Piotrowska-Freiburger are involved with the festivities which mark 50 years of Polish Congress. |
 Father Adam Wroblewicz has many Polish families in his congregation at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Kitchener. |
It was not the greeting he had hoped for, but like thousands of Polish immigrants before him, Magolon knew that leaving his family behind to start a new life in Canada could result in estrangement, and he was prepared to work at winning her heart.
"I had a wife and three children, the youngest was three months old when I left, and I had no English. I had to work, work, work," said the Waterloo resident. "I was two years apart from my family."
Magolon's story is just one of thousands of similar stories that have moulded a large and thriving Polish immigrant population in Waterloo Region, an ethnic group whose numbers are estimated to be more than 25,000.
On May 27, they celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Canadian Polish Congress, Kitchener District, with a parade and cultural fair at Kitchener's City Hall and everyone is invited.
"This year we decided to do something bigger, to show people we do exist as a group," he said.
Exactly when the Poles first came to the region is unknown, though there is evidence a few families were here in the 1860s, when the first Polish mission was set up in Kitchener, then known as Berlin. By the turn of the 20th century, there were 250 families registered with the Catholic parish.
Immigration dwindled during the First World War but began to escalate in the 1920s, two years after Poland declared independence and the country's economy began to stagger.
After the Second World War, when the Polish people lost their country's freedoms to communism, another influx of immigrants came to Canada, and again in the early 1990s. With each new wave or trickling of immigrant Poles settling in Waterloo Region came a conviction to maintain their own culture while blending into their new home.
Ten years after first arriving in Kitchener, Magolon remembers his early years with a tinge of both humour and sadness.
"I remember Christmas Eve, I went shopping at Zehrs and all I had was $20, the pay wasn't coming until after Christmas," said the president of the Canadian Polish Congress in Kitchener, who now runs his own successful accounting firm.
Krystyna Piotrowska-Freiburger of Waterloo came to Canada as a child, having spent the earliest part of her life in an English refugee camp, outside London where there were a number of Polish families displaced from their homeland.
"England had allowed all the displaced people to live in the camps for up to 10 years," she said. "My parents had lost each other (during the war) for about eight years. They were sent to Siberia and they didn't know where each other was or even if they were alive."
During the 10th year in the camps, her father decided to take his family to Canada, where he felt certain a good life awaited them.
Maria Pruchnicki-Karczmarczyk and her first husband came to Canada in 1965, after a brother-in-law encouraged them to join him in Kitchener, where he had found work as a farm hand.
"There were not many Polish people here," she said. "My son was the only Polish child in school."
She describes how he came home every day from school, upset, desperately hoping he could be like all the other Canadian children. For a time, he even hated his accent and his foreign-sounding name.
It was a wise teacher that made him feel special amongst his peers for knowing more than one language.
Schools today have changed considerably from those early years and are more able to help integrate immigrant children.
"Now the schools are ready for them," said Magolon, describing how the teacher sat his daughter on her lap and asked her to tell the class Polish words for common objects.
While most children adapted easily to life in Canada, for the adults, it was often difficult.
Pruchnicki-Karczmarczyk remembers asking for directions to the nearest grocery store and hearing words like "intersection" or "crosswalk" and not having any idea what the strange words meant. It was a time of frustration, but like her fellow countrymen, Pruchnicki-Karczmarczyk learned to adapt to her new home though she never forgot Poland.
"You can't just cut off your roots," she said. "Our roots are in Poland, but our fruit is in Canada."
"I'm a happy camper to be here," said an enthusiastic Father Adam Wroblewicz, pastor of the Sacred Heart parish, home to 1,250 families, most of them Polish immigrants.
"It's a very multicultural (church) community, I'm very pleased with my people. . . . I'm very proud of the young people."
Wroblewicz came to Canada 10 years ago and was relieved to see the congregation here was as devout as those in Poland, particularly the youth.
"Ninety-seven per cent of Poles are Catholic," he said. "When I worked in Poland, we were under communism, we were suppressed."
He talked about the importance of the church in holding Poles together as a community and helping immigrants ease into their new lives.
"Some don't have families here in Canada," he said. "In Canada, the church is most precious.
"They find a family here."
"We want to participate in Canadian life, to be part of it," said Pruchnicki-Karczmarczyk. "I chose Canada, I was accepted . . . and I'm grateful." http://www.polishday.ca
COME CELEBRATE ON MAY 27 or visit website Polish Day
1 p.m.: Parade leaves Sacred Heart Church and walks along Moore Avenue and Breithaupt to King Street, then along King to Kitchener City Hall.
OUTSIDE STAGE,
KITCHENER CITY HALL
2 p.m.: Official opening ceremonies, starting with the traditional Polish dance Polonaise by the Kujawiacy dance group.
3 p.m.: Polish songs, folk dances; performers include Kujawiacy dance troupe; youth from the Polish schools in Cambridge, Guelph and Kitchener; Polish adult choir
4 p.m.: Gorale folk band; fashion show of Polish costumes; Kujawiacy Folk Choir
5 p.m.: Polish Karate Club; fashion show, Unique Boutique; Kujawiacy Dance Troupe
6 p.m.: Echo, Polish dance band
8 p.m.: Disco and rock
INSIDE STAGE (DECORATED LIKE THE OLD TOWN SQUARE OF KRAKOW)
3:30 p.m.: Penderecki Quartet
4 p.m.: Polish musicians
5 p.m.: Children's theatre group
5:30 p.m.: Greensleaves
6 p.m.: Music by talented local children and youth
6:30 p.m.: Cabaret with local artists
7:30 p.m.: Folk band http://www.polishday.ca