As President of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Polish Congress, I feel impelled to respond to the article entitled “Some hopes for a more effective Canadian Polonia” written by Mark Wegierski.

While I sadly must agree with some of his statements and comments. I would like to explain, refute, and inform Mr. Wegierski about some of the “realities” of Polonia in Canada.

Let me begin by saying that it is true that most of Polonia’s shortcomings result from a lack of funds. Please believe me, there are those who give in Polonia – give of their time, effort, and finances, but they are always the same individuals. Why, one might ask? Why don’t most Canadians of Polish descent include the Congress or one of the Foundations you mentioned in their wills? Why is it that the Canadian Polish Congress can send out a request for sponsorship – a simple $100.00 would do – to 400+ businesses in Polonia, only to receive maybe 5 responses? Why do even some Member Organizations of the Congress balk at paying $10 a year per member – because it increased by a dollar? We as a community have failed, generally speaking, in building and developing a culture of giving to support Polonia.

Mr. Wegierski is correct in saying that “many Polish- Canadians do considerably or even very well in Canadian society. However, this personal success has, unfortunately, rarely been translated into greater clout and success for the community as a whole.”. Part of the problem, in my opinion, is that Polonia has been intolerant of many members of the Canadian Polish community due to their lack of Polish language skill. Speaking perfect Polish should not be a criteria for being a member of Polonia!

There is also the perception of some, that Polonia is still too involved in “all things Polish and what happens in Poland.” We should be supportive of a democratic Poland, praise it loudly, visit Poland to learn more about our heritage and also encourage our children and grandchildren to be proud of their ancestry and know the history of Poland. However, we live in Canada and have adapted to the Canadian lifestyle while maintaining our Polish traditions and customs. The success of the Roncesvalles Polish Festival in Toronto shows that we are proud of our heritage but also recognizes that we are now part of the Canadian society.

Mr. Wegierski begins his article with the statement “that the lack of intellectual and cultural infrastructures for the Polish-Canadian community is particularly troubling.” and goes on to list several periodicals and journals which have become defunct over the years. My response would be that those who are raised here and complete their education here are likely to have access to excellent professional materials in English and prefer to read in English. There are still periodicals printed by various organizations for example, the Polish Teacher’s Association, Polish Scouting Association, but these are of interest to their members. Irene Tomaszewski quarterly publishes a fantastic on-line magazine called “Cosmopolitan Review” which is in English and therefore more viable for many members of Polonia. The suggestion that some “Polish-Canadian newspapers may be interested in having such a quarterly magazine supplement” is fine but most Polish newspapers have gone to an on-line format and publish only once a week due to costs and lack of readership. The reality is that today, various forms of media allow everyone to see and hear things happening in Poland and Canada without buying a Polish newspaper.

I’d like to point out that several important contributors to the “intellectual and cultural infrastructure” of Polonia have been omitted. The Polish Catholic Church in Canada continues to maintain culture in our community. One has to just look at the work of the Family Radio, the seminars by visiting professors (several in English) organized by Friends of the Catholic University in Lublin which have been held at St. Maximillian Kolbe Parish and the various concerts, such as the pipe organ concert, held at St. Eugene de Mazenod to see the input of our parishes in the intellectual and cultural life of Polonia. The Polish Engineers Association regularly holds lectures and seminars, often in English, concerning contemporary events in the scientific community. The Canadian Chopin Society not only organizes the Chopin Piano Competition with the winners going to Warsaw for the prestigious worldwide competition, but also interesting concerts featuring Canadian artists of Polish descent. Ludowa Nuta, Symfonia Choir, Andrzej Rozbicki, and Maciej Jaskiewicz among many others provide a variety of musical alternatives. Various theatre companies such as the Polish Canadian Society of Theatre – Theatre, Poetry, and Music Salon put on plays relevant to the community and our history sometimes with English subtitles. Artists such as Ania and Wojtek Biczysko, Iwona Dufaj, Janusz Charczuk, and Wojtek Macherzynski, to name only a few, often showcase their work both in Polonia and in the general Canadian community   Numerous folk ensembles across Canada keep the culture of our folklore alive by introducing our youth to the rich history of music and dance of their ancestors. These are just a few examples, mainly in the GTA region. Many more such groups/people exist across Canada and proudly work to maintain Polish culture and tradition through the Arts and through various organizations. My point is, Mr. Wegierski, that Polonia does not lack in opportunities to have intellectual and cultural stimulation.

As to the foundations which give bursaries to students of Polish descent, each of them has their own criteria which must be met. It seems odd that Mr. Wegierski suggests to consider only students of the social sciences. The foundations accept applications from students in all faculties. The reality again is that they can only give out what they have in trust. Once again the problem is that not enough people in the Canadian Polish community leave money in their wills or donate to these foundations.

Now for the Congress. The function of the Canadian Polish Congress, to represent our community’s interests before the people and Government of Canada and to promote awareness of and respect for Poland’s history and heritage and the contribution of Poles to the culture of Canada and the world. I have spent 5 years as President of the Board of Directors trying to build up the visibility of the Congress. There have been several events run by the Congress, among them “Polish Heritage Day at the ROM” which featured artists, musicians, historic displays, films and books by authors who reside in Canada and are of Polish descent. My aim is to have the Canadian Polish Congress be exactly that – Canadian – with a pride in the achievements and involvement of Poles who came here for a new life and live here on a daily basis as part of the Canadian society. In order to have a stronger voice in what matters to Canadians of Polish descent we need to be visible, eloquent (in English), support those from our community who enter politics because they have our interests at heart, support our businesses, our churches, our organizations, our seniors homes, and show other Canadians who we are and what we have done here in Canada and worldwide.

With this in mind, and with the upcoming 150th Anniversary of Confederation in 2017, the Canadian Polish Congress has decided to do a film about the input of Polish immigrants into the development and growth of Canada over the 150 years. We have applied for a Federal Grant and hopefully will receive generous support from various sources in our community The film will include events before confederation when the Kaszubians arrived in Ontario, the history of the coal miners in Cape Breton, the miners in Noranda and Sudbury, the farmers who helped open the West and those who farmed in southern Ontario the Veterans, engineers, and survivors who arrived after WWII, and the “Solidarity” immigration right up to the present.

We are having a fundraising banquet on Saturday, October 17, 2015 in Burlington. We are looking for funds for this endeavour. Will you be supporting it, Mr. Wegierski? I can send you an invitation to the banquet and a sponsorship form.

Napisane przez  Mark Wegierski, piątek, 17, lipiec 2015 r.

It has to be said at the outset, that the lack of meaningful intellectual and cultural infrastructures for the Polish-Canadian community is particularly troubling.

While the work of professor Tamara Trojanowska, who teaches Polish Language and Literature at the University of Toronto has been considerably helpful (such as the major international conference on Polish themes that took place in February 2006), professor Piotr Wrobel, who holds the Chair of Polish History at the University of Toronto, has been seen by some as rather cool to the core concerns of the Polish-Canadian community.

Some worthy goals for the community could be the considerable augmenting of such institutions as the Polish Library in Montreal, the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in Canada (PIASC), and the Canadian-Polish Research Institute in Toronto. For example, it would be helpful if the publication of the annual scholarly journal of the Polish Library in Montreal and PIASC, could be restored. (The last extant issue appeared in 2007-2008.).

Obviously, the community should try to increase support to its small, mostly impecunious foundations – notably, the Adam Mickiewicz Foundation in Canada, the Canadian-Polish Millennium Fund, the Wladyslaw Reymont Foundation, and the Turzanski Foundation.

It would be helpful to put into place such things as real scholarships for Polish-Canadian graduate students in the social sciences and humanities (as seen, for example, in some other communities, reaching an amazing $20,000 a year per person!). These scholarships should be primarily merit-based.

It would also be helpful if these foundations could offer, for example, scholarships for Polish-Canadians taking journalism courses and programs, as well as for students of creative writing working on Polish themes, along with annual prizes for the best Polish-Canadian writers (rather than for already well-established, big-name authors from Poland).

It would be helpful, furthermore, to augment the Polish-Canadian Publishing Fund (Polski Fundusz Wydawniczy w Kanadzie) on the understanding that it would begin to extensively publish books in English, rather than almost exclusively in Polish.

It would be desirable to re-establish a Polish-Canadian literary-artistic-cultural publication along the lines of the now-defunct High Park Magazine (which published twenty-five magnificent issues between 1992 and 1998). Perhaps one of the major Polish-Canadian newspapers might be interested in having such a quarterly magazine supplement?

I have also noticed that the superb Western-Canadian-based literary-artistic-cultural magazine, Strumien, has not been able to keep up annual appearances. It is presumably short of funds and needs financial assistance.

It would also be efficacious to finally launch that “Polish-Canadian Defence Fund” on at least a somewhat professional basis, although in this case, support from the government could not be expected. The work of continuously monitoring the various main Canadian media – and responding as necessary — cannot be undertaken in this very media-saturated society solely by volunteer effort.

As far as the Canadian Polish Congress (KPK) — the chief representative institution of the Polish-Canadian community – one would hope for the increasing professionalization of its executive posts and of its fund-raising initiatives. Can one hope that it will ever be able to break out of what has appeared to be its state of perpetual penury?

As far as the Polish veterans’ organizations, it has been suggested, for example, that the Polish Combatants’ Association (SPK) building on 206 Beverley Street (close to the University of Toronto main campus and downtown Toronto), could become an archival, library, and museum institution, to be called the Museum of Poland and the Poles in World War II. It would be felicitous if those institutions of the Polish state whose mission is focussed on Poles and persons of Polish descent living abroad, such as, most notably, the Wspolnota Polska (Polish Commonweal) could offer some support in this regard. The rhetoric on its website is certainly high-flown – and it is, after all, more than twenty-five years since the fall of Communism!

The irony is that, as individuals, many Polish-Canadians do considerably or even very well in Canadian society. However, this personal success has, unfortunately, rarely been translated into greater clout and success for the community as a whole.

If at least some of the initiatives mentioned above were rapidly actualized, they could create a social, cultural, and intellectual impetus that could sustain the community for many future decades!

Read KPK response to M. Wegierski