The first Polish immigrant on record, Dominik Barcz, came to Canada in 1752. He was a fur merchant from Gdańsk who settled in Montreal. 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.
Among 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.
In 1841, Casimir Stanislaus Gzowski arrived in Canada from the partitioned Poland via the US, and for 50 years worked in the engineering, military and community sectors in Toronto and Southern Ontario, for which he was knighted by Queen Victoria. His 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 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.
Polish immigration stopped during World War I and between the wars, over 100,000 Polish immigrants arrived in Canada.
See also Kashubians#Diaspora
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. 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.
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.
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 with the church in Winnipeg publishing the first Polish newspaper in Canada, Gazeta Katolicka in 1908. 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 was Andrew Mynarski, pilot-gunner from Winnipeg, awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously for extreme valor in World War II.
Mary Adamowska Panaro, C.M. Winnipeg, Welfare Council of Winnipeg
Dr. Henry Wojcicki – Edmonton, distinguished psychiatrist, University of Alberta senator
Dr.Tom Brzustowski Waterloo, president of NSERC
Walter Gretzky, Brantford, Ontario, Canada
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 Alfred Harold Joseph Swencisky – of the Superior Court of BC in Vancouver; past president of the Vancouver Hospital Association
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
Science and engineering
Casimir Gzowski – engineer who worked on Welland Canal, New York & Erie Railway (first Commissioner of the Niagara Parks Commission)
Leon Katz, FRSC (1909–2004) – Officer of the Order of Canada, Professor University of Saskatchewan, physicist
Karol Józef Krótki, FRSC – demography professor, statistician
Witold Rybczynski – architect, professor and writer
Lucas Skoczkowski – founder and CEO of Redknee
Adam Skorek – professor of electrical and computer engineering
Nicole Tomczak-Jaegermann, FRSC – mathematics professor
Janusz Żurakowski – Battle of Britain fighter pilot
Isaac Hellmuth – from Warsaw, via England; one of the founders of the University of Western Ontario
Conrad Swan – descended from Polish noble family, Swiecicki; first Canadian appointed to the College of Arms in London
Zygmunt Misiak - WW2 baby Polish refugee, author, First Nations history/culture, Brantford Ontario, www.realpeopleshistory.com
Leon David Crestohl – former Liberal MP, Cartier, (1950–1963)
Bonnie Crombie – former Liberal MP, Mississauga—Streetsville (2008-2011), Mayor of Mississauga, Ontario (2014–present)
Jan Dukszta – former Ontario NDP MPP, Parkdale (1971–1981)
Gary Filmon – former Premier of Manitoba (1988-1999), Manitoba PC MLA, River Heights (1979-1981) and Tuxedo (1981-2000)
Jesse Flis – former Liberal MP Parkdale—High Park (1979–1984; 1988–1997)
Casimir Gzowski – Acting Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (1896-1897)
Stanley Haidasz – former Liberal MP for Trinity (1957–1958) and Parkdale (1962–1978); Minister of State for Multiculturalism (1972-1974); Senator (1978–1998)
Andrew Kania – former Liberal Member of Parliament for Brampton West (2008–2011)
Stan Kazmierczak Keyes – former national chair of Liberal Party of Canada (2002-2004); Liberal MP Hamilton West (1988–2004); Minister of National Revenue, Minister of State (Sport), Minister Responsible for the Canada Post Corporation and Minister Responsible for the Royal Canadian Mint (2003-2004)
Alexandre-Édouard Kierzkowski – former Liberal MP St. Hyacinthe (1867–1870), First MP of Polish Descent
Tom Kmiec – Conservative MP, Calgary Shepard (2015–present)
Chris Korwin-Kuczynski – former Toronto city councillor (1981–2003)
Ken Kowalski – former Deputy Premier of Alberta (1992-1994), former Alberta Government Minister, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta (1997-2012), Alberta PC MLA (1979-2012)
Wladyslaw Lizon – former Conservative MP for Mississauga East-Cooksville (2011–2015) and former president of the Canadian Polish Congress (2005-2010)
Thomas Lukaszuk – former Deputy Premier of Alberta (2012-2013), former Alberta Government Minister (2010-2014), and PC MLA for Edmonton-Castle Downs (2001-2015)
Gary Malkowski – former Ontario NDP MPP, York East (1990-1995), Canada's first deaf parliamentarian
Don Mazankowski – former Deputy Prime Minister for Brian Mulroney (1986-1993), former federal government Minister (1979-1980; 1984-1993), Progressive Conservative MP Vegreville (1968–1993)
Peter Milczyn – former Member of Toronto City Council (2000–2014), current Liberal MPP Etobicoke—Lakeshore (2014–present)
Ted Opitz – former Conservative MP for Etobicoke Centre (2011-2015)
Fred Rose – former Labor-Progressive (Communist) MP Cartier (1943–1947); only MP ever convicted of spying for a foreign country, his capture as a Soviet spy helped to start the Cold War
John Yakabuski – Ontario Progressive Conservative MPP Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke (2003–present), son of Paul Yakabuski
Paul Yakabuski – former Ontario Progressive Conservative MPP, (1963-1987), father of John Yakabuski
Ed Ziemba – former Ontario NDP MPP, High Park—Swansea (1975–1981), brother-in-law of Elaine Ziemba
Elaine Ziemba – former Ontario NDP MPP, High Park—Swansea (1990–1995), sister-in-law of Ed Ziemba
Dan Bryk – singer-songwriter
Walter Buczynski – composer
Basia Bulat – singer-songwriter
Captain G.Q. – singer-songwriter
Anna Cyzon – singer-songwriter
Janina Fialkowska – pianist, born in Montreal
Marek Jablonski – pianist-virtuoso, born in Cracow
Steve Jocz – drummer for Sum 41
Ben Kowalewicz – lead singer for Billy Talent
Olenka Krakus – singer-songwriter
Geddy Lee – bassist, keyboardist and lead vocalist for Rush
Jan Lisiecki – pianist-virtuoso, born in Calgary
Margaret Maye – singer and actress
Kinga Mitrowska – singer
Andrzej Rozbicki – conductor
Jacob Kuba Rybicki – music producer, born in Toronto
Daniel Wnukowski – pianist
Kornel Wolak – clarinet virtuoso
Andrzej Busza – poet
Bogdan Czaykowski – poet, translator, essayist
Alex Debogorski – veteran ice road trucker on the television series Ice Road Truckers
Peter Gzowski – broadcaster, writer and reporter
Wacław Iwaniuk – poet in Polish, literary critic and essayist
Jacqueline Milczarek – journalist, news anchor
Anne Mroczkowski – journalist, news anchor
Estanislao (Stan) Oziewicz - journalist, The Globe and Mail
Bogumil Pacak-Gamalski – poet, essayist, editor-in-chief of Strumien art annual
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
Eva Stachniak – writer
Mark Starowicz – head of CBC Television Documentary Programming unit, journalist and TV producer
Alexandra Szacka – CBC/Radio-Canada correspondent
Magda Apanowicz – actress
Lara Jean Chorostecki – actress
Henry Czerny – actor
Paloma Kwiatkowski – actress
Lisa Ray – actress
Devon Sawa – actor
Andrew Charles Mynarski VC – Second World War airman
Walter J. Natynczyk – Chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Forces
Stefan Sznuk – Major General
Turk Broda – ice hockey goalie
Shane Churla – player, NHL
Peter Czerwinski – competitive eater and bodybuilder
Gabriela Dabrowski – professional tennis player
Wayne Gretzky – hockey legend
Michael Klukowski – soccer player for Club Brugge
Walter "Killer" Kowalski – professional wrestler
Joe Krol – Toronto Argonauts player
Tomasz Kucharzewski – martial artist
Stan Mikawos – Winnipeg Blue Bombers player, CFL
Ben Pakulski – professional bodybuilder
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
Dave Stala – Hamilton Tiger-Cats player CFL
Trish Stratus – WWE Diva
John Tavares – ice hockey player for the New York Islanders
Larry Trader – played for Detroit, St. Louis, Montreal, 1982–1988
Wojtek Wolski – player NHL
Aleksandra Wozniak – professional tennis player
Penny Oleksiak - Canadian National Team Swimmer
Jamie Oleksiak - NHL Player Dallas Stars
Walter "Sasquatch" Langkowski – a Marvel superhero
Jude Lizowski – a 6teen character
