May was a special month in the Canadian province in Ontario, the most populous Canadian province located in east-central Canada, where I live. It’s home to Ottawa, Canada’s capital, to Toronto, Ontario’s capital, the famous Niagara Falls as well as Missisauga, a big city neighbouring Toronto, with population of around 750,000 people and with the largest Polish diaspora in Canada. It’s said that there are over 1 million Canadians who have Polish roots. In 2021 the legislature od Ontario passed the Polish Heritage Month Act, 2021 proclaiming the month of May as Polish Heritage Month, to recognize the impact that…
Author: Malgorzata P. Bonikowska
This is my second special POLcast Episode – a tribute to Ukraine, to our Ukrainian sisters and brothers who are fighting heroically to defend their country against Putin’s army. Previous Special Episode 86 – Tribute to Ukraine #1 When I was working on my last episode of POLcast, special Episode 86, Tribute to Ukraine, I was hoping that maybe in the next one, number 87, I would talk about rebuilding the destroyed Ukrainian cities and towns, about the new hope after the END of the war. I had no idea how much more horrific each day of this neverending war would…
This is a special POLcast Episode – a tribute to Ukraine, to our Ukrainian sisters and brothers who are fighting heroically to defend their country against Putin’s army. We stand with Ukraine and will do all we can to help and support you. This episodes shows many faces of this support – in Poland, Canada, and England. We know the world is unified in its response to the war and the warm crimes committed every day in Ukraine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu8m5FA2nL8 Katy Carr •Katy Carr – a British singer who sings about Polish history – (Episode 4) • Singing for Soviet gulag survivors – (Episode 25)…
We wish you: Bezpiecznych Świąt i Zdrowego Nowego Roku! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! In this episode: • Interview with Ewa Stachniak, a Polish Canadian writer who has made it big in Canada (and not only). Born in Wroclaw, she came to Canada (McGill University) on an academic scholarship just before martial law and stayed. She has become a bestselling authour, having written 6 novels (5 published to rave reviews and the 6th one to be published in February 2022 in Canada and the US). Her meticuluosly researched and beautifully written historical fiction has earned her several honours,…
In this episode I’d like you to meet my two guests: Anna Paluch In the previous episode 83, you met Zig Misiak, a Canadian historian and educator with Polish roots, who has been involved in work with indigenous people for over half a century, an award-winning author of many books and the only curriculum guide on First Nations history and culture used in hundreds of schools. We talked about the history of and reasons for establishing residential schools. Today I’m talking Anna Paluch, a Polish-Canadian PhD student at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, who does research on Indigenous culture and who works with…
This story is featured in EPISODE 84 (click to listen) Anna Paluch is a PhD student in Cultural Mediations at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, whose research focuses on Indigenous North American and Eastern European Futurism, spaces of cultural hybridity, and post-memory in the diaspora. She works at Minwaashin Lodge and Oshki Kizis Lodge, providing support in homeless outreach, shelter client care and harm reduction. She is a curator, mixed-media artist, cultural educator with Young Polish Canadian Professional Association (YPCPA), content creator for Cielesne, executive member of both Polonia Inclusive and Polski Piknik, and a co-director of the Indigenous+Diasporic Friendship…
This story is featured in EPISODE 84 (click to listen) Piotr Surmaczynski Born in 1970 in Opole, Poland, he is an author, playwright and journalist who lives in London, UK. His YouTube channel “Piotr Surmaczynski z Londynu” has gained considerable popularity not only in Britain but all over the world. It has two parts: Nasza emigracja and Komentarze polityczne. His debut play, Uciekający pociąg (Runaway Train), opened in Newcastle in 2012 and preceded his first collection of short stories Wyspa dreszczowców (Thriller Island), which was published under the Novae Res imprint in Gdynia in 2014. He earned degrees in political philosophy…
For the last few months Canada has been discussed all over the world. This time not because of its beautiful nature, openness to immigrants, progressive law or polite people. Unfortunately, the uncovering of hundreds of unmarked graves on several residential school grounds brought back horrid stories of the infamous forced assimilation system organized by the government and run by churches – residential schools for indigenous children, which existed for 150 years. We, Canadians, have known – or at least should have known – about it since at least 2015, when the Truth and Reconciliation Commission finished its 6 years of…
POLcast is happy to inform you that on May 15th it has reached 100,000 downloads: And if you want to know what English language media write about Poland every day, visit POLcast Facebook page daily. Lots of interesting information. ••• In this episode you will hear my interview with Ilona Kowalik Urbaniak, a mathematician and musician, born in Poland, living in Canada and now working in Cracow, Poland. Ilona has a PhD in applied mathematics and specializes in AI (Artificial Intelligence). She now works in Poland – at Cracow University of Technology and NASK (National Research Institute). But Ilona has…
In this episode you will hear my interview with Sabina Baral, who wrote an extremely successful book in Polish “Zapiski z wygnania” (Notes from Exile). The book talks about her family’s experience of being made to leave Poland in March 1968, as a result of the ruling communist party’s anti-Semitic purge. About 20,000 Jews were forced to leave the country between 1968 and 1972. Only between 5,000 and 10,000 Jews were left in Poland. Those forced to leave were made stateless and were subjected to humiliating exit procedures. Sabina left Poland with her parents, parting with her Polish boyfriend. This was the end of…