Oshawa and Cultural Communities
August 17th, 2018; August 22nd (updated)
When asking what drew newly arrived immigrants to Oshawa, one must note the potential for work. However, many of these individuals already had connections to the city, through friends and family, as well as the sense of being in cultural communities that corresponded with the homes they had to leave behind. For many, the latter – the sense of belonging that could come from being among people of one's same background – preceded the former – industries.
While working for Brompton Pulp + Paper many of us heard that there was a large Ukrainian Community in Oshawa. A group of friends and I decided to come and see if we could find work and a place to live" – Stefan Malish. |
Similarly, Joseph Filletti speculates that his father chose Oshawa as there was a fairly large Maltese community in neighbouring Toronto. Mary Lawrence, the daughter of interwar Ukrainian immigrants and participant in an oral history interview for the Multicultural History Society of Ontario, illustrates the importance of proximity to Toronto. Her father organized community activities with a focus on the arts, including bringing over teachers from Toronto to teach the children Ukrainian folk dancing as well as the mandolin, a common folk instrument. They would then travel to Toronto themselves, to go and perform in a hall. He also brought over children’s books to help teach Ukrainian, as well as films with themes of traditional fairy tales. Although Ms. Lawrence did not move to the Oshawa area until later, this consideration of closeness to a big city centre, such as Toronto was certainly a factor, or at least a bonus, for many.
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However, Oshawa certainly had its own self-contained communities – particularly noteworthy were the well-populated Polish and Ukrainian communities. The first immigrants from these nations came in the period before the First World War, beginning to congregate in certain neighbourhoods and therefore founding organizations for serving the community (Bajorek MacDonald and Suchan, 2009). Before these organizations could be funded and created, travelling to Toronto – and having people from Toronto come over – was a common occurrence. For example, there was not a Polish church in Oshawa until 1961, even though talks had begun with the Catholic Archbishop as early as 1928 (Events in the Life of St. Hedwig’s Parish and the Polish Community in Oshawa, 1997). Until then, the Holy Cross Catholic Church have mass in Polish and other languages, with a priest from Toronto visiting on occasion (Events in the Life). In 1965 for one week, St. Hedwig’s Church opened its doors to Catholic constituents of other backgrounds (specifically Italian and Slovenian) and by the 1980s, Portuguese mass was also included (Events in the Life). The two Ukrainian churches in Oshawa – one Orthodox and one Eastern Catholic – date back to the pre-WWII days, although they have been moved or expanded since. These churches were the centres of not just religious life, but all aspects of community life for the people they served. Therefore, the displaced people coming to Oshawa had many opportunities to participate in and contribute to already well-established communities, as they expanded.
I must be blunt here. In those days you were mostly on your own... People in those days were there to help each other" – Joseph Filletti.
While these two communities were the most well-established, they were far from being the only ones in existence. Immigrants of similar and distant backgrounds also flocked to Oshawa during different periods. In fact, Slovaks began coming to Oshawa (and Ontario as a whole, as well as Quebec) in the interwar years, beginning in the 1920s, and, as with many other groups, experienced an influx in the post-WWII period (Reguly, Slovak Canadian Heritage Museum). For the Multicultural History Society of Ontario, John Ivanco, a WWII veteran and then DP, describes the Slovak community in Oshawa. When he first came to Oshawa after finishing a farming contract in 1951, he founded a branch of the Canadian Slovak League with himself as president. He stated that most Slovak Canadians in Oshawa were working at General Motors, or were already retired. Indeed, although General Motors (GM) did not often provide work for new arrivals, it proved a large draw for those who had already been in Canada a few or more years. Dan Orlich, also a veteran and a Serbian former DP from Yugoslavia who arrived in Canada from England, eventually made his way to Oshawa to work for GM. He described the pay as being much better and the benefits as well, and was able to stay for 37 years – until retirement in the early 1990s. He, and many others, had switched between various lumber, mining, and foundry jobs throughout Ontario, before finally settling down at GM. Bogomil "Mike" Novak, a Slovenian DP also from Yugoslavia, had a similar experience of moving between jobs, but had a less positive time at GM and ended up switching jobs afterwards as well. Mr. Orlich was one of the ones instrumental in the founding of the Serbian Orthodox Church in neighbouring Whitby in the 1980s, but before these parishioners would have either made the trek out to Toronto, or had a priest come down and borrow the space of an existing Orthodox church from a different background.
Accession #A987.23.1. / © Copyright 1987 Oshawa Historical Society.
The opening of Canada's 120th Anniversary celebration in front of Oshawa Museum's Henry House (in 1987). The flags here were brought from the Oshawa Folk Arts Council and some of its participants. The Council was founded in 1960, and some of its committee members were former DPs from some of the countries represented. Its participants have changed throughout its existence up to this day (now known as Fiesta). |
All the ethnic communities helped each other..." – Jan Ciosk.
The offering of support between ethnic groups – the better established ones for the newer ones – is a trend throughout the decades of community life in Oshawa. As far back as 1938, the Polish Alliance of Canada Branch 16 was renting out space in the Hungarian hall on Albany Street (Events in the Life, 1997). Hungarians were and are well-represented in Oshawa, with some coming before 1914, some in the interwar years, and some in the post-WWII period. Perhaps the largest boom of Hungarian immigrants logically coincides with the exodus of refugees following the Hungarian revolution of 1956. That same year, the Polish community gave back in a sense, through a fundraising initiative for these refugees. A couple decades later, the Polish and other communities in Oshawa met with representatives and the Oshawa mayor to discuss the welcoming of Vietnamese refugees (Events in the Life). In that sense, the ethnic communities of various backgrounds helped one another out, and this was especially true during the post-WWII period for the displaced people making their way to and in Oshawa.
To be honest, we spent quite a lot of time with and around the Maltese community. They were a source of strength. We grew up in Cedardale with the Italians, Greeks, Polish and Ukrainians" – Joseph Filletti. |
Indeed, Italians and Greeks also were among the ethnicities represented by communities in Oshawa. Others who came as displaced people were Portuguese, German, Russian, and Dutch individuals and families.
External references
Bajorek MacDonald, Helen, and Laura Suchan. "Immigration, Industry and the Environment in Oshawa." (October 2009).
John Ivanco, interviewed by Bernard Kadnar at Oshawa, 1978. North York: The Multicultural History Society of Ontario.
Luciuk, Lubomyr Y. Searching for Place: Ukrainian displaced persons, Canada, and the migration of memory. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000.
Mary Lawrence, interviewed by Lubomyr Luciuk at Oshawa, 1977. North York: The Multicultural History Society of Ontario.
Poszwa, Rev. Stanislaw. Events in the Life of St. Hedwig's Parish and the Polish Community in Oshawa. Translated by Helen Miklaszewski. Brantford: Bialas Printing Limited, 1997.
Reguly, Bob. "The Saga of Slovak Settlement in Canada." Slovak Canadian Heritage Museum. http://www.slovakcanadianheritagemuseum.ca/articles/the-saga-of-slovak-settlement-in-canada/
"Toronto University Club Expanding." Ukrainian Weekly, February 16, 1946. http://www.ukrweekly.com/archive/1946/The_Ukrainian_Weekly_1946-07.pdf.
Bajorek MacDonald, Helen, and Laura Suchan. "Immigration, Industry and the Environment in Oshawa." (October 2009).
John Ivanco, interviewed by Bernard Kadnar at Oshawa, 1978. North York: The Multicultural History Society of Ontario.
Luciuk, Lubomyr Y. Searching for Place: Ukrainian displaced persons, Canada, and the migration of memory. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000.
Mary Lawrence, interviewed by Lubomyr Luciuk at Oshawa, 1977. North York: The Multicultural History Society of Ontario.
Poszwa, Rev. Stanislaw. Events in the Life of St. Hedwig's Parish and the Polish Community in Oshawa. Translated by Helen Miklaszewski. Brantford: Bialas Printing Limited, 1997.
Reguly, Bob. "The Saga of Slovak Settlement in Canada." Slovak Canadian Heritage Museum. http://www.slovakcanadianheritagemuseum.ca/articles/the-saga-of-slovak-settlement-in-canada/
"Toronto University Club Expanding." Ukrainian Weekly, February 16, 1946. http://www.ukrweekly.com/archive/1946/The_Ukrainian_Weekly_1946-07.pdf.
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