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This was the first big wave of Poles to Canada. They mostly settled in Wilno, Ontario, which is recognized as the oldest Polish settlement in Canada today.
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Over this time span, Polish citizens continued to immigrate to Canada.
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Jozef Misiak was born in Dobzryca, Poland. He had 3 brothers and 1 sister, the youngest of whom was 15 years older than himself.
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Jozef was forced to join the German army since his father worked in a German mine. In spring of 1944, during a battle, the Germans called a retreat from an oncoming American attack. My Papa, not actually being German and wanting to get on the right side of the war surrendered to the Americans. He was sent to a camp until his papers were confirmed, showing him to be a Polish citizen that was forced to join the Germans. He then was placed in a tank as a radio operator in the Polish Armed Forces.
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Papa decided to be transferred to England, after recieving a letter from his family back in Poland that hinted that he should stay away from Poland (without saying it outright, since the Soviets were reading the post).
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In March of 1952, my grandparents were married in England, she from Italy and he from Poland.
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Robert Misiak (my dad) is born in England.
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Jozef and Franca decide to move to Canada to seek better promotion opportunities for Jozef. He gets the company he worked for at the time, Down Bros. to send him to fill a post in their office in Toronto. Jozef leaves 6 months before the rest of the family to get living arrangments in Mimico, Ontario.
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My Papa had found stable living conditions, and was already working at his place in the Down Bros. office in Toronto, and so he was ready for the rest of the family to come and join him.
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My Papa started his own company Beejay Medical, which sold medical supplies to hospitals and doctors offices in the late 1980s. In 1996, he sold it to Boston Scientific and retired.
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Day I was born
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My Papa died on November 11th, 2010 of complications of Parkinsons Disease that he had been battling for over 15 years. Somehow it was a fitting occasion, as he had given us all a lot to remember.
