To whom it may concern:

Please consider this a brief history of my grandparents, why they came to Canada and my motivation for seeking Polish citizenship. Both of my maternal grandparents were born in the environs of Drohobych, which is now part of Ukraine. In the late 14th century, the town was situated in the precursor of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1): it was Polish. It had access to good land and ample water thus developing into a wealthy farming community. The city had a change of suzerainty in 1772 and was ceded to Austria during the First Partition of Poland. This had little impact on the lives of the serfs, notwithstanding: they continued to live and work on large agricultural estates, mostly in poverty and in squalor. In 1848 revolution swept over Europe. The Austro-Hungarian monarchy was saved in this rebellion by emancipating the serfs: powerless, but now free. My maternal great-great grandfather was one of those freed serfs. Though they continued to eke out a living on a large estate, life was different: they had a mental concept of liberty. His father filled my grandfather with the twin concepts of land and freedom. To be truly a “man,” you had to have freehold title to a portion of God’s good earth. Unfortunately, this region of the world, at this particular time in history, had one of the highest population densities in the world: this, therefore, precluded land ownership. The prices were just inaccessible to the farming class: leasing land was the “best” you could hope for: not good enough! My grandfather was born in 1875. He grew into a strapping, good-looking man: hardworking and industrious. He, inevitably, wanted more out of life for his children and family: he desired his own “piece of paradise.”

 

During this same epoch in the 1890s, Canada began an advertising campaign to populate its Western Prairie Provinces. The prevalent thinking was that the new citizens would buy items manufactured in Eastern Canada: plows, implements and the like, thereby spurring the economy. My grandfather was twenty-one years old. The promotion was perfect for landless agriculture workers. The program enlisted the Western Europeans first, unfortunately, so he had to wait. This “human pool” was soon depleted for most had already migrated to the United States. Thus stories began to filter back home of this Shangri-La, far, far beyond the sea: land – endless amounts of land – undeveloped and inexpensive. My grandfather had no cash money, but he set out for Canada nonetheless. There, he worked as a tradesman and lumberjack, eventually saving the magical ten Canadian dollars that would allow you to buy a quarter-of-a-square-mile (65 hectares) of raw land. In 1912, he succeeded, buying his first piece.

 

My grandmother was born in 1894. She also grew up in a farming family. By the time she was a young woman, my grandfather was well established in his new country. To his peers back in Drohobych, he was successful: he had gambled everything and ended up with a new life. It is to be noted that all these immigrants took their values, their culture and even their architectural style with them. They replicated Galicia (2) in Canada. Little changed until the First World War (1914-1918) and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (3): this part of Eastern Europe in 1921, after an absence of almost two hundred and fifty years, became part of Poland, once again. My grandmother migrated to Canada in 1928 to be with my grandfather, using her Polish passport. She raised four children including my mother Katrina who was born in 1931. Both my grandparents never spoke English nor French.

 

My mother met and married my father, Lemuel Maurice La Couvee, in 1954 in Vancouver, Canada. As a child, I remember visiting “the farm” in Alberta, Canada. There was something special here, but I could not “put my finger” on it. I could not communicate with my grandmother in any spoken language, but we were close nonetheless. I was born in a tiny village called Tofino on the west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada. It was small and extremely isolated from the world; the next large town was four hours away by car. Our community was different from my grandfather’s original home in that it was extremely wealthy. Post World War Two, the North American economy prospered. It was actually possible to work in the forest or fishing sectors of this region and buy a house outright in two years: “Why go to university and waste your time?” As bizarre as it seems today, this was a serious question when I was young and I was queried in this way more than once. In spite of this, like my grandfather, I couldn’t stay and settle for less. I eventually went to school in Paris. At a Catholic “drop-in-center” in 1976, I met my two lifelong friends: Stanislaw Kamil Kosch of Krakow and Yurek Richard Plewniak of Warsaw. This is where fortune, I believe, truly smiled on me. Stanislaw had to return to Poland and he asked if I would like to join him and stay with his family. I went a little apprehensively for Poland was behind the “Iron Curtain,” (4) according to Churchill’s pronouncement. Due to my Polish blood, I was allowed to travel without the “punishing” daily exchange of fifty US dollars that was mandated at this time. I took what seemed like an endless train trip: past soldiers and dogs and guns and barbed wire. This was a very frightening experience for a nineteen-year-old student. Then I arrived: it is hard to describe the feeling when I first descended from the train in Warsaw. No one spoke any English, and French was only spoken by very few, but I was home. It was as if an unspoken question had finally been answered. I was supposed to stay two weeks but I stayed for three months. I eventually discovered that there was a pre-university Polish language class in Krakow associated with Jagiellonian University (5) and I could apply for it, though the competition was steep. I eventually returned to Canada and the following year I applied and was accepted by the school. I successfully completed the course and was set to enter university in the fall when a series of life circumstances, which appear to be a part of the human condition, came to pass. I never did return to Poland to live though I have visited many times. I was, however, able to actually speak to my grandmother before she died. She was so shocked that I spoke an educated form of Polish, that she sat clasping her hands weeping at the kitchen table of her tiny traditional farmhouse: all the while exclaiming in Polish: “My God, my God.” I would like to become a citizen of Poland, not for economic gain, but to complete the circle of “coming home” for my own children. In North America, we are “root-less.” Many times we have adopted financial wellbeing to replace our longing to be centered and at peace. Poland is over one thousand years old. It has heart and tradition. I am a professional educator: a good one. This expertise could be eventually used in Poland as well. I can provide references to my character and professional credentials, and to my Polish-ness. The eminent English Romantic poet William Wordsworth (1750-1850) leaves us with a thought: Life is divided into three terms – that which was, which is, and which will be. Let us learn from the past to profit by the present, and from the present, to live better in the future.

A closing thought: We are constantly filled with manipulated and false information about the world we occupy as human beings. I recently travelled to India. The country was wonderful – a cacophony of colors, smells and images. At no point did it fit the commonly held stereotype of a dangerous, nefarious and soul-destroying place.

A small joke:  It’s amazing how a person can compliment and insult you at the same time. Recently, when I was greeted by one of my co-worker, she said, “You look so young, I didn’t recognize you.”

This week, please reflect on past of your own family.

 

Every day look for something magical and beautiful.

Quote: Man is a dynamic and precious being. It is with great sadness that few achieve any form of self-development or enlightenment. It is important to note that this is a personal choice: you become the person you want to be.  

Footnotes:

1)   History of the PolishLithuanianCommonwealth

2)   HISTORY OF GALICIA

3)   Austria-Hungary

4)   “Iron Curtain speech”

5)   Jagiellonian University