Theoretical rights, multiculturalism, and marginality — the Polish-Canadian case (Part One)

Interesting take by Mark Wegierski.

Would benefit from greater analysis and comparison with other communities that arrived at the same time, and how they found their particular balance between their ancestral and Canadian identities:

The fact is that the Polish-Canadian community in particular has existed on an unfortunate cusp of history. When the post-World War II immigration first arrived in large numbers, they were not especially welcomed. For example, the Polish soldiers who were accepted into Canada in the immediate post-war years, were required to work for two years on remote farms. For the Polish soldiers who had fought against Hitler since 1939, this was quite humiliating. Conditions on the farms were sometimes none too pleasant. One anecdotally remembers such occurrences as when the German P.O.W.s were sent home from a Canadian beet plantation, to be replaced by the incoming Polish soldiers!

So the Poles in Canada set about trying to reconstruct some kind of community life in comparatively difficult circumstances. In such a situation, the children born of Polish immigrant parents were highly likely to thoroughly assimilate. It was seen at the time as a precondition for economic and social advancement. Indeed, at this time, Poles in Canada were seen as “too ethnic”.

In the late 1960s, Canada underwent a sea-change, and multiculturalism suddenly came into vogue. But by that time, many young people of Polish descent had been irretrievably assimilated.

Also, with the coming of the 1960s and the so-called “revolt against the elders”, anything so seemingly “stodgy” and “old-fashioned” as Polish identity, wasn’t going to be attractive to young people.

In the 1980s and later, the focus in multiculturalism definitely shifted in the direction of visible minorities. Thus, by this time, Polish-Canadians could be seen as “not ethnic enough”.

As will be noted below, the assimilative pressures exercised, for example, by the mass media, meant that there was no rallying of resistance to assimilation in the 1960s and later. It can be seen that, as the “core audience” of Polish-Canadians melted away, the community was going to be seen as less and less important.

Source: ESR | April 4, 2016 | Theoretical rights, multiculturalism, and marginality — the Polish-Canadian case (Part One)