Another 100 0000 Poles came in 2 waves. Following WWII, the first was a mixed group of intellectuals, concentration camp survivors, refugees and Polish soldiers who were in Western Europe at the end of the war. The other wave fled Communist Poland in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. The last few years, well-educated workers and students have left Poland for political and economic reasons. There are about 28 000 Poles in Montreal. While Canada has changed its policy so that it does not accept people from Poland as refugees. There are still over 1 000 Pole refugees in Montreal (largest number of any Eastern European group) waiting for the government to decide their status.
Each immigrant group established its own community in different parts of town. Pointe St. Charles still has Polish stores from the 1920s and East Montreal, which is home to many Poles such as the noted poet and critic Louis Dudek. After WWII, the Main and Mile End areas (between St. Laurent and Parc Avenue) attracted Poles and other European immigrants. The Roman Catholic Church of St. Michael the Archangel, at the corner of St. Urbain and St. Viesten has been a Polish church for over 25 years. Solidarity Day, which is celebrated on May 3, honours the labour union Solidarnosc and commemorating the start of democratic reform in Poland.
Niklas Koppernigk, also known as Nicolaus Copernicus, was a 16th century Polish astronomer who demonstrated that the earth revolved around the sun. A statue of Copernicus stands in front of the Dow Planetarium (Peel and St. Antoine.) The statue was erected in 1967 by the Polish community to commemorate three anniversaries: Canada�s centennial year, Montreal�s 325th anniversary and 1000 years of Christianity in Poland.
The Polish Canadian Congress of Quebec started in 1942 and now represents about 30 Polish groups. It helps seniors and families and is now mainly concerned with helping recently arrived Poles, who are still waiting for their claims as refugees to be processed. Lately, the Congress has been sending Polish Canadian urban planners and business people to Poland to assist in the reconstruction of the Polish economy.
There is also a Polish Library in Montreal. It is open Monday from 10:00 am to 8:00 p.m., to Thursday- 4:00 to 8:00 p.m., and Saturday from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. This is a 50-year-old library, which is open to everyone and has over 35 000 books in Polish, English and French on Polish history, language and culture. It also stocks newspapers from Poland and has a large selection of Polish books on a cassette.
The Polish Society of the White Eagle was established in 1902. This is one of the oldest, active European organizations in Montreal. It started as a social group and has been in the same building, near Notr-Dame-de-Czestochawa Catholic Parish. Today, most of its members are seniors.
