Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Arrival of the First Kashubs to Canada in 1858

This year, 2008, is a special milestone year for Canada’s Kashubs and Canada’s Polish Community who celebrate the 150th Anniversary of their cultural heritage. The Kashubs formed the largest and most distinct element of Polish emigration to Renfrew County and are recognized as the first large group of Polish immigrants to arrive in Canada with their Canadian history starting in 1858. Today, the Kashubs constitute one of the most distinct regional and ethnocultural groups in Poland.

The Kashubs are actually the last remnant of an ancient Slavic Pomeranian tribe. For centuries, the homeland of the Kashubs - called Kashubia (in English), Kaszëbë (Kashub), Kaszuby (Polish) and Cashubia (Latin), was vied for by Poland and Germany. After WWI, Kashubia has been part of Poland, however when the Kashubs emigrated to Canada starting in 1858, they came from German-occupied West Prussia, south of Danzig (today’s Gdansk, Poland). Still, the Kashubs insisted that they were Polish.

The offer of free land in Canada was extremely inviting to the Kashubs, most of whom were landless farm labourers. Starting in 1858, they packed up and left their small Kashubian farm villages where they faced a bleak future of poverty and oppression. They travelled to the port of Bremen where they boarded a sailing ship called the Heinrich on June 6, 1858. By the time they arrived in Quebec on July 26, 1858, after over seven weeks at sea, they were weakened by the ordeal and disillusioned. The story of the hardship and suffering of these first Kashubian immigrants and those that followed them as they struggled to survive in the Canadian wilderness, is extremely moving and inspiring. Today we, the descendents of Canada’s Polish Kashubs, have not forgotten our roots—our cultural heritage—and we celebrate it with great pride on the 150th Anniversary. We will continue to work to preserve and commemorate our unique heritage for future generations.