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Polish Toronto: History of the Community and Little Poland

Updated · 5 min read

Polish settlers have lived in Toronto since the nineteenth century, but the community grew mainly after 1945 and again in the 1980s. Its best-known district is Roncesvalles Avenue in the west end, where St. Casimir’s parish was founded in 1944. An older Polish parish, St. Stanislaus Kostka, stands near Queen Street West and Spadina Avenue.

Early Polish arrivals before 1939

Poland did not exist as an independent state for most of the nineteenth century. Its territory had been divided among Russia, Prussia and Austria, and people left for reasons that included poverty, military service and political repression. A few arrived in Upper Canada early. The best-known is the engineer Casimir Gzowski, who reached Canada in 1841 and worked in Toronto and southern Ontario for about fifty years, according to a standard reference summary of Polish Canadian history.

Larger groups followed. The same summary describes waves from about 1890 to 1914 and from 1920 to 1939, and says that more than 100,000 Poles arrived between the two world wars. Most of these settlers were farm labourers, railway workers and factory hands. In Toronto they tended to settle near their work and near each other, and they started mutual-aid societies, small shops and boarding houses, as other groups did in the same decades (see the overview of Toronto’s immigration history).

One organization from this period still exists. The Polish National Union of Canada traces its roots to Polish veterans’ and mutual-aid groups formed around 1930, and Ontario approved its charter in 1938. Its Toronto branch, known as Branch 1, is one of the union’s larger branches with its own facilities.

St. Stanislaus Kostka and the downtown parish

The oldest Polish parish in the Toronto area is St. Stanislaus Kostka, near Queen Street West and Spadina Avenue. A 2010 article in the Catholic Register, written for the parish’s centenary year, says its parish history dates to 1911 and calls it the oldest Polish ethnic parish in the Greater Toronto Area and the fourth oldest in Canada.

The same article gives a founding story. The brewer Sir Eugene O’Keefe is said to have been moved by the devotion of Polish worshippers at St. Michael’s Cathedral. He gave a property to the archdiocese, which sold it to the Polish community for one dollar. The church building itself is older than the parish. It went up in 1879 as the Western Presbyterian Church.

After the Second World War the parish became a reception point for refugees. The article describes the resettlement of people from Poland under Father Peter Klita as the parish’s greatest achievement. Oblate priests and Felician Sisters worked there for decades, and the parish today offers Polish language classes, a folk dance group and a choir.

Veterans and displaced persons after 1945

The Second World War changed who came. Poland had fought on the Allied side from September 1939, and its soldiers served with British and Canadian forces. When the war ended, Poland was under Soviet influence, and many veterans, camp survivors and displaced people chose not to go back. Canada admitted them through labour schemes and relatives’ sponsorship in the late 1940s and 1950s. Toronto’s part in that larger story is covered in the article on postwar immigration, and the city’s wartime background in the article on Toronto in the Second World War.

The newcomers needed churches, schools, clubs and credit. Parishes such as St. Stanislaus Kostka helped with housing and jobs. Veterans’ associations, fraternal societies and the national umbrella bodies that grew out of wartime committees gave them a voice.

Roncesvalles Avenue becomes Little Poland

Roncesvalles Avenue in the west end had been a streetcar and shopping street since the early twentieth century. Its name came from the 1813 Battle of Roncesvalles in the Peninsular War, according to a neighbourhood history that credits the landowner Walter O’Hara with choosing it. For the full story of the street, see the article on Roncesvalles Village.

The Polish connection grew in the 1940s and 1950s. According to the same neighbourhood history, the Oblate order set up St. Casimir’s parish in 1944, bought a lot for $15,000 in 1948, held its first mass in the church hall in 1949 and began regular services in the completed church in May 1954. Families who attended St. Casimir’s often lived nearby, and Polish businesses and clubs appeared along the avenue over the following decades. By the later twentieth century the area was widely called Little Poland.

Other institutions followed. The same account says the Copernicus Lodge seniors’ residence opened in 1979 and a memorial to the Polish officers killed at Katyn in 1940 was erected at the south end of the avenue in 1980.

The 1980s wave after martial law

A new wave began in the early 1980s. The Solidarity movement had challenged the Polish government in 1980, and martial law was imposed in December 1981. Canada eased entry rules for Polish applicants, and churches and community groups began sponsoring newcomers. A Catholic Register profile of the Oblate priest Antoni Mendrela says Toronto’s Polish community pressed Ottawa to loosen requirements, and that one Toronto-area parish sponsored as many as 300 families.

A Toronto museum exhibit on a Polish newcomer of the period names two local agencies, Polish Immigrant Aid Services-Toronto and Polish Community Social Services. They helped with interpreting, housing and job searches, and Canadian programs paid for language classes in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The community also raised more than one million dollars for the Catholic University of Lublin, working through parishes, a Catholic charity and the Polish Canadian Congress.

Pope John Paul II visited Toronto in 1984, and the Polish community helped organize the visit. Sources differ on how many Poles reached Toronto in the 1980s, and no reliable city-level count was found for this article, so none is given here.

The community today

Polish institutions are no longer confined to one avenue. The Mendrela profile notes a Polish parish, St. Maximilian Kolbe, in Mississauga, and Polish families live across the Greater Toronto Area. Census figures show the size of the group. A reference summary citing Statistics Canada says 982,820 Canadians claimed Polish origin in 2021, down from 1,106,585 in 2016. For Toronto, the same summary of Roncesvalles gives 27,880 residents reporting Polish as their mother tongue in 2011.

The Roncesvalles Village Polish Festival has been held in the autumn since 2005, according to the neighbourhood history, and closes part of the avenue to traffic. Dates, closures and programs change each year, so check with the local business association before planning a visit. Readers interested in other groups that built parishes and shopping streets in the city can compare the Ukrainian, Italian and Portuguese communities.

Frequently asked questions

Why is Roncesvalles Avenue called Little Poland?

Polish families settled in and around the avenue in large numbers after 1945, centred on St. Casimir’s parish, founded in 1944. Polish shops, clubs and a seniors’ residence followed, and the annual Polish festival takes place there.

What is the oldest Polish church in Toronto?

St. Stanislaus Kostka, near Queen Street West and Spadina Avenue, is described by the parish and the Catholic Register as the oldest Polish ethnic parish in the Greater Toronto Area. Its parish history dates to 1911.

When did most Polish immigrants come to Toronto?

There were several waves: before 1914, between the wars, after 1945 and in the 1980s. The postwar years and the period after martial law in December 1981 brought the largest movements into the city.

Does Toronto still hold a Polish festival?

A Polish festival has been held on Roncesvalles Avenue each autumn since 2005, according to a neighbourhood history. Confirm the current dates with the local business improvement area before you go.

Sources

  • Catholic Register, “St. Stanislaus Kostka: 100 years at the heart of Polish Toronto” (2010)
  • Catholic Register, “Poland recognizes Toronto priest for efforts during fall of communists” (June 12, 2008)
  • Polish National Union of Canada, “History of the Polish National Union in Canada” (accessed October 2026)
  • Wikipedia, “Polish Canadians”, citing Statistics Canada census data (accessed October 2026)
  • Wikipedia, “Roncesvalles, Toronto” (accessed October 2026)
  • Ward Museum, “Pathways” oral-history exhibit on a Polish newcomer in Toronto, part 5 (accessed October 2026)

Last verified: October 2026

Cite this page

APA: History of Toronto. (2026, October 31). Polish Toronto: History of the Community and Little Poland. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/polish-toronto-history

MLA: “Polish Toronto: History of the Community and Little Poland.” History of Toronto, 31 Oct 2026, https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/polish-toronto-history. Accessed .

Chicago: History of Toronto. “Polish Toronto: History of the Community and Little Poland.” Last modified October 31, 2026. https://historyoftoronto.ca/blog/polish-toronto-history.

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