This story is featured in Episode 63
It’s called Kaszuby – the area in northern Ontario, about 200 kilometres west of Ottawa in the region of Barry’s Bay, Wilno and round Lake. It was named after the part of northern Poland from which the first settlers came.
What’s special about it is that this is the site of the first Polish settlement in Canada.
There’s a sign in Wilno that informs visitors about the hardy group of Polish immigrants who came to this area in 1864. But the story goes back to the 18th century…
Krystyna Lagowski is a Toronto-based freelance writer specializing in automotive, and is the author of drivelikeagirl.ca. She is of Polish Jewish ancestry. Her obsessions include the great Canadian outdoors, Barbra Streisand, old eastern European cars, Judaism, and Burmese cats.
Krystyna tells POLcast the story of Kaszuby, which she first visited as a…. fetus. She has been in love with it ever since.
Number 31 in the orange circle is where Kaszuby is located: