Surprise : why, in this quiet cemetery in the laurentian foothills of Saint-Sauveur, are there gravestones with curious, foreign language inscriptions ? How and why did they get here ?

The story starts at the end of World War II. Many Polish immigrants were then arriving in Canada. From 1939, Poland had fought ceaceslessly against Nazi Germany's aggression. But at war's end, the Allied Powers yielded Poland to Stalin's domination. Members of Poland's Armed Forces in the West could not return home without facing severe repressions, in many cases prison, sometimes death. Many chose to go overseas, and those attracted to French culture and to Quebec's catholic traditions settled in Montreal. A number soon found work as engineers, academics, physicians or businessmen. After a while, they were able to buy cottages in the Laurentians where woods and lakes reminded them of home.

In 1954, a first Polish grave appeared in this cemetery. Here, Adam, the young son of T. Brzezinski, the war-time Polish consul in Montreal, was laid to rest. Soon, the family's Polish friends were also buying plots in this peaceful graveyard amid firs and birches. Today, 65 years later, their children and grandchildren honour the memory of over 200 Poles interred in some 90 Polish graves, most clustered around the alleys at the eastern edge of cemetery C1.

Although there are many Polish graves scattered in various Canadian cemeteries, seldom is there as compact a group as here, and seldom is the historical significance greater. A first account, "Polish Graves in the Cemetery of Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts" was published in 2002 by the Polish Institute of Arts and Science in Canada. The book, In Polish only, is now out of print.

Today, an updated on-line account is being made available on this web site in three languages, English, French and Polish. May you find it interesting and useful.