When, on 5 July 1945, Canada, after the United States and the United Kingdom, recognised the Communist authorities in Poland, i.e. the Provisional Government of National Unity, while withdrawing support for the London government, the diplomats who had previously worked at the Polish consulates in Montreal (established in 1919), Winnipeg (1920) and the Polish Embassy in Ottawa (1933), were stripped of their posts and diplomatic immunities. However, they remained in Canada. They never accepted the occupation of the Polish state and worked extremely sacrificially for a free Poland until the end of their days.

Katarzyna Szrodt, author of History of the Consulate of the Second Polish Republic in Montreal 1919-1945 , (MFA, 2012), wrote:

"The post in Montreal headed by Consul General Dr Tadeusz Brzeziński, the Polish Consulate in Winnipeg with Consul Dr Juliusz Szygowski, the Consulate General in Ottawa with Consul General Wiktor Podoski - regardless of the difficulties and setbacks of Polish diplomacy during the war years, had to rise to the occasion and function efficiently. Belief in imminent victory, determination and extraordinary diligence, allowed Polish diplomats to mobilise the Polish community and create a strong material and spiritual base in Canada for occupied Poland. At the 11th Convention of Poles in Canada, held in Hamilton in September 1944, Consul General Dr. Tadeusz Brzezinski congratulated the unity shown by the organisations as they worked together for the benefit of Polish society suffering from the war. As a great friend of the Polish community, Brzezinski, likened the Polish community organisations to a mighty tree that has planted its roots deep into the masses of Polish society in Canada."

Today, in the cemetery in Saint-Sauveur (Quebec) , in the so-called "Polish Alley", and in the Notre-Dame Cemetery in Ottawa (Ontario) , rest those who did not return to their enslaved homeland, chose freedom and "planted their roots deep into the masses of Polish society in Canada."

From 1938 to 1945, the Consul General in Montreal was Tadeusz Brzezinski (1896-1990) ; a graduate of the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the University of Lvov. In 1921, he was employed in the Polish diplomatic service. He served at posts in Essen (1921-1922), Lille (1928-1931), Leipzig (1931-1935), Kharkov (1936-1937). In 1938, he was sent to a diplomatic post in Canada as consul general of the Republic of Poland in Montreal. After the Second World War, he remained in Canada. He was active in the Canadian Polish Congress, of which he was president from 1952 to 1962. Until his retirement, he worked for the Ministry of Culture in the province of Quebec, helping to organise French-language cultural centres in small towns. Father of Zbigniew, an American political scientist and former national security adviser to US President Jimmy Carter. He died in Montreal. He rests with his wife Leonia (1896-1985), née Roman, and son Adam (1929-1954) in the Saint-Sauveur (Quebec) cemetery.

When, in 1933, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs established a new (third consulate of the Republic of Poland in Ottawa (later converted into an embassy), its first consul-general was appointed Jerzy Adamkiewicz (1881-1958) , who had previously studied law at the consular faculty in Vienna, and had served as consul-general in Leipzig, London, Jerusalem from 1920, and Ottawa from 1933 to 1936. After the outbreak of the Second World War, he worked for the Polish government in London. He returned to Canada in 1946 and was a professor of history and political science at St. Mary's University in Halifax for two years, then taught at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, from 1948 to 1952. The last years of his life were associated with the University of Montreal, where he worked as a professor at the Centre for Slavic Studies. He died in Montreal. He rests in the Saint-Sauveur (Quebec) cemetery . His white marble tombstone is decorated with a cross, the emblem of Poland and an inscription with the values to which the deceased was always faithful: In God the world, in God the country, in God the family, in God the man, in God the only truth .

After Jerzy Adamkiewicz, Jan Pawlica (1888 -1957 ), who had begun his diplomatic service in 1919 as vice-consul in Prague, was appointed consul general. In 1933, he became consul-general in Winnipeg, and after three years was posted to Ottawa, where he served until the outbreak of the Second World War.

In 1939, Jan Pawlica was succeeded by Wiktor Józef Podoski (1895 - 1960) , who went down in the history of Polish diplomacy as the first Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Member of Parliament of the Republic of Poland in Canada. He studied mechanical engineering at the Royal Technical College and at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, and at the School of Economics and Political Science in London. From 1922, he worked as an assistant military attaché at the Polish Military Mission to the Polish Embassy in London, then in the Political Department of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. From 1929 to 1931, he was secretary to the Polish embassy in Washington. Shortly before the outbreak of WWII, Podoski was nominated Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Ottawa. He was in charge of the post from 1939 for three years, when, on 27 March 1942, he was appointed as the first-ever Polish Envoy and Plenipotentiary in Canada (now the post of Ambassador). From 1944 to 45 he was head of the American Division of the Foreign Office in London. After returning to Canada, he settled in Ottawa. For several years he was an employee of the Canadian government in the social security department, and having excellent connections in the government, he played an important role in preparing the ground for Polish mass emigration after World War II. He died in Ottawa and is laid to rest in a family grave in Notre-Dame Cemetery in Ottawa, Ontario. It is ironic that a man who was very involved in the life of the Polish Canadian community, particularly concerned about the learning of the Polish language by children and young people, who founded a Polish school in Ottawa, has an extremely modest inscription in English on his small tombstone: I n loving memory of Victor Podoski, Ap. 2,1895 - July 31,1960, First Minister of Poland to Canada.

From November 1, 1944 to July 5, 1945, Dr. Waclaw Babinski (1887-1957) served as Minister Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary Member of Parliament of the Republic of Poland in Ottawa; he held a doctorate in economics from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Ludwig and Maximilian University in Munich. In 1819 he began his diplomatic service at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1929, he was appointed extraordinary deputy and minister plenipotentiary in Belgrade (1929 - 1931), then in The Hague (1931-1944). After the Second World War, he remained in exile in Canada. He was a member of the Polish Independence League and a representative of the National Unity Executive. Independently of his diplomatic service, he was a well-known and respected academic. In 1947, he was appointed professor of social sciences at the University of Ottawa, and from 1948 to 1957 he taught philology, literature and history at the Centre for Slavic Studies at the University of Montreal. He died on 22 July 1957 in Montreal. "The death of the Minister Plenipotentiary, Dr. Waclaw Babinski occurred a few hours after an operation as a result of a heart attack at the Hotel Dieu hospital in Montreal," wrote Franciszek Bratek-Kozłowski in his book Życie z baynetem i lancetem, wspomnienia - refleksje , (Canadian Polish Research Institute, Toronto 1989). "The news of the death of Minister Babiński, the last member of the Polish Republic in Canada, spread with lightning speed through Montreal. The funeral took place on 26 July 1957. A solemn funeral Mass was celebrated in the Church of Our Lady of Czestochowa by Father F. Baldyga, assisted by numerous Polish priests. The church was filled to capacity. Among those present were General Kazimierz Sosnkowski, a personal friend of the deceased, representatives of the Congress and Polish societies in Montreal, representatives of the scientific and political spheres, numerous friends and acquaintances. Prime Minister Duplessis was represented by Senator Olivier Renaud, the military district commander was represented by two staff officers, the ailing cardinal was represented by Canon Drouin. The Canadian press sent its reporters and photographers.

After the funeral service, Ambassador Tadeusz Romer spoke in front of the church over the coffin draped with the national banner, bidding farewell to his colleague from the diplomatic service in the deceased. A funeral procession formed with the banners of Polish organisations at the head, preceded by a group of scouts carrying the deceased's decorations, with the coffin escorted by delegates of the organisations, followed by a funeral procession of several hundred people. From here, the body of the deceased was transported to the village of St Sauveur, 45 miles from Montreal". He is laid to rest with his wife Maria, née Wodzińska (1894-1975) , and his brother Stanisław Babinski (1920-1990) in the Saint-Sauveur (Quebec) cemetery.

The other joint grave of the Babinskis is in the Old Powazki cemetery in Warsaw.

From 1942 to 1945, the secretary of the Polish embassy in Ottawa was Adam Żurowski (1908-1962) , who began his service in diplomacy after graduating from the University of Grenoble. He first worked at the consulates in Lyon and Lille, and later at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw. During the war, he was interned in Switzerland. However, he made his way to London, from where he was posted to Canada to work in the Polish embassy, where, among other things, he looked after the Wawel treasures. He died in Ottawa and is buried in a family grave in Notre-Dame Cemetery in Ottawa, Ontario.

In 1920, the Consulate General of Poland for Western Canada was established in Winnipeg. The first consul was Walerian Bukowiecki-Olszewski, and the last consul general from 1944-45, the tenth consul general, was Dr Adam Synowiecki (1901-1970) , a lawyer by training. After the war, he remained in Canada. He lived with his wife Wanda in Winnipeg. Their modest grave marked by a slab of red granite with an inscription in Polish: Wieczny odpoczynek racz im Panie , is located in the old Catholic cemetery of St. Mary's in Winnipeg (Manitoba) .

The cemetery in Saint-Sauveur (Quebec) also provides a final resting place for Polish diplomats who were not stationed in Canada, but whose post-war lives were linked by family ties to Canada.

Dr Sylwester Gruszka (1891-1956) ; received his doctorate in law and political science from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. In 1922 he began his diplomatic service in Trieste, later continuing in Zagreb, Detroit, New York, Cologne, Paris... The last post he headed as consul between 1941 and 1945 was the consulate in Sydney, Australia. He died there. After his death, his wife, Maria Gruszka (1901-1971), née Roman, sister of Leonia Brzezinski, moved the ashes of the deceased to the cemetery in Saint-Sauveur, where they were laid to rest together in a single grave.

Stanisław Kara (1893-1955) ; a professional officer with the rank of colonel, he was commander of the officers' school in Ostrów Mazowiecki. In 1931, he became consul-general in Lille, then in Paris and Berlin. From 1944 to 1945 he served as military attaché to the Polish embassy in Rio de Janeiro. He died there. Awarded the Order of Virtuti Militari.

In the cemetery, Colonel Kara was commemorated by his wife Władysława Kara (1894-1965) with a tombstone, modelled on the monument to General Władysław Sikorski in London. Also commemorated were (daughters): Janina Kara Mitz (1917-1983) and Anna Kara Tarassiewicz (1923-1983) and Anna Kara's first husband Romuald Sanders Swiderski (1914-1979) , who died in the United States.

Tadeusz Romer (1894-1978) ; studied agronomy and political science in Fribourg, Switzerland. In 1917, he was appointed secretary of the Polish National Committee in Paris, where he participated in the negotiations at the Versailles peace conference leading to Poland's independence. He later worked at the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and served as Polish ambassador to Italy, Portugal, and Japan (1937-1941), where he helped finance Polish Jewish refugees and ensure their visas to Japan. He created the "Polish Committee for Relief of War Victims" and appointed his wife Zofia as chairman of the committee. After the Polish embassy in that country was closed, he went to Shanghai, where, as High Commissioner of the Polish Republic, he continued this humanitarian aid. In 1942, he took up posts as Polish ambassador in Moscow, where he conducted negotiations with the Allies and with Stalin. In addition to his purely political tasks, Romer focused on humanitarian aid to Polish exiles deported by the Soviets deep into Russia. In his first proclamation to his compatriots, he wrote with hope:

"The Polish-Soviet agreement of 1941 entails a whole series of important consequences for Polish citizens residing in the Soviet Union. To it we owe the release of many thousands among you, the formation of the Polish army now playing in the Middle East and the departure of numerous military families with it....

My greatest concern is the thought that there are still Polish communities, especially in the far North, which for various reasons our help could not reach at all... Survival requires a lot of patience, fortitude and resilience from all of us.

With a warm and heartfelt wish that we would not lack them, I conclude my address with a shout:

See you on your way to a free and happy Poland".

After the revelation of the Soviet Katyn massacre of Polish officers and the severance of diplomatic relations with Russia, he was appointed High Commissioner of the Polish Republic for the Middle East and immediately appointed Foreign Minister of the Polish Government in Exile in London (1943-1944). In 1948, he emigrated with his family to Canada, where he taught French literature and culture at McGill University for a dozen years. He was one of the most dedicated and respected activists in the Canadian Polish community. He died in Montreal and rests in his family grave with his wife Zofia Romerowa (1897-1981) , née Wańkowicz , and his cousins: Jadwiga Dunin-Jundziłł (1873-1963) and Maria Hubisz (1904-2006) in Saint-Sauveur (Quebec) . They rest and rise ," proclaims the inscription on their tombstone.

Another Polish consul who served as a diplomat for Poland between the wars and who chose freedom in Canada was Lieutenant Dr Jerzy Korwin-Piotrowski (1909-1978) ; after graduating from the Faculty of Law at the University of Warsaw, he obtained a Doctor of Laws degree at the University of Lille. He worked in the diplomatic service, first in Minsk and later in Brussels. He spent the German occupation in France. After the war, already in Canada, he worked at the University of Montreal and was a consultant to the provincial government of Quebec. He died in Montreal and is buried in the veterans' cemetery in Pointe Claire (Quebec).