The first Poles in St Catharines, although their stay in St Catharines is not precisely documented, were most likely employed in the construction of the Third Canal in Welland (1880-1887). The first recorded Polish name - that of Julia Kabuska - is found in the baptismal records at Alexandria Church in St Catharines from 1900. From 1906 onwards, other Polish surnames were already regularly registered.

The number of Polish settlers in St Catharines increased after the announcement of the construction of the Fourth Canal in Welland in 1913 and the subsequent construction of many factories and industrial plants in the town. The main Polish emigration wave arrived in St Catharines immediately after the Second World War.

After many years, the Polish community in St. Catharines developed and created numerous organisations, including: Polish-Canadian Society in 1928, Group 3 of the Union of Poles in Canada in 1929, Municipality 6 of the Polish National Union in Canada in 1944, Polish Veterans Post No. 418 of the Canadian Legion in 1946, Maria Konopnicka Polish School in 1942, etc.

According to the 1996 Canadian Census, 7045 people living in St. Catharines were of Polish origin.

The beginnings of Polish pastoral ministry in St. Catharines date back to the early years of the last century. Masses and services were celebrated by Polish priests who occasionally came to St. Catharines. At that time, the Irish church of St. Catherines in the city centre was used. A permanent pastoral ministry began in 1914 in the parish church of Our Lady at Niagara, Garnet and Currie Streets. This year is considered to be the year the Polish pastoral ministry was established in St Catharines. Fr Boleslaw Sperski became the first settled pastor. After him, nine other priests provided religious care for the Poles. At the same time, the Church of Our Lady also served the Italians. In 1937, the name of the church was changed from Our Lady to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

The parish grew in 1946 when the first groups of demobilised Polish soldiers arrived in St Catharines. In 1949, Archbishop James McGuigan of Toronto entrusted the pastoral care of the parish to the Congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The first Oblate pastor for the Poles was Father Leon Caliński. The core of the parish community consisted of 70 Polish families at that time.

In 1951, an independent Polish parish was established. In the same year the land for the construction of the present church was consecrated. Fathers Władysław Golecki OMI and Wojciech Golus OMI contributed especially to its construction. In 1953, the parish numbered 150 families. In the following years it increased to 500 families. Between 1968 and 1979 the parish grew to 1,250 families and individuals. In the 1980s, the job market shrank in St Catharines, resulting in an exodus of compatriots from the parish.

On the 10th anniversary of the first Mass, a stone obelisk was erected in the church square to commemorate the event. The obelisk was dedicated on 18 June 1961 by Bishop T.J. McCarthy.

In 1998, Fr Ryszard Kosian OMI placed a wooden statue of Pope John Paul II in the vestibule of the church. The work was made by the Polish sculptor Leszek Celuch.

An extremely momentous event in the life of the parish was the creation of the so-called 'Wall of Remembrance'. Old tombstones from the Polish cemetery of General Józef Haller's Blue Army Soldiers from Niagara on the Lake were built into one of the walls of the Polish church, creating a kind of lapidary.

On 8 October 2000, Father Ryszard Kosian OMI, in the presence of the President of the Canadian Polish Congress of the Niagara District, Tadeusz Telega, members of the Board of Directors and representatives of Polish-Canadian organisations, solemnly consecrated this wall, together with plaques and an urn containing soil from Katyn, Siberia, Poland, the USA and Niagara on the Lake.

In the same year, a Siberian Plaque was installed on the 'Wall of Remembrance', which reads: "On the 60th anniversary of the mass deportations of the Polish population to Siberia, the murder of Polish officers at Katyn, in honour and memory of the martyrdom of hundreds of thousands deported from the eastern borderlands and murdered on inhuman soil".

Location: 43 Facer Street, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada