Stanley (Stanisław) Haidasz (1923-2009) - first Member of Parliament of Polish descent, appointed Parliamentary Secretary to various ministries in the Government of Canada, first Canadian of Polish descent appointed Minister, first and only Senator of Polish descent, describing himself as a "son of Polish emigrants". A cardiologist by training and profession. From 1962 to 1974, representing the Liberal Party, elected to the House of Commons as a federal MP six times. Served as Minister for Multiculturalism for two years (1972-1974). Twice served as a Canadian delegate to the UN General Assembly and three times as a parliamentary delegate to the North Atlantic Council.

Primus

Stanley Haidasz, son of Polish émigrés, Piotr and Jozefina Haidasz, was born in Toronto on 4 March 1923. He graduated with honours from St. Mary`s Separate School in 1936 and with first class honours from St. Michael`s College School in 1941. Not only did he study well, (winning a gold medal for academic progress year after year), but he was also active in the Drama Circle. In 1944, he graduated from the bilingual Department of Philosophy at the University of Ottawa, and the following year he graduated with a postgraduate degree, culminating in a Bachelor of Philosophy.

He was supposed to become a priest, but eventually decided to become a doctor. From resolution to realisation was not a long road. In 1951, he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto and received his Doctor of Medicine degree. After a professional internship at St. Joseph's Hospital, the young medic, became part of the medical team and opened his own medical practice in west Toronto. Immediately after graduation, from 1952 to 1954, he also worked at the hospital in the Shoulderdice Surgery department.

Physician and community worker

In 1955, Dr Stanley Haidasz attended a course in cardiology at the Cook Country PostGraduate School of Medicine in Chicago (Illinois, USA), and later a course in geriatrics at the University of Saskatchewan.

From this brief summary of the schools Stanley Haidasz attended, it might seem that the young Stanislaus was a 'bookworm'. Nothing could be further from the truth. Stanley was socially active from an early age. For example, it is worth mentioning here that he was president of the Polish Catholic Youth Organisation at St. Kostka Parish in Toronto, and when the St. Stanislaus Credit Union was founded in 1945, he served there as protocol secretary of the board of directors of what was then the largest parish bank in North America. Later, from 1945 to 1956, he served as president of the Canadian Polish Congress - Toronto District, and was co-founder and for 10 years president of the Millennium Polish Christian Perpetual Fund.

His long-standing interest in ethnic and international affairs found some continuity in his membership of the Toronto branch of the United Nations Association, as well as his election as a member of the Centre for the Study of Soviet and East European Affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa.

Parliamentarian

Over time, Stanley Haidasz became a politician. From 1962 to 1974, he was elected six times to the House of Commons of the Parliament of Ottawa as a federal MP for the Parkdale District of Toronto. In 1963, Stanley Haidasz was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the federal Minister of Health and Welfare, and in 1964 he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Secretary of State to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the same year, he became chairman of the Canadian delegation to the international World Food Programme conference in Geneva, which resulted in visits as a government delegate to Canadian diplomatic missions in NATO, Paris, Rome and Warsaw (1964). In 1964 and 1965, Stanley Haidash was Canada's official representative to the 19th and 20th UN General Assemblies, and in 1966 he was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, representing him in all areas of the country. In1966 he became a member of the Canadian Parliamentary Delegation sent to Poland for the Millennium celebrations. In 1968, appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Consumer Corporations, he introduced legislation related to the Hazardous Products Act and the Patent Act. Drafted legislation related to consumer health protection and came forward with the first Bill (Clean Air Act) brought to the House of Commons by a non-Cabinet Member of Parliament.

Minister

On 8 October 1971, the then Prime Minister of Canada, Pierre E. Trudeau, said: "We have two official languages, French and English. There is no official culture, nor does any ethnic group have an advantage over other groups. Every citizen is a Canadian and all should be treated equally and fairly."

This historic statement was no mere idle platitude. Immediately after the declaration, the then Prime Minister tabled a document in the House of Commons presenting a series of government programmes to support ethnic groups in their efforts to preserve and nurture their own cultures. Canada became known as a multicultural country, popularly referred to as an 'ethnic mosaic'.

A year later, on 22 November 1972, the Prime Minister of Canada, announcing a multiculturalism programme, appointed Stanley Haidash as Minister for Multiculturalism.

The new minister, who stated that "it has become my duty and honour to pursue this bold and historic programme for Canada", established such programmes as, for example, the history of ethnic groups, Ethnic Studies Canada and the establishment of chairs of ethnic culture and language in universities.

In 1973, as Minister of State, he made official visits to Budapest and Malta, and while in Rome in 1973, he and his wife had a private audience with Pope Paul VI.

Senator

The day of April 4, 1978, went down in the history of the Polish Canadian community forever. On that day, Dr Stanley Haidasz, a former Member of the House of Commons for the Parkdale constituency of Toronto, became a Senator, the first and only Senator of Polish descent in Canada.

On 6 April 1978, the newly minted Senator made his first speech.

Honourable Senators!

As I deliver my first speech in this House, I would like first of all to express my gratitude for the warm welcome I have received from you and which I feel deeply moved by. After seventeen years in the House of Commons of this Parliament, I am well acquainted with its working system and rules. I ask your indulgence during my period of familiarisation with the procedure of the Senate. (...) I am naturally also sincerely indebted to my wife and children, parents and relatives, teachers and friends who have made it possible for me to become who I am, Many of them, like millions of other immigrants, came here from Poland and from various other countries, some having already arrived before Confederation to start a new life here - while contributing to the development of this new country. For all of these, I pray and pay tribute to them today, echoing the words of Thomas D'Arcy McGee, spoken in a speech in Quebec in 1862: "Dear - true dearest to every country under the sun are always the children born from its womb and nourished by its breast, but where a man from another country, anywhere born, speaking any language and of any creed, seeks a country which he intends to honour and serve, abiding faithfully by it in prosperity as well as in misfortune, when he lifts the anchor of his heart in its former mooring and casts it at the feet of his chosen mistress - the of his new country - with the strength of a mature man's hope - such a man is entitled, by virtue of his ardent devotion to his new homeland, to be accorded considerations no less than those accorded to the children of the land."

As a senator, Stanley Haidash represented Canada at the annual NATO parliamentary meetings in Venice, Madeira, The Hague and Istanbul. He was a member of the Canadian delegation to the funeral of Pope Paul VI and to the celebration of Pope John Paul II's assumption of the pontificate. He chaired the first Canadian-Polish seminar on occupational disease medicine. He was a very active member of the International Parliamentary Group on Civil Rights in the Soviet Union; present as a Canadian delegate at meetings in Oxford (England) and West Berlin.

Senator Stanley Haidasz retired after five years.

It must be said, however, that despite his various responsibilities, he always remained very active in the Canadian Polish community.

Socialist

Senator Stanley Haidasz was a founding member, sponsor and one of the directors of the Copernicus Lodge Polish Old Age Home in Toronto. He initiated the Scoliosis Surgical Fund and sponsored the Canadian charity Pope John Paul II Polish Children`s Fund of Toronto, organised a surgical seminar at the Children`s Orthopaedic Centre in Zakopane, was a member of the Circle of Friends of the Catholic University of Lublin, co-chairman of the Financial Campaign Committee for the Pope John Paul II College Building Fund in Lublin. For his work he was awarded, among others: Grand Cross of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Commander of the Cross of Merit and Commander of the Polonia Restituta. He was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate (in Administration) from the University of Northland in Montreal and an Honorary Doctorate (in Philosophy) from the Catholic University of Lublin. To his honours, Senator Stanley Haidasz was an Honorary Member of the Union of Poles in Canada, an Honorary Member of the Canadian Federation of Ethnic Press, and an Honorary Citizen of the City of Winnipeg. Senator Stanley Haidasz was married to Natalia Gugala and had three daughters and one son.

He died in Toronto and is laid to rest in Park Lawn Cemetery.

Location: Park Lawn Cemetery, 2845 Bloor St W, Toronto, Canada.