In 1967, to mark Canada's centenary, the country's highest civilian national honour, the Order of Canada (Order of Canada is presented to Canadians who have rendered outstanding service to their country.

The Order is awarded to, among others, scientists, artists, musicians, film and television stars, philanthropists and other distinguished individuals in their field and honours people who make extraordinary contributions to Canada or other nations, with the exception of all federal and provincial politicians and judges while in office. It is awarded to those who, by their attitude, live up to the motto taken from the biblical Letter to the Hebrews 11:16 and implement the Latin motto: Desiderantes meliorem patriam, or "Desiring a better homeland". The Order is always presented by the Governor General of Canada.

The Order of Canada has three grades:

Companion/Compagnon (CC) - up to 15 may be awarded annually.

Officer/Officier (OC) - no more than 64 may be awarded per year.

Member/Membre (CM) - up to 136 may be awarded per year.

Since its establishment, nearly eight thousand Canadians have been honoured with the Order of Canada, including dozens of Poles or Canadians of Polish descent. Some of them rest in Canadian cemeteries. Those honoured with the Order include:

Maria Adamowska-Panaro (1902-1989) ; she received the order for her work and selfless assistance to immigrants in Winnipeg. She arrived in Canada with her parents and siblings in 1911. Here she completed primary schools and higher education - St. John's Technical High School. She later studied accounting and administration. She started her professional career as a stenographer in a law firm. She then became a manager of various departments of labour and commercial firms in the Winnipeg area. She also served as secretary of the Polish Consulate in that city from 1920 to 1925.

After thirty-six years with Arenovitch and Leisic, she retired, giving all her free time to others - she devoted herself to community service. She was appointed director of the International Centre. During this time, Maria Panaro has also been very active in the Catholic Women's Leaque organisation, the Polish Women's Federation of Canada and the Canadian Polish Congress, Manitoba District. In 1973, she became a member of the Copernican Committee in the province of Manitoba.

In his book Where Our Feet Are... Reportages from Canada (Oficyna Wydawnicza "Arax", Bialystok 1991), the author recorded his meeting with Maria Panaro in Winnipeg as follows:

"She was involved in all sorts of work in organising numerous Polish community events. However, there was only one that stuck in her memory the most - the joining of the Polish and Canadian lands on Copernicus Hill. - This is my greatest experience," recalls Maria. - 'Because, imagine, here I am holding like the greatest treasure an urn with soil from the Homeland (if you will ever write about it, please write Homeland with a capital "O", please do me the pleasure), to be joined in a moment with the soil of the country of my adolescence and of my entire life...'.

Maria Panaro paused. She swallowed her saliva, as if she was confiding her innermost and somewhere deeply hidden secret. She corrected her hair, turning her face away to hide her emotion.

- Earth from Poland and Canada," she sighed. For me, this is not only a symbol of connection between the two countries, it is above all an act of reconciliation and reconciliation. Yes, reconciliation - the possessive, romantic longing for her native country with the Canadian reality of not being able to return....

Tears began to gather in the corners of her eyes. I turned off the tape recorder."

One of the Autumn Bulletins of the General Board of the Canadian Polish Congress (from 1990) reported that Maria Panaro-Adamowska had died at Edmonton's Szarytki Hospital at the age of 87 on 14 June 1989. The brief obituary posted stated: "May the land of Canada be light to her and dream of the land of Poland, of which she never forgot anything".

In 1983, she was awarded the highest honour in the "land of the maple leaf", the Order of Canada (Member), for her work.

She died in Edmonton during the national meeting of the Polish-Canadian Women's Federation. She is laid to rest at St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Eng. Eugeniusz Baranowski (1914-1985) ; a cadet corporal who took part in the battle of Narvik and, after the fall of France, studied at the Polytechnic Institute of the University of Grenoble. He arrived in Canada in 1942 and worked for many years in a paper mill design company. He was a well-known social activist in the Polish community in Montreal. Thanks to his commitment, in 1966, a statue of Nicolaus Copernicus (replica of the Warsaw statue chiseled by Thorvaldsen) was erected at the World Expo'67 in Montreal as a gift from the Polish community to the city (now standing at1000 St. Jacques in Montreal).

Awarded the Order of Canada (Member).

Died in Montreal and is laid to rest in the Field of Honour cemetery in Pointe Claire, Quebec.

Dr Jerzy Adam Dobrowolski (1931-2013) ; a highly respected Polish scientist who defended his doctoral thesis at the University of London in the field of optical thin films. As a physicist, he used the results of his work for the first time in the world in the fight against money counterfeiters; he applied an impalpable print to 50- and 100-dollar notes in Canada, to credit cards and various documents. Throughout his career, he worked for the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). He was the author of more than 190 papers, more than 30 patents and 8 review chapters in books. He received numerous awards and honours, including Canada's highest honour, the Order of Canada (Member).

He died in Ottawa and is buried in Notre-Dame Cemetery, while an obelisk with a commemorative plaque dedicated to this scientist was unveiled in Beetchwood Cemetery (Ottawa, Ontario).

Hon. Donald (Don) Frank Mazankowski (1935-2020) ; Canadian politician of Polish descent, born in Viking, Alberta. A long-time Conservative Party activist who was a member of the federal Parliament for 25 years. He served as a cabinet minister to Prime Ministers Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney. He was Minister of Finance and in 1986 was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, a position he held until his retirement in 1993. He was the only Pole in the history of this country to hold such a high office. In 1992, Mazankowski was honoured to be among a small group of prominent Canadians who were given the title of Honourable (Man of Honour).

He was twice awarded the Order of Canada (Officer in 2000 and Companion in 2013).

He died in Sherwood Park and was buried in the cemetery in Vegreville (Alberta), the town where he lived, where he won his first election and from where he went on to the world.

Prof. Teodor Feliks Domaradzki (1910-2001) ; from 1930 to 1936 he studied at the Academy of Political Science in Warsaw, and three years later obtained a master's degree in philosophy and history from the University of Warsaw. From 1941 to 1947 he was a lecturer in Polish language at the State University of Rome and professor of Slavic literature at the Gregorian University. He earned doctorates in Slavic philology and Polish literature.

Despite being tempted by numerous posts, he refused to return to communist Poland. In 1948, he came to Canada and founded the Centre for Slavic Studies at the University of Montreal, where he was director and professor of Polish and Slavic literature. In turn, he created departments of Slavic studies at the Universities of Windsor and Ottawa. Author of numerous books, essays, monographs, articles, studies and translations into French, English and Italian of works by leading Polish poets and writers.

Awarded the Order of Canada (Member).

Died in Montreal. He rests in a family grave in the Polish section of the Saint Sauveur cemetery in Quebec.

Tamara Jaworska (1918-2015) ; one of the world's most prominent visual artists specialising in artistic weaving. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź and later was an assistant and lecturer at the academy. In 1969, she and her husband emigrated to Canada.

Here, her unique tapestries have been judged to exemplify the highest craftsmanship of artistic weaving, and have been exhibited in a wide variety of prestigious galleries, including the Pushkin National Museum in Moscow, the National Museum in Warsaw, the Museum of Civilisation in Ottawa, the National Museum of Artistic Tapestry in Łódź, the National Army Museum in Kraków, the Scottish Museum of Art in Galashields and many, many others. The artist's works can be found both in museums around the world and in private collections. Tamara Jaworska has received numerous awards and distinctions. Several documentary films have been made about her, including by her husband Tadeusz Jaworski, one of the world's most prominent documentary filmmakers and winner of numerous awards at national and international festivals. For Twilight of the Sorcerers he was awarded by the United Nations. The award was given for his outstanding contribution to the "work of bringing nations together". In Poland, he has directed, among others: The Source , The School Place , I was a Kapo , Memory and Rem orse , The Secretary . His film Selling out was nominated for an Academy Award in the short documentary film category. In total, he has made close to 200 films.

This extremely meritorious couple, despite receiving only a one-way ticket in Poland, never renounced their Polish citizenship and were always proud of their origins.

Tamara Jaworska was awarded the Order of Canada (Member) for her artistic achievements, and in Poland the medal of Merit to Culture Gloria Artis.

They died in Toronto and their ashes are in the chapel of York Cemetery in Toronto, Ontario.

Prof. Hanna Maria Pappius (1925-2023) ; distinguished scientist, member of the board of the Polish Scientific Institute in Canada. Born in Kujawy, she came to Canada in 1940 from London, where her father, Air Force Colonel Bogdan Kwiecinski, served as military and air attaché at the Polish Embassy from 1937.

She studied at McGill University, obtaining a master's degree in 1948 and a doctorate four years later. In 1953, she joined the Donner Laboratory of Experimental Neurochemistry. After a few years, she became the first female professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery and the Department of Biochemistry at McGill University. For almost seventy years, she made significant contributions to her field, conducting research on brain swelling and the effects of brain injury on neurotransmitter and receptor mechanisms. During her distinguished career, she has published more than 100 scientific articles. She also co-authored a book entitled Brain Electrolytes and Fluid Metabolism , now considered a classic in the field.

She has mentored and trained many experts who are now internationally renowned neurologists. After her retirement in 1995, Prof Pappius served as chair of the Animal Care Committee - Neurological Institute (until 2016), and was co-chair of the Research Ethics Board there for more than a decade.

Since her studies, Prof. Pappius has been closely involved with the Polish Institute of Science. From 1988 to 2015, she served as Director of the Polish Library and also as Vice President of the Institute.

Prof. Hanna Maria Pappius received the Order of Canada (Member) in recognition of her research in neurochemistry and her work for the Polish-Canadian community, as well as for fighting for animal rights.

Prof. Hanna Maria Pappius passed away in Montreal. She rests in the family quarters of the Polish section of the Saint-Sauveur cemetery in Quebec (see 'Avenue of Poles' in Saint-Sauveur).

Alicja Poznańska-Parizeau (1930-1990) ; Polish-Canadian writer, columnist and crime writer. She was one of the youngest participants in the Warsaw Uprising (awarded the Cross of Valour). After the war she went to Paris, where she studied at the Sorbonne, obtaining degrees in literature, law and political science. In 1955, she visited a friend from the Sorbonne in Quebec, where she signed a short contract that turned into a lifelong stay. The following year, she married the economist and politician Jacques Parizeau, who for nearly forty years played one of the most important roles in the Partie Quebecois, a Quebec political party seeking the separation of the province from Canada. Although she was also a separatist, she is best known in Canada as a novelist and journalist: She wrote for Cité libre, La Presse, Châtelaine, Le Devoir, La Patrie and Maclean's. At the University of Montreal, she taught criminology. In her books she often returned to Polish themes, and for one of her last novels, Les lilas fleurissent à Varsovie (Lilacs bloom in Warsaw), she was awarded first prize in a competition of the Association of French Language Writers in Paris.

In 1987, she was honoured with the Order of Canada (Member) by the Governor General (representative of the British Crown in Canada), which was hailed as a 'great scandal' in separatist Quebec.

She died in Outremont in the province of Quebec. She rests in the Parizeau family grave in the Notre-Dame-Des-Neiges cemetery in Montreal, Quebec.

Kazimierz Stańczykowski (1927-1981) ; Polish radio producer, founder of the first Canadian ethnic broadcasts. A former participant in the Warsaw Uprising, although he was an extremely well-known and respected radio producer in journalistic circles, he sat on various committees in the broadcasting industry and never forgot that he was Polish. He proudly highlighted his ancestry, including on radio programmes he produced; on Montreal's CHLP station, the multilingual radio station CFMB, and Winnipeg's second ethnic station CKJS. He was a well-known collector of polonics. In 1968-71, when he was chairman of the Quebec Ethnic Folk Arts Council, president of the Canadian Citizenship Federation and vice-chairman of the Montreal Citizenship Council, as a football lover he established the Polish Football Club, and since he was connected to Warsaw from birth, he named the team "Polonia" (this is the name of the capital's club, which was founded in 1911). He was the recipient of many awards and honours, and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Concordia University in Montreal. Unfortunately, his impressive career was interrupted in 1981 by a tragic car accident in Rawdon, Quebec, during which Kazimierz Stańczykowski died. In 1986, he was posthumously inducted into the CAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

Awarded the Order of Canada (Member).

He rests in the Notre-Dame-Des-Neiges cemetery in Montreal, Quebec.

Major-General Stefan Sznuk (1896-1986) ; (see Resting places of Polish generals). The Order of Canada Second Degree (Officer) was awarded to the General on 18 December 1970 for his services in facilitating the entry into Canada and the integration into Canadian life of many new Canadians, especially those of Polish origin.

Dr Henryk Marian Wójcicki (1916-2006) ; graduated in medicine from the University of Edinburgh, then wrote his doctoral thesis on war neuroses, qualified as a specialist psychiatrist and headed the neuropsychiatry department at the 1st Polish Military Hospital in Taymouth Castle, Perthshire, Scotland. In 1947 he was head of the Neuropsychiatric Unit at the Polish Veterans Hospital in Penley, Wales. In 1953 he and his family emigrated to Canada, where he was clinical director at a large psychiatric hospital in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. In 1954, he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He held several senior positions at Edmonton General, Gray Nuns and Misericordia hospitals, and was a clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Alberta. He chaired the Addictions Research Group and was instrumental in establishing the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC). In the final years of his career, he used his extensive experience to serve as a member of the Alberta Board of Review and the Mental Health Review Panel.

Henryk Wójcicki was also a prominent activist in the Canadian Polish community. He served for many years as president of the Polish-Canadian Congress, Alberta Branch.

In 1989, he was awarded the Order of Canada (Member).

He died in Edmonton and is buried in the local Catholic Holy Cross Cemetery in Alberta.

Prof. Pawel Wyczynski (1921-2008) , literary pseudonym 'Pawel Wrzos', poet, professor of French literature, who graduated from the University of Lille, France. In 1951, he emigrated to Canada, where he became a lecturer in French literature at the University of Ottawa. He received his doctorate in 1957 and his professorship in 1964. In his academic work, he specialised in the study of Canadian French-language literature. He was particularly renowned for his work on the life and works of the poet Emil Nelligan (a biography and an edition of his complete works jointly with R. Robidoux) and his studies on the works of Laberge.

For seven years he served on the Royal Commission, appointed by Prime Minister Lester Pearson, to study the introduction of two official languages (French and English) in Canada - The Royal Commission on Biligualism and Biculturalism.

He has taught at many universities, including Brazil, France, England, Italy and Poland. He has received four honorary doctorates (Laurencienne University in Sudbury, University of Guelph, Laval University, Catholic University of Lublin).

He has authored, co-authored and edited over 62 books and over 100 critical and literary articles. He is the author of a play in Polish and has published two volumes of poetry in Polish: W słonecznej ciemni and Mowa korzeni.

He received numerous awards for his academic achievements, including Canada's highest honour, the Order of Canada (Member).

He died in Ottawa and is buried in the local Beechwood Catholic Cemetery, Ontario.

The Order of Canada, upon the death of the awardee, must, constitutionally, be returned to the Governor General, as it is the property of the British Crown. It can neither be auctioned nor sold. It can only be given to the family as a memento of the deceased or donated to a museum.