Haidasz was a cardiologist by training and profession. Between 1962 and 1974, he represented the Liberal Party and was elected six times to the House of Commons as a federal MP. For two years (1972–1974), he served as Minister for Multiculturalism. He served twice as a Canadian delegate to the UN General Assembly and three times as a parliamentary delegate to the North Atlantic Council.

Top of the class

Stanley Haidasz, the son of Polish immigrants, Piotr and Józefina Haidasz, was born on 4 March 1923 in Toronto. In 1936, he graduated with honours from St Mary’s Separate School, and in 1941, he topped his class at St Michael’s College School. Not only was he an excellent student (he won a gold medal for academic achievement every year), but he was also active in the Drama Club. In 1944, he graduated from the bilingual Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Ottawa, and a year later completed his postgraduate studies, culminating in a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy.

He had intended to become a priest, but ultimately decided to become a doctor. It did not take long for him to turn this decision into reality. In 1951, he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto and was awarded a Doctor of Medicine degree. Following his clinical training at St Joseph’s Hospital, the young doctor joined the medical team there and opened his own medical practice in west Toronto. Immediately after completing his studies, between 1952 and 1954, he also worked in the Shoulderdice Surgery department at the hospital.

Doctor and community activist

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

From this brief list of the schools Stanley Haidasz attended, one might conclude that the young Stanisław was a ‘bookworm’. Nothing could be further from the truth. Stanley was actively involved in community work from a very young age. For example, it is worth mentioning that he was president of the Polish Catholic Youth Organisation at the parish of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Toronto, and when the St Stanislaus Credit Union was founded in 1945, he served as the minutes secretary on the board of what was then the largest parish bank in North America. Later, between 1945 and 1956, he served as president of the Canadian Polish Congress – Toronto District; he was a co-founder and, for 10 years, president of the Millennium Perpetual Fund of Christian Poland.

His long-standing interest in ethnic and international affairs found a kind of continuation in his membership of the Toronto branch of the United Nations Association, as well as in his election as a member of the Centre for Soviet and East European Studies 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 in Ottawa as a federal Member of Parliament for the Parkdale constituency in Toronto. In 1963, Stanley Haidasz was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the federal Minister of Health and Social Welfare, and in 1964, Parliamentary Secretary to the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the same year, he became head of the Canadian delegation to the World Food Programme’s international conference in Geneva; as a result, in his capacity as a government delegate, he visited Canadian diplomatic missions to NATO, in Paris, Rome and Warsaw (1964). In 1964 and 1965, Stanley Haidasz served as Canada’s official representative to the 19th and 20th UN General Assemblies, and in 1966 he served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Indian Affairs and Northern Development, representing him throughout the country. In 1966, he became a member of the Canadian Parliamentary Delegation sent to Poland for the Millennium celebrations. In 1968, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Consumer Corporations and introduced legislation relating to the Hazardous Products Act and the Patents Act. He drafted legislation relating to consumer health protection and introduced the first bill (on clean air) tabled in the House of Commons by a Member of Parliament not in government.

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 everyone should be treated equally and fairly.”

This historic statement was not merely empty rhetoric. Immediately following the declaration, the then Prime Minister tabled a document in the House of Commons outlining a series of government programmes designed to support ethnic groups in their efforts to preserve and nurture their own cultures. Canada earned the reputation of being a multicultural country, popularly referred to as an ‘ethnic mosaic’.

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

The new minister, who stated that ‘it has become my duty and honour to implement this bold and historic programme for Canada’, introduced programmes such as the history of ethnic groups, ethnic studies in Canada, and the establishment of chairs in ethnic culture and language at universities.

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

Senator

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

On 6 April 1978, the newly appointed senator delivered his first speech.

Honourable Senators!

As I deliver my first speech in this House, I wish first and foremost to express my gratitude for the warm welcome I have received from you, by which I am deeply moved. Having spent seventeen years in the House of Commons of this Parliament, I am well acquainted with its working methods and rules. I ask for your patience whilst I familiarise myself with Senate procedure. (…) I am, of course, also sincerely grateful to my wife and children, my parents and relatives, my teachers and friends, who have enabled me to become the person I am today, Many of them, like millions of other immigrants, came here from Poland and various other countries; some arrived even before the Confederation to start a new life here – whilst contributing to the development of this new country. I pray for all of them and pay tribute to them today, echoing the words of Thomas D’Arcy McGee, spoken in a speech in Quebec in 1862: ‘Dearest of all to every country under the sun are always the children born of its womb and nourished at its breast; but where a man from another country, wherever born, speaking whatever language and of whatever faith, seeks a country which he intends to honour and to which he wishes to serve, standing faithfully by it in prosperity as well as in adversity, when he weighs anchor from his heart’s former mooring and casts it at the feet of his chosen beloved – his new country – with the strength of a mature man’s hope – such a person, by virtue of his ardent devotion to his new homeland, has the right to be accorded consideration no less than that granted to the children of this land’.

As a senator, Stanley Haidasz 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 ceremony marking the accession of Pope John Paul II to the papacy. He chaired the first Canadian-Polish seminar on occupational medicine. He was a very active member of the International Parliamentary Group on Civil Rights in the Soviet Union; he attended meetings in Oxford (England) and West Berlin as a Canadian delegate.

After five years, Senator Stanley Haidasz retired.

It must be noted, however, that despite his wide-ranging responsibilities, he always remained a very active member of the Canadian Polish community.

Community activist

Senator Stanley Haidasz was a founding member, patron and one of the directors of the Polish community’s Copernicus Lodge retirement home in Toronto. He was the initiator of the Scoliosis Surgical Fund and a sponsor of the Canadian charity Pope John Paul II Polish Children’s Fund of Toronto; he organised a surgical seminar at the Centre for Paediatric Orthopaedics in Zakopane; a member of the Friends’ Circle of the Catholic University of Lublin, and co-chair of the Fundraising Committee for the Pope John Paul II College Construction Fund in Lublin. For his work, he has been awarded, amongst other honours: the Grand Cross of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit, and the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate (in administration) from Northland University in Montreal and an honorary doctorate (in philosophy) from the Catholic University of Lublin. To his honours it should be added that Senator Stanley Haidasz was an Honorary Member of the Polish Canadian Federation, 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 Gugała; he had three daughters and one son.

He died in Toronto and is buried at Park Lawn Cemetery.

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