Cape Breton choir honoured during Nova Scotia Polish Heritage Month

Atlantic Canada’s only Polish-language choir hits a high note.

The St. Mary’s Polish Parish choir is the only Polish-language choir in Atlantic Canada, and Rita Gdziubek-MacDonald started singing in it when she was a child more than eight decades ago.

“That was a long time ago. I’m 92 now,” said the longtime choir member during a cultural open house Saturday at the Polish Village Hall in Whitney Pier, N.S.

The choir has sung at many community events, including performing for Pope John Paul II when he visited Halifax in September 1984. Gdziubek-MacDonald was among those who sang that day.

“Oh my goodness, that was a real honour, a real honour to sing for him,” she recalled.

“There was quite a big crowd then, a lot more of us. But it was… it was just an honour and we sang our hearts out.”

Ursula Melski’s history with the group dates back to when she first moved to Canada as a young woman.

“Ever since I came to Canada, on Sept. 12, 1972”, she said.

Melski was still singing with the choir on Saturday, nearly 53 years after the day she emigrated from Poland.

“When you come to another country, you look for something that is familiar that you left behind,” she said.

The choir is the featured artist for this year’s Nova Scotia Polish Heritage Month.

“The choir has played an enormous role in keeping the language alive, in keeping many of the traditions alive,” said Tom Urbaniak, a longtime member of St. Mary’s Polish Parish council.

It means a lot to the choir to pass the songs and language down to the next generation.

“They sang with Men of the Deeps,” said Urbaniak. “They even had ‘Working Man’ sung in Polish. So, this choir is an institution, and we just feel it’s so overdue to show our love and appreciation for them and we hope that they continue for generations to come.”

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