U of T Gift Honours Roman Wrzesnewskyj

TORONTO – A $35,000 gift from Borys Wrzesnewskyj, MP for Etobicoke Centre and owner of Future Bakery and M-C Dairy, and his family will support the teaching of the Polish language at the University of Toronto. The gift, which establishes the Roman Wrzesnewskyj Polish Endowment Fund, pays tribute to Mr. Wrzesnewskyj’s father, who passed away in 2009.

“When we speak of Canada’s many blessings, most people point to our abundant natural resources; however, I believe that it’s our deep reservoir of human resources that represents our greatest asset,” says Mr. Wrzesnewskyj, who graduated from the University of Toronto (U of T) with a Bachelor of Commerce in 1983. “The family motto was, ‘Look to the future in your adopted country, and yet never forget where you came from, your ancestral roots.’”

Canada’s Polonia community, of which Mr. Wrzesnewskyj is a distinguished member, has played a significant role in building this country and strengthening its cultural mosaic ever since the first major Polish-group settlers arrived in Ontario in the 19^th century. They include such notables as Alexandre douard Kierzkowski, the first MP of Polish descent who served in Canada’s inaugural parliament, and the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who have worked as labourers and professionals in every sector. Among them are Mr. Wrzesnewskyj’s grandfather, Felix, who founded Future Bakery, and his father, Roman.

Polish Studies, which encompasses language, literature, culture and history, has been an important part of humanities teaching and scholarship at U of T since the 1960s. Its strong presence reflects U of T’s belief that fluency in world languages and knowledge of other cultures are critical building blocks of global citizenship and essential tools for cultivating leadership in multicultural societies.

“As the largest undergraduate and the only graduate Polish language and literature program in Canada, we feel it is our responsibility to provide our students with comprehensive, comparative and interdisciplinary perspectives on Polish in a cross-cultural university setting,” says the program’s director, Professor Tamara Trojanowska. “Canada’s Polish community has been an invaluable partner in helping us to achieve this goal and we are grateful for their ongoing support to secure our Polish language courses.”

U of T’s Faculty of Arts and Science is home to Canada’s largest and strongest clusters of expertise in world languages and literatures. It hosts one of the largest Polish language and literature programs in North America.

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MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj