Dear Polonia,

 

With great pleasure, I'm writing to you today as the newly elected President of the Canadian Polish Congress British Columbia Branch. I would love to introduce myself.

 

My name is Michael Kristian Dembek. I had the honor to be elected President of the Canadian Polish Congress BC branch in last week's election. I am the first elected Canadian-born President of our Congress in BC and the youngest President elected throughout CPC's 80 year history. With the results of the election, I understand that British Columbia's Polonia is trusting a younger generation to continue promoting our culture, heritage, values, and traditions. I see this as a passing of the torch.

 

For the past eight years, I have been involved in various Polonia and Polish organizations in Poland and Canada. I graduated from the University of Adam Mickiewicz with a Master of Arts in Public Governance graduating with honors. I was selected among top applicants worldwide and awarded a full grant from the Casimir Pulaski Foundation to attend the European Academy of Diplomacy. 

 

I am honored to serve as the CPC's President for 2021–23, and I hope you will join me in the work ahead as we strive to make our Polish community the strongest it has ever been. 

 

I would also like to congratulate the rest of the team. For the next term 2021 - 2023, our CPC BC branch will include

 

Officers Board Members

President - Michael K. Dembek

Vice President  - Iwona Swiatczak

Vice President  - Filip Jaworski

Treasurer - Izabela Sobieska

 

Elected Directors

Director - Ryszard Slawski

Director - Andrew Dobrowolski

Director - Beata Grotkowska

Director - Andrzej Kopczynski

Director - Liz Narodowski

 

At the Canadian Polish Congress BC, we are focusing on developing exciting projects and targeting some key initiatives for the year ahead. Our three main areas of focus are as follows:

 

1. Enhance our digital presence: We are revamping our Facebook page with weekly posts about Polish culture, events, contents, and so much more! We have also started our own Instagram page. You may click on the icons below to like our pages and follow up with us. There will be a contest in April, so make sure to join us on our social media accounts!

2. Encourage young Polish-Canadians to be involved in our community: At CPC BC, we see young people's value as future leaders. Hence our organization is launching several projects and events tailored to our youth. We want to let young Poles know; they have a strong community with them, and we are ready to support them in their future.

 

3. To support Polish organizations in BC: We firmly believe the more united we are, the stronger our Polish community will be. We will be working relentlessly to unite our community. We would love to see all of us working together to promote our Polish values, traditions, and culture. We will strive to showcase British Columbia, our beautiful heritage. 

 

We will ensure to build and strengthen the impact the Canadian Polish Congress has on our communities for the next two years.

I look forward to working with everyone closely.