Economic Crisis Dept: Construction of the Sydney steel plant started in 1899. Among the waves of immigrants was a contingent of Poles, leaving a country under foreign occupation and rural regions plagued by economic crisis, according to The Chronicle Herald. Indeed, in 1909, the St. Michael s Polish Benefit Society was established to provide a semblance of a social safety net and a cultural gathering place and the proposal to close Sydney s vibrant, historic St. Mary s Polish Parish, just months before its 100th anniversary, puts at risk an entire cultural community, a community that has helped to shape Nova Scotia s identity. Despite appalling, unsafe conditions in the steel plant and the coal mines, the Poles stayed and settled throughout industrial Cape Breton. They somehow found ways to survive.
(www.immigrantscanada.com). As
reported in the news.
@t Sydney steel plant, economic crisis
11.2.12
