On September 17–19, the University of Silesia in Katowice hosted the tenth Congress of the Polish Association for Canadian Studies. An international community of Canadianists met to exchange ideas, engage in debates, and share their exciting and diverse research in the field of Canadian studies. The overarching theme of this year’s congress—“Healing, Well-being and Care: Canadian perspectives”—invited scholarly reflections on subjects of relevance in the contemporary world.
We were proud to have Her Excellency E Catherine Godin, Ambassador of Canada to Poland, open the congress in person. Madame Ambassador expressed her gratitude for the successful cooperation of the Embassy and PACS, emphasizing the Embassy’s continued dedication to supporting Canadian studies in Poland. Moreover, Madame Ambassador thanked the whole community of Polish Canadianists for their passion and contribution to the development of Canadian studies internationally. A welcoming address was also delivered in person by the President of International Council for Canadian Studies, Anna Branach-Kallas.
The second day of the congress began with the PACS General Assembly during which the outgoing board was granted a vote of approval and a new board and audit committee were elected for the 2025–28 term. We are pleased to announce that the outgoing board was unanimously re-elected for a second term with no changes to its composition: Dagmara Drewniak (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan) (President), Anna Żurawska (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń) (Deputy President), Magdalena Paluszkiewicz-Misiaczek (Jagiellonian University) (Treasurer), and Marcin Markowicz (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań) (Secretary). The following members were elected to the audit committee: Ewelina Feldman-Kołodziejuk (University of Białystok) (Head), Magdalena Marczuk (University of Łodz) (Member), and Michał Obszyński (University of Warsaw) (Member).
XI PACS Congress will be organized in 2028 by the University of Warsaw.
The second day of the congress concluded with a formal banquet, opened by the Chair of the Organizing Committee, Joanna Warmuzińska-Rogóż (University of Silesia). The Embassy of Canada to Poland was represented by Marie-Hélène Côté, Political and Public Affairs Counsellor, who outlined plans for future cooperation between PACS and the Embassy of Canada. This was followed by remarks from PACS Founding Member and Professor at the University of Silesia, Professor Krzysztof Jarosz, who spoke about the beginnings of Canadian Studies in Poland. PACS President, Dagmara Drewniak, in recognition of many years of service, presented a gift to Anna Reczyńska of the Institute of American Studies and Polish Diaspora at the Jagiellonian University, who is retiring. Reczyńska is a distinguished Founding Member of PACS and will remain an honorary member of our Association.
Professor Drewniak and Dr. Markowicz also presented awards to this year’s winners of the Nancy Burke Award for the best diploma paper on a Canadian topic defended at a Polish university in the 2023–24 academic year. Anna Wieczorek received an honorable mention for her thesis “‘Leaving Holes in Our Beings’: Representations of Residential School Experience and Trauma in Indigenous Literature in Canada,” written at the University of Warsaw under the supervision of Dr. Weronika Suchacka, and the main prize was awarded to Alicja Komorniczak for her thesis “From Marginalization to Cultural Safety: Treatment of Indigenous Peoples within the Canadian healthcare system” written at the Jagiellonian University under the supervision of Professor Franciszek Czech.
On the third day of the congress, fascinating parallel sessions finished with an online meeting with Canadian author Myrna Kostash, who read excerpts from her book Ghosts in a Photograph. The congress concluded with a guided tour of Katowice.
The PACS Board and the entire PACS community would like to sincerely thank the members of the Organizing Committee: Joanna Warmuzińska-Rogóż, Anna Czarnowus, Eugenia Sojka, Ewelina Berek, Ewa Drab, and Rafał Madeja. We would also like to express our gratitude to the authorities of the University of Silesia and the Faculty of Law and Administration for providing comfortable university facilities.
Last but not least, on behalf of PACS and the Organizing Committee, we would like to express our gratitude to the International Council for Canadian Studies and the Embassy of Canada to Poland for their financial support.
Our thanks to PACS President Dagmara Drewniak for this report.
PACS photographs.