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A Memoir by Margaret V. Ostrowski
Lost Legacies
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Lost Legacies
In today's individualistic Western society, wisdom from our elders' lives and homelands is being lost. A retired lawyer and psychologist, whose Polish roots were virtually unknown to her while she grew up in Canada, author Margaret Ostrowski had been always touched by the historical backgrounds of the immigrant groups she encountered. In Lost Legacies, she embarked on a quest to explore her own heritage - her grandmother (and father's) home in the Russian Partition of Poland and their journey and settlement here. Years of research from a wide range of sources helped her realize that she was a Western Slav from a country with a remarkable Golden Era, with outstanding heroes, scientists, and artisans combined with an unfortunate vulnerable location between aggressive powers that removed Poland from the map for 123 years. Her paternal grandmother's story includes the death of infants, a gold mine, and a Canadian poet. In Lost Legacies, ancestral stories inspire differing views of how to live, help formulate opinions and policies on immigration today, and assist in properly caring for our invitees or alternately aiding them to remain in the homelands they hold in their hearts.
Critical Comment
“This book comes at a time when immigration is one of the most pressing social and political issues. Margaret Ostrowski explores the history and culture of her Polish family heritage and, while coming to terms with the complexi- ties of both the circumstances that forced her grandparents and their children to emigrate from Poland as well as the hardships of life in Canada, she sug- gests that such history should not be forgotten. Canada is a nation of many immigrant groups, and their history has answers for today’s issues, making Margaret Ostrowski’s book a thought-provoking and pivotal read.”
– Bozena Karwowska, Ph.D., Professor, University of British Columbia, University of Warsaw. Author: Druga plec na wygnaniu (Second Sex in Exile), Universitas, 2013.
“Margaret Ostrowski opens our eyes to the power of our ancestors – their escapes from hostile regimes – and incredible resilience despite brutal hardships. I emigrated to Canada in 1947 after war took away my country. I’m thankful that this book brings to light the beauty and past glory of old Poland. I always carry the love of my old homeland in my heart, a love that most immigrants carry which brings richness to Canada, our new country.”
– Janina Freyman (nee Runcewicz), Past President of the Polish Canadian Women’s Federation, Committed Volunteer for Migrants and Refugees.
Author Margaret V. Ostrowski
Author Biography
Margaret Ostrowski was the fifth of seven children in a Polish/Canadian Catholic family. Her father was a Polish immigrant from the Russian Partition of Poland, and her mother’s family came from the Austrian-Hungarian Partition. Margaret Ostrowski holds an Honours Science Degree from the University of Toronto, a Masters Degree in Social Psychology from the University of Western Ontario, and a Law Degree from the University of British Columbia. A retired Registered Psychologist and a retired Lawyer, having practiced law for 35 years in B.C., she was elected President of her provincial bar association as well as a member of the B.C. lawyers’ governing body. She particularly enjoyed her time as a decision-maker for the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. She wrote hundreds of decisions in that capacity as well as hundreds of decisions for seven other decision-making entities. Always a very active volunteer in whatever community she found herself, she received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Award for volunteerism, a K.C. for her legal work, and the 2009 YWCA Women of Distinction Award for Business and the Professions. She has travelled to more than 45 countries and has visited Poland three times.
Lost Legacies, Margaret V. Ostrowski, 260 pp., 5.5 x 8.5, Memoir, September, 2024
ISBN: 978-1-927599-62-4 (paper) . . . $21.95
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