History

The idea of creating a platform from which to explore and popularize Janusz Korczak’s life and work in Canada was born in 1996, during preparations for an exhibition commemorating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. This event was organized by the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland. The head organizer of the event was Alexander Dimant, and it was his personal story that drew others to the idea. As a teenager, Warsaw-born Alexander Dimant was taken to the Warsaw Ghetto along with his entire family. A few months before the liquidation of the Ghetto he escaped to the Aryan side and survived, never to see any member of his family again.

Dimant’s parents and siblings stayed behind the Wall, and it is very possible that they witnessed Dr. Korczak’s last journey. He walked at the head of 192 orphans to Umschlagplatz to board the cattle train to Treblinka – the German Nazi extermination camp. Since Korczak was very well known in the Warsaw Ghetto, the evacuation of his orphanage was witnessed and described by survivors.

After Aleksander Dimant’s untimely death in 1998, his wife Gina decided to continue his efforts. In November 1999 she organized a screening of Andrzej Wajda’s film “Korczak” at the Vancouver Jewish Community Centre, and the very successful and engaging evening. Many people asked if there might be a follow up to that event – if, in other words, there could be a platform from which to continue to pursue people’s interest in Janusz Korczak’s life and work.

In February 2002 this interest took shape in the form of The Janusz Korczak Association of Canada, with its home in Vancouver.

In its first big project, the Association assisted the Holocaust Education Centre in producing the traveling exhibit “Janusz Korczak and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto,” which opened on October 2002 with the lecture “A Child in the Warsaw Ghetto” by Lilian Boraks-Nemetz, a child survivor of Warsaw Ghetto and a member of the Board of our Association. Since then, the Association has organized many lectures and events on Korczak’s legacy.

In April 2003 a lecture and discussion on Korczak’s pedagogy were held at the Perez Centre for Secular Jewish Culture. The lecture was delivered by Olga Medvedeva-Nathoo. That same year, several programs about Korczak’s life and legacy featuring Olga Medvedeva-Nathoo were broadcasted on Co-op Radio and the Multicultural Broadcast Station.

In May 2005 Olga Medvedeva-Nathoo delivered a lecture on “Janusz Korczak: Bridging the Nations” at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre that was followed by the address to the Korczak Friends by the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland in Canada, Piotr Ogrodzinski.

In November 2005 the Association presented an international exhibition of children’s art “My World and I” at the Moat Gallery in Vancouver, where 100 children’s drawings and paintings from Canada, United Kingdom, Poland, Israel, Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Japan were displayed. The exhibition was accompanied by a brochure showing many of the pictures in colour, produced by the Association.
In May 2006 Dr. Ludwik Mirabel delivered a talk “The Promise Land of Maly Przeglad” at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. Ludwik Mirabel, a medical doctor, belongs to an ever shrinking group of people who knew Janusz Korczak personally. Before World War II he was one of the young contributors to “Maly Przeglad,” a unique newspaper established by Korczak and written by children for children. During the same meeting Prof. Krzysztof Szafnicki gave the lecture “Discovering Korczak in Canada.”

In August 2006 our Association, together with the Episode Group, hosted Irene Tomaszewski, a Quebec author, translator, and founder of the Canadian Foundation for Polish Studies in Montreal. She presented two of her books – “Inside a Gestapo Prison: The Letters of Krystyna Wituska, 1942-44” and “Zegota: The Council for Aid to Jews in Occupied Poland 1942-45.”

In January 2007 the Association, together with the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland and the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre organized a concert by the famous Polish singer Slawa Przybylska. Ms. Przybylska is an artist who has made a tremendous contribution to the promotion of Polish-Jewish culture and is devoted to performing songs in Hebrew and Yiddish.

In March 2007 Olga Medvedeva-Nathoo delivered the lecture “Janusz Korczak: His Life and Legacy” to members of the Most-Bridge Society of Greater Vancouver. Gina Dimant presented a history of the Janusz Korczak Association of Canada and its most recent activities at the same meeting.

In April 2007 the Association presented the Severin Szperling collection of Holocaust medals and coins – part of Szperling’s 300-item collection, that spans 30 years and 14 countries. The Janusz Korczak portion of the collection is represented by 29 medals and coins from Poland and Israel. At the opening of the exhibition Severin Szperling delivered an intriguing talk entitled “I am a son of four parents.”

In April 2008 the Association presented Holocaust survivor Miriam Akavia, an author and person active in the international Korczak movement. She gave a lecture at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre about the founding of the State of Israel on its 60 anniversary.

In March 2009 the Association introduced Dr. Bozena Karwowska, a Professor of Slavic Studies at the University of British Columbia with the lecture “The Body in Auchwitz: the Polish Writers’ Experience” at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre.

In October 2010 the Association hosted Prof. Jadwiga Binczycka, a distinguished Korczakian from Poland, who delivered a lecture Janusz Korczak – Champion of Children’s Rights.

Over the years, the Janusz Korczak Association of Canada has prepared and introduced to the public nine issues of its Newsletter.

In 2011 the yearly lecture was presented by a writer and child activist, David Smith,  This Child, Every Child. Janusz Korczak and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In 2012 the Association published the book Janusz Korczak: May their lives be easier… by Olga Medvedeva-Nathoo, a biography of Leon Gluzman, a pupil of Dr. Korczak. The book was published in cooperation with Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland, in Polish and English and was launched at the conference Janusz Korczak – an Outstanding Man and Pedagogue at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland. Invited guests at the conference included Olga Medvedeva-Nathoo and Jerry Nussbaum.

In the same year the Association organized a conference at UBC to celebrate 2012 the Year of Janusz Korczak, entitled Janusz Korczak. His Legacy and Children’s Rights. In cooperation with the Faculty of Education, UBC. Speakers and panelists: K. Czapla, Consul General of Republic of Poland, Board Members of JKAC (Lillian Boraks-Nemets, Jerry Nussbaum, Olga Medvedeva-Nathoo), prof. James Anglin, UVic; Prof. Anna Kindler, UBC, Prof. Marilyn Chapman, UBC, Dr. Theresa Rogers, UBC; Dr. J. Duncan, U Cantenburry, New Zealand and others.

The conference begun with the unveiling at the Faculty of Education of a bronze relief, commissioned by the Association and created by the renown Polish artist Marek Rona. The relief has been donated by the Association to the Faculty of Education to honour the legacy of Janusz Korczak.

Also in 2012, a Honorary Membership in the BC Pediatric Association was granted to Dr. Korczak thanks to the efforts of Dr. Joanna Rotecka and Dr. Zenon Cieslak, members of JKAC.

Janusz Korczak: A Bibliography – English Sources, 1939 – 2012 by Olga Medvedeva-Nathoo & Galina Sanaeva (Eds.), based on material compiled by Edyta Januszewska (Poland) & Daniel Berek (USA), was published the Association in 2013.

In 2014 the Janusz Korczak Association of Canada has embarked on a long range mission to disseminate the legacy of Dr. Korczak in Canada and provide Korczak-related resources and materials for English speaking audiences in North America and elsewhere in the world. We have established a process by which we aim to achieve our vision of child welfare professionals embracing and executing Korczak’s holistic approach to the wellbeing of children. In this spirit we have forged close ties with various institutions in fields crucial to creating a positive environment for the children to grow; we organize lectures, facilitate publications of works by Korczak and about Korczak, fund a scholarship and award medals, statuettes and medallions to outstanding child welfare activists acting in the spirit of doctor Korczak.

The goal of the Janusz Korczak Association of Canada (JKAC) is to promote Korczak’s vision of education and wellbeing and, accordingly, raise awareness of children’s rights. The life and legacy of Dr. Korczak is little known in North America in contrast to Poland, Israel and across much of Europe. JKAC strives for the dissemination of knowledge about Dr. Korczak’s work and ideas in order to better integrate it into contemporary legal, social and pedagogical theories and to make it the basis for cooperation among educators, child welfare workers, researchers, physicians, lawyers and children’s rights activists. With this in mind we forge close ties with organizations and individuals actively involved in child welfare, centered on key areas of Korczak’s pedagogy.

In the field of Children’s Rights we cooperate with British Columbia Representative for Children and Youth and the Advocate for Children and Youth in Ontario. The offices have a mandate to advocate for children and youth in British Columbia and Ontario, and protect their rights.

In the field of Education we cooperate with the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia (UBC). The Faculty advocates for the best possible educational environments and learning frameworks for children, and sees education as a critical force in advocating planning for initiatives that will enhance the lives of children, families and communities.

In the field of Health we cooperate with the Social Pediatrics Interest Group and the Department of Pediatrics at the Faculty of Medicine at UBC. To address children’s right to health, and echoing the wisdom of Dr. Korczak, the field of Social Paediatrics has been developed in Canada to address children and youth’s social determinants of health: poverty, unstable housing and caregivers, food insecurity, inadequate education and exposure to violence.

The Association is engaged in many annual events in collaboration with these institutions, including:

  • Lectures and conferences organized with the Faculty of Education.
    • “How to Love a Child”, The Janusz Korczak Lecture Series – interdisciplinary and inter-professional lectures and panel discussions. The goal of the series was to consider a broad set of issues in order to present the diverse challenges that must be addressed in fields such as education, health, and children’s rights and to encourage the professionals working in these fields to closely co-operate.
    • An annual Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Lecture: Janusz Korczak, the Father of Children’s Rights. Turning Rights into Action. This is a continuation of the Lecture Series.
    • The Faculty has approved a summer course to be offered in 2019 on the educational implications of Korczak’s work in such disciplines as paediatrics, social work, psychology, child advocacy and related professions. The course has been developed by Dr. Tsyrlina-Spady and will be offered to students from all schools and faculties related to child welfare and will be taught co-operatively by experts in these fields both from the university and the community.
  • Commemorative Events – The association, in co-operation with other institutions, annually honors three outstanding activists in the field of children’s rights, social work or paediatrics with a medal, a statuette and a Korczak pin; JKAC also funds the Korczak Graduate Scholarship in Children’s Rights and Canadian Indigenous Education at the UBC Faculty of Education. A key feature at each award ceremony is an introduction to Korczak’s legacy and its relevance to contemporary issues.

Other activities:

  • Over the years JKAC has been involved in publications of several books related to Dr. Korczak, ranging from the Korczak bibliography in English, a Photobiography and a biography of Korczak, memoirs and biographies of Korczak’s pupils, and, a two volume translation of Selected Works of Janusz Korczak (to be published in November).
  • The Janusz Korczak Repository – the aim of which is to build a global internet website that will be a repository of well-researched and reliable information by and about Janusz Korczak. The project is in collaboration with UBC, the University of Warsaw and the Korczak Foundation in Poland. Our consortium believes that this web platform will reach individuals and institutions around the world and will become the basis for cooperation among educators, child welfare workers, researchers, physicians and all those interested in Dr. Korczak’s legacy.

Taken together, we hope the JKAC’s efforts will make a substantial contribution to the spread of Dr. Korczak’s teachings and legacy in Canada and throughout the English speaking world. By developing university courses, organizing lectures and symposia that bring together a broad community of stakeholders in children’s rights issues, and making available and accessible writings by Dr. Korczak and his disciples, we hope to make his philosophy of educating the “whole child” a living legacy.

 

Our Board of Directors consists of Gina Dimant, Lilian Boraks-Nemetz, Zofia Lewicka-Pezowicz, Iwona Haskins, Malgorzata Burczycka, Anton Grunfeld, Hillel Goelman and Jerry Nussbaum.

Our organization now has more than one hundred members, many volunteers and supporters and is officially registered in British Columbia as a charity organization. Our members are representatives of different occupations, ages, social and ethnic backgrounds, and nationalities.

The Association is also active in charitable work supporting underprivileged and handicapped children. More than 70 parcels with clothes and toys have been sent to various places in Poland: the Janusz Korczak Education Centre for Children with Special Needs in Szerzawy/Mogilno in Poland, the Education Centre in Skierniewice, the Janusz Korczak Institute for the Support of Children in Ilawa, the Order of St.Catherine ‘s Sisters in Braniewo, and the day-care in Deblin. We also proudly support by donations the Big Brothers and Sisters, and the Childrens’ Hospice in Canucks Place.