Donald Marto Malinowski (March 14, 1924 in

Lwow Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

– May 16, 2003) was a priest of the Polish National Catholic Church and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

, Canada. He served as a New Democratic member of the

Legislative Assembly of Manitoba The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba (french: Assemblée législative du Manitoba) is the deliberative assembly of the Manitoba Legislature in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly at provincial gen ...

from 1969 to 1986. The son of Stanley Malinowski and Marlyn Gajewska, he was educated in Poland,

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...

, and St. John's College. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Malinowski fought against the

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in the Armia Krajowa, who supported Poland's government-in-exile in

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. He was wounded on three occasions, and was sentenced to death for refusing to sign an oath of allegiance to the communist government that came to power at the war's end. He escaped from his prison to Sweden, where he remained for three years, gaining an appreciation for its principles of social democracy. He came to Canada in 1950. In 1952, Malinowski entered a Polish National Catholic Church seminary in

. He was later ordained as a priest, and married a nurse named Anna Glazer (the PNCC is a separate rite from the

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church, and does not require priestly celibacy). The couple worked in

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before moving to

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

in 1959. Malinowski served as a chaplain at the Royal Canadian Legion, and was named the parish priest at St. Mary's National Catholic Church in north-end Winnipeg. By 1972, he had been given authority over all churches in western Canada. In addition to his religious work, he was involved in developing a number of housing projects in north-end Winnipeg. He first ran for the legislature in the provincial election of 1966, but finished a distant third in the riding of

Winnipeg Centre Winnipeg Centre (french: Winnipeg-Centre) is a federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1917 to 1925 and since 1997. History This riding was originally created in 1914 f ...

. In the 1969 election, he won an easy victory in the north-end Winnipeg riding of

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, and became a backbench supporter of the NDP government of

Edward Schreyer Edward Richard Schreyer (born December 21, 1935) is a Canadian politician, diplomat, and statesman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 22nd since Canadian Confederation. Schreyer was born and educated in Manitoba, and was first electe ...

. In the provincial election of 1973, Malinowski faced an unusual challenge from independent candidate Joseph Borowski, who had served in Schreyer's cabinet before leaving the NDP in 1972. Borowski ran as a social conservative, criticizing the NDP government's toleration of

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

services and suggesting that Malinowski was guilty of hypocrisy in this regard. Notwithstanding these attacks, Malinowski scored a fairly easily victory, defeating Borowski by over 2,500 votes. He was re-elected again by a greater margin in the 1977 election. Malinowski supported

Howard Pawley Howard Russell Pawley (November 21, 1934 – December 30, 2015) was a Canadian politician and professor who was the 18th premier of Manitoba from 1981 to 1988. Prior to his premiership, Pawley served in various ministerial positions after his ...

's successful bid to become the NDP's interim leader in early 1979, following Schreyer's resignation. In the provincial election of 1981, he was re-elected in the redistributed riding of St. Johns. He retired from the legislature in 1986. Despite his long tenure, he was never appointed to cabinet (he once joked, "cabinet ministers come and go, but I am always a minister"). A

social democrat Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...

by conviction, Malinowski was an opponent of communism for his entire life. During the 1980s, Malinowski provided aid to

Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who served as the President of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 election, Wałęsa became the first democrati ...

's Solidarity movement in Poland via the Polish Relief Program, and also provided financial support to Polish refugees living in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. In 1988, he was made a Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

for being "instrumental in organizing the Polish Relief Fund during the early 1980s". He died of cancer in Calgary in 2003. The Manitoba legislature held a moment of silence in his honour in 2003.

Electoral record

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Malinowski, Donald 1924 births 2003 deaths Canadian priests New Democratic Party of Manitoba MLAs Members of the Order of Canada Canadian Old Catholics Polish emigrants to Canada Polish prisoners sentenced to death Prisoners sentenced to death by Poland Polish expatriates in Sweden Polish expatriates in the United States Polish anti-communists Canadian anti-communists Polish National Catholic Church 20th-century Christian clergy Home Army members University of Manitoba alumni Solidarity (Polish trade union) activists Deaths from cancer in Alberta