What’s the upside of a new partnership between CBRM and a small city in Poland? Plenty, says Tom Urbaniak.

Harnessing the potential of CBRM’s new ties with Walbrzych, Poland

Two years ago, I was involved with a group which started working on the idea of a partner city in Poland. Polish Consul Aleksandra Kucy, a respected friend of Cape Breton, was here for meetings with the local Polish community and for the opening of the rebuilt St. Mary’s Polish Church. Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) Mayor Cecil Clarke and Councillor Jim MacLeod were part of those early conversations.

We all agreed that a partnercity arrangement could open doors for cultural and linguistic exchanges, for businesses, for post-secondary institutions, for schools. It could turn cold calls into warm calls.

We had several assets to “leverage.” For example, after several generations, a lively and hospitable Polish community remains part of the fabric of our region.

We were interested in identifying a city that, in common with us, is welcoming and open to the world, a city that didn’t give up when industries closed. We wanted to team up with a cool and creative place.

Consul Kucy helped a lot. She thought Walbrzych (population about 120,000) might be a good fit. We didn’t have strong ties with Walbrzych, but there were obvious similarities. We even have a Cape Bretoner who’s from there: Dr. Janusz Wawrzyszyn.

There were exchanges of preliminary letters between mayors, with the Polish embassy in Ottawa helping to facilitate.

The mayor of Walbrzych, Roman Szelemej, responded positively. He noted that Ksiaz Castle in Walbrzych could be a source for common projects: It’s a historic site of international renown. Its photographic history is best chronicled in a Canadian collection that went back to Poland. (Canadian Jean Wessel’s grandfather Louis Hardouin was Ksiaz’s chef and prolific photographer.)

We brought our colleagues at Parks Canada into the conversation. Many of them work on the same technical and promotional issues as counterparts at Ksiaz in Walbrzych.

For centuries, coal was a mainstay of the Walbrzych economy. This is no longer so, but the city has made a major push for revitalization, entrepreneurship and new industries. The Stara Kopalnia coal complex is now an impressive incubator for arts and science.

The Angelus Silesius University of Applied Sciences has programs in administration and English, among other subjects. The Uniwersytet Trzeciego Wieku (Seniors’ College) emphasizes lifelong learning.

Partner-city or sister city arrangements have expanded greatly since 1931 when Toledo, Ohio, became the first city in North America to find a formal partner (Toledo, Spain).

Many cities have multiple agreements. We will be Walbrzych’s 10th partner, and Walbrzych is CBRM’s second partner city (the first is Dalian, China). Not every partnership is equally robust, as the media in Walbrzych reported following this latest resolution.

The U.S-based network called Sister Cities International commissioned a study called Measures That Matter. The study identified $190.4 million in direct contributions to the U.S. economy in 2014-2015 tied directly to partner-city arrangements.

Of course, the educational, cultural and attitudinal value of having these ties cannot be assigned a precise dollar figure.

“The steering committee on our side will include representatives of CBRM, Cape Breton University, Cape Breton’s Polish community, Parks Canada, our business community and others.”

Successful inter-city relationships tend to have a hub group - recognized champions. Almost 30 years ago, Mississauga, Ont., formed the Mississauga Friendship Association to cultivate the city’s partnership with Kariya, Japan. That relationship is going strong because it does not depend on the ups and downs of local politics.

The productive relationship between Keene, New Hampshire, and Einbeck, Germany, owes a lot to a citizen-led Partner City Steering Committee, which takes the lead and keeps things going.

It will be the same with our Walbrzych partnership, which was recently endorsed by resolutions of both councils.

Last week, our local steering committee held its first meeting.

The steering committee will meet three or four times a year to make sure the relationship with Walbrzych is real and dynamic. An early priority will be to move from the more formal and official exchanges to an easygoing friendship where we can share tidbits in e-mails, get quick advice on an issue, link up businesspeople or academics in similar fields, share insights about how we’re addressing social challenges and start to think about student exchanges.

The steering committee on our side will include representatives of CBRM, Cape Breton University, Cape Breton’s Polish community, Parks Canada, our business community and others.

The steering committee will encourage fellow residents to take advantage of the newly opened door. We will also incorporate the committee as a non-profit society to ensure permanence and take advantage of occasional external grant opportunities.

The partnership between Walbrzych and the Cape Breton Regional Municipality will be what we make it. Gradually, over time, I am confident we can make it a lot.