A diverse history of founders and workers planted the roots of Fiesta Week

By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express

A microcosm of Oshawa’s diverse population can be seen in the businesses and restaurants that choose to open their doors here, and the city’s annual Fiesta Week celebration gives everyone a complete taste of that diversity.

However, looking back in Oshawa’s history, the roles were reversed and it was the businesses and the promise of work that attracted immigrants to the area, laying the foundations for what would eventually grow into the diverse city we know today.

The influx of immigrants to Oshawa began in the late 18th century and it was local business magnate Roger Conant who could be credited after starting a salmon exporting business to the United States. With the success of the business came workers, mainly United Empire Loyalists from the U.S. along with Irish and some French Canadians, all attracted by the industrialization of the area.

In 1850, the Village of Oshawa was established and quickly became a business centre complete with asheries, wagon factories and tanneries.
Yet, it wasn’t until 1876, when R.S. McLaughlin moved his carriage works to the village, that things began to accelerate
At this point, the village’s population was dominated by settlers that were either born in the country or come overseas in search of work.

These numbers still show in the city today, with nearly 40 per cent of the population identifying as Canadian and 33 per cent as English, according to the 2011 Census.

It wasn’t until McLaughlin started manufacturing Buicks in 1907 and later merging with the American General Motors company in 1918 that Europeans began to be attracted to the area.

With the explosion in popularity of the automobile, McLaughlin’s deep pockets allowed him to offer high wages for skilled trade workers to build those vehicles.

The GM plant began to attract trade workers from across Europe to the city, including large numbers from Poland, Ukraine, Germany, Italy and Scotland, among others. During the 1920s, the population in Oshawa expanded from 4,000 to over 16,000.
And many of them stayed, with the 2011 Census finding that the population is made up of eight per cent German, 11 per cent French, five per cent Italian, four per cent Polish and four percent Ukrainian.

To celebrate this diversity, the first week-long celebration of international cuisine was held in 1972 in the city, an event that would form the cornerstone of the Fiesta Week many residents know today.

Now hosted by the Oshawa Folk Arts Council during the third week of June every year, the event has nearly 20 different pavilions offering food and entertainment from across the globe, many of them still representing those first immigrants who came to this city in search of work, unaware they were bringing a culture with them that would form a piece of Oshawa’s history.