Peter Osicka: "North Bay was pitch black!"

In today's special my guest is businessman Peter Osicka - one of the many Czechs who left their homeland following the Soviet-led invasion of 1968. Just nineteen at the time, with little English, Peter made his way to Canada and like many new immigrants was sent to parts of the country that didn't exactly fit his expectations. Nevertheless, he made it through, and eventually founded his own marketing company, which he still operates today.

Peter Osicka

"As a young man you don't really think of the consequences when you decide to leave your homeland. It was more of an adventure when my friend and I decided to leave Czechoslovakia. After we got drafted into the army, especially seeing what was happening around us, we tried many different ways to get across the border, and eventually we just simply applied for passports, which we received very quickly, to my surprise! And, eventually I made my way to Canada."

Did you have any prior knowledge of what life in Canada might be like?

"No, you know, the only thing I knew about Canada was Expo '67, which I had heard of, and of course hockey! And, it was funny because in Vienna, not knowing much English, we were sitting with this immigration officer and he had a huge map behind him and he gave us a choice of three places in Canada. One was Whitehorse in the Yukon, another Timmins, and North Bay in Ontario. So, we signed up to go for three years to North Bay! I asked the gentleman 'Is there water?' and he said 'Yeah, yeah, water, boats, swimming'. So I told my friend 'Hey, I can just see this, the palm trees', beaches, girls, let's go to North Bay. I'm kidding, but it was something like that! We didn't realise when we got there it would be -30 degrees Celsius! {laughs}"

So what was the initial reaction when you did arrive, was it shock?

"Yeah, I mean, North Bay in 1968 was a little village, basically, and coming from Prague where I grew up and being in Vienna, arriving in North Bay it was... it was... {sighs} pitch black. An officer from the Canadian Manpower and Immigration office met us and I knew the word 'downtown' so I said 'where is downtown?' and he pointed to like two or three lights in the distance and said 'downtown'! Main Street. And between us and downtown there was one lamp post and that was it."

I must say I have been to North Bay several times in the summer and it does have some wonderful fishing and camping, but I guess you didn't stick around long for that?

"No, gee, I think after my arrival they put us up in a hotel and being a very eager, even cocky young man I got a job right away to start building the dream I had at that time! Only, it wasn't exactly what I had in mind. I told them 'get me a job 'cause I want to buy a Cadillac!' and they all started laughing 'oh, oh, we got one of those eager young men here, I'll get you a job! The next day I started working as a dishwasher in a restaurant!"

As you were getting used to the realities of Canadian life, how were you looking back on what was happening at home?

"My parents actually did not hear from me simply because at the time I was afraid. The few Czech people I knew - we were actually convinced that there are secret service people, or the secret police, watching us and that they will wake us up in the middle of the night and take us back. I think the first time I wrote my parents was just as I was getting ready to leave North Bay: many of the letters never got through, and eventually, when I went back after twenty-three years, my mothers showed me some letters that had been tampered with, others never arrived. As far as them sending me letters, very, very few."

How did your Canadian journey then continue?

"I was always very creative, even as a young boy, and after I moved to Toronto I started to paint. Eventually I made my way to London, Ontario, which at that time, in the late 60s, early 70s, was really the arts centre of Canada. I mean, there were people like Jack Chambers, Atkinson, Rudolph Bickers, Greg Curnoe, Ed Zelenak. Very well-known artists at that time, so eventually I applied to go to an arts college, and I graduated in 1973. From there I set up my own studio, had some galleries representing me and tried to make a living in the arts, which is extremely difficult! From that I moved into commercial arts. I ended up working at a printing company, and that eventually led me to go to the University of Western Ontario, where I studied business. With a business partner, who was a marketing fellow, we founded a marketing firm called OptiCom. Today the company is a design studio and a promotional marketing services agency. What we do for clients is we put together fully integrated promotional marketing programs, new product introductions, a lot of advertising and so on. It really depends on what the client requires."

The work of Peter Osicka

So, it was successful.

"I would say so, yes."

If we jump to 1989, how did you view the fall of communism at the time?

"My heart was in Prague! And... I found it extremely difficult at that time not to go back. I mean, had I not had a business going, and my business at that time was extremely healthy, I would have packed up, and I would have been over there."

How do you view the Czech Republic today? I know you go back on a regular basis, that you're planning a trip there now...

"I think the Czech Republic today has got nowhere to go but up. I know it's difficult at times because of all these drastic changes which are taking place, NATO and joining the EU - obviously all that comes with a price - but I think the Czech Republic is the place to be in Europe today."

Discussing politics, one of the big events that made a lot of waves in the Czech community in Toronto last year was a visit by the Czech president Vaclav Klaus. I understand you have an anecdote?

Peter Osicka with the Czech President Vaclav Klaus

"Yes, it was my privilege to meet the president, it was quite funny actually. Our agency has done work for the Bata Organization and I have met Mr and Mrs Bata on several occasions, through my membership in the Czech-Canadian Chamber of Commerce. We were told that Mr Klaus was coming to give a talk at the invitation of The Fraser Institute. After the luncheon there was a photo opportunity and I asked President Klaus if he would mind having his picture taken with me, telling him my mother, who lives in Prague, is a big fan. And he sort of looked at me 'Oh, really, is she?' and somebody snapped the picture. I got it developed and framed and sent it with a friend as a Christmas present for my mom. To be perfectly honest I should say that actually my mom is not a big fan! My brother who lives with her, well, he likes him even less! But, at Christmas after she opened it up my mother couldn't believe it. Now the picture sits on top of the TV and whenever I talk to my brother he complains that he has to look at the picture everyday - and at Vaclav Klaus!"