Vancouver's Polish community in mourning

Vancouver's Polish community is in mourning after Polish president Lech Kaczynski and more than 90 others were killed in a plane crash in western Russia on Saturday.

Kaczynski, his wife, and dozens of Poland's highest-ranking political, military and business leaders were on their way to a memorial for Polish victims of the 1940 Katyn Massacre when the presidential plane crashed during a landing attempt near Smolensk, killing all 96 people on board.

Kazimierz Brussilo, an organizer in Vancouver's Polish community for nearly two decades, said he was shocked when he heard the news.

"I cried many times at night, still am," he said. "We pray, we deeply unite together all over the world as a Polish people."

He said the crash is a terrible tragedy for Poland, but Canadians are reaching out to help.

"And thank you very much, I would like to say to all Canadians who come to us, who call us in a few hours deeply sorrow," he said.

"When I moved to Canada I was already over 50 and I've been welcome here like a true … Canadian, which I really appreciate. We are very loyal people to Canada, our new state."

Brussilo said the fact that the president and his entourage were travelling to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn Massacre – when thousands of Polish officers were executed by the Soviet secret police – is an awful irony.

"It just happened so close to that cemetery again, and we lose the whole, the most beautiful people from our country, again."

Danuta Tokarczuk, who speaks for the Canadian Polish Congress, said she mourns for the dead and worries for the future of Poland.

"We hope our nation can stick together and come out of it even stronger, but we're facing an enormous tragedy," she said.

"We had elite of Polish intelligence and Polish leaders that lost their lives. In here, everybody is in shock and we don't really know how to react yet."

Hundreds of mourners gathered at St. Casimir's Polish Parish in East Vancouver on Sunday for a mass and memorial service.