Mother denies son had wife
DOUG SAUNDERS
The Globe and Mail
With a report from Witold Chocholski in Wroclaw
November 20, 2007
Robert Dziekanski's mother has lashed out at a former flat mate of her son's who has claimed she was his Polish common-law wife.
Zofia Cisowski, who raised Mr. Dziekanski as a single mother, told The Globe and Mail in an interview from her Kamloops, B.C., home that Elzbieta Dubon, who has described herself as a “common-law wife,” was simply a cleaning lady and flat mate who has tried to take advantage of her son's situation.
Ms. Dubon, who lived in a building in the town of Gliwice with Mr. Dziekanski in the years before he left for Canada, has said in Polish and Canadian media that she wanted to reunite with him, and that they were lovers and effectively spouses for years.
Other neighbours of Mr. Dziekanski have said that the opposite is true – that he fled to Canada to get away from her. Family members also said yesterday that Ms. Dubon is simply a neighbour who developed a parasitic relationship with him, and claimed to be his wife after the fact. They insisted that the relationship was not sexual.
“This person does not belong to our family and never belonged,” Ms. Cisowski said in Polish. “Robert and I never wanted anything in common with her. When I came to Poland and we travelled around, we never took her with us.” She was never present at any family reunions or meetings. Neither me or my son wanted that. He would never have thought of taking that person to Canada.”
It is not clear why Mr. Dziekanski apparently lived with Ms. Dubon for a period of years before he set out to move to Canada. She and neighbours told a local newspaper that the two were lovers, but several of Mr. Dziekanski's relatives yesterday backed Ms. Cisowski's assertion that she is nothing more than a cleaning lady. “That person never did anything more than clean his flat, and anything else is a ridiculous attempt to get something out of this,” Ms. Cisowki said. “She has a sick mind; she is an alcoholic, I have to say that. You can't believe a single word she says. What she says is confabulation.”
Mr. Dziekanski's aunt and uncle, Zdzislaw and Teresa Dziekanski, said yesterday that Ms. Dubon had never appeared at their frequent family gatherings, and that he regarded her as a pest who he looked forward to escaping.
Repeated attempts to reach Ms. Dubon yesterday were unsuccessful.
Ms. Cisowski described in detail the care she had taken to make sure that her son's immigration papers were in order. He entered under Canada's family-class immigration system, designed to reunify the families of those who have immigrated for work reasons.
In particular, she stressed that she had twice obtained certificates proving that her son had no criminal record in Poland.
