Portuguese Canadians

Portuguese Canadian
Notable Portuguese Canadians:
Nelly FurtadoMário SilvaBrian Melo
Total population
Portuguese
410,850 Canadians
Roughly 1.3% of Canada's population
Regions with significant populations

Toronto, Ontario:  171,545

Montreal, Quebec:  46,535
Mississauga, Ontario:  31,795
Vancouver, British Columbia  20,335
Kitchener, Ontario:  17,220
Hamilton, Ontario:  14,110
Cambridge, Ontario:  10,685
London, Ontario:  10,525
Winnipeg, Manitoba:  10,315
Ottawa, Ontario:  9,910
Edmonton, Alberta:  7,760 [1]

Languages

Predominantly English, French(in Quebec) and Portuguese and/or its dialects.

Religion

Predominantly Roman Catholic

Portuguese Canadians (Portuguese: luso-canadianos) are both Canadians born with Portuguese descent or citizenship or Portuguese born with Canadian descent or citizenship . According to StatCan, in 2006, there were 410,850 persons of Portuguese descent living in Canada, or 1.3% of the nation's total population. Most Portuguese Canadians live in Ontario 282,865 (69%), followed by Quebec 57,445 (14%) and British Columbia 34,660 (8%).[2]

Contents

History of Portuguese in Canada

The Portuguese Canadian community, chose 2003 as the year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their officially-sponsored immigration to Canada. The Honourable David Collenette, Minister of Transport and Minister Responsible for Canada Post, said that "the Portuguese Canadian community is a vibrant group that enriches the Canadian mosaic with its history, language, culture and work ethic." He added that Canada Post was proud to be issuing a stamp honouring Portuguese Canadians during the month of June when cultural celebrations honouring the life of 16th century poet Luís de Camões, considered to be Portugal's greatest poet, are taking place in many communities across the country.

Portugal played a pioneering role in the explorations of the New World in the 15th and 16th centuries. In the 15th century, Prince Henry of Portugal, better known as Henry the Navigator, established a school of navigation in Sagres, in the Algarve region of Portugal. From this school emerged explorers who found their way to the Indies, South America, North America and Africa, including Gaspar Corte-Real, who was one of the earliest discoverers of Canada. Corte-Real explored the northeast coast of "Terra Nova", naming Conception Bay, Portugal Cove, and Labrador, named after Portuguese explorer João Fernandes Lavrador.

During the 1950s, a large number of immigrants from the Azores and Madeira, fleeing political conflict with the regime of António de Oliveira Salazar, moved into the downtown core of Canada's major cities such as the area of Portugal Village in Toronto, Ontario and further west along Dundas Street to Brockton Village. The stretch of Dundas Street passing through Brockton Village is also known as "Rua Açores". From the 1970s, increasing numbers of Brazilians moved into the same area.

Montreal has the second most populous number of Portuguese immigrants with an estimated 47,000. Most started immigrating in the 1960's and settled in the Le Plateau-Mont-Royal mainly around Saint Laurent Boulevard and Rachel Street. Many Portuguese stores and restaurants are located in Little Portugal.

Hamilton, Ontario also has a solid Portuguese community concentrated in the downtown core around Barton and James Street and nearby the St. Mary's Roman Catholic church. This area in Hamilton is known as "Jamesville" and is shared with a neighbouring Italian population.

Notable Portuguese Canadians

Historical

Film and television

Literature

Music

Philanthropy

Politicians/ Law

Sports

Miscellaneous

Groups

Some Portuguese-Canadians adopt the name Luso-Canadians for their local social and business clubs in reference to Lusitania, the ancient name associated with Portugal under the Roman empire. The attendance growth of organizations indicate the growth in small business and universities throughout the community. Leading as a national voice one can find the "Congresso" Luso-Canadiano National Congress.

Portuguese-Canadian business groups

Portuguese-Canadian Educational groups

Portuguese Publications

See also

References

  1. ^ "Population by selected ethnic origins, by census metropolitan areas". 2001 Census Stats Canada. Archived from the original on 2006-09-08. http://web.archive.org/web/20060908141104/http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo27l.htm. Retrieved 2006-12-23. 
  2. ^ "Ethnic Origin, Single and Multiple Ethnic Origin Responses and Sex for the Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census - 20% Sample Data". http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/tbt/Rp-eng.cfm?TABID=1&LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=2&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=59&GK=1&GRP=1&PID=92333&PRID=0&PTYPE=88971,97154&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=801&Temporal=2006&THEME=80&VID=14493&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=. Retrieved 2010-11-10. 
  3. ^ "Canada Post: Celebrating Portuguese heritage and Canada's first letter carrier (Pedro da Silva)". http://www.canadapost.ca/corporate/about/newsroom/pr/archive-e.asp?prid=856. Retrieved 2008-01-02. 
  4. ^ "imdb.com Bio: Justin Louis". http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0521878/. Retrieved 2006-12-29. 
  5. ^ http://www.thebukowskiagency.com/Barnacle%20Love.htm
  6. ^ "Interview with Keshia Chanté". http://www.flare.com/hype/asks/article.jsp?content=20031107_155531_2088. Retrieved 2006-12-29. 
  7. ^ Henley, Tara. "Interview with Keshia Chanté #2". http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=4841. Retrieved 2006-12-29. 
  8. ^ Bliss, Karen. "Rollingstone.com Biography: Nelly Furtado". http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5918613/furtado_goes_portuguese/. Retrieved 2006-12-29. 
  9. ^ "Biography: Anthony Gomes (Official web site)". http://www.anthonygomes.com/. Retrieved 2006-12-29. 
  10. ^ "Canadian Idol (Official web site)". http://www.ctv.ca/idol/gen/Home.html. Retrieved 2007-09-12. 
  11. ^ "Brian Melo Online (Fan site)". http://www.brian-melo.com/. Retrieved 2007-09-12. 
  12. ^ "Yahoo Canada News: "Hamilton rocker Brian Melo crowned the new Canadian Idol". http://news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/20070912/ca_pr_on_en/tv_canadian_idol_6. Retrieved 2007-09-12. 
  13. ^ "2008 Outstanding Volunteer Award". http://afptoronto.org/index.php/national-philanthropy-day/2008-award-recipient-profiles/2008-outstanding-volunteer-award. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
  14. ^ "Board - CAMH Foundation". http://www.supportcamh.ca/about2.asp. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
  15. ^ "Biography: Paul Ferreira" (PDF). http://www.paulferreira.ca/images/Biography.pdf. Retrieved 2006-12-29. 
  16. ^ "Biography: Peter Fonseca". http://www.peterfonseca.onmpp.ca/. Retrieved 2006-12-29. 
  17. ^ a b "Distinguished Americans & Canadians of Portuguese Descent". http://www.portuguesefoundation.org/famous.htm. Retrieved 2006-12-29. 
  18. ^ "Biography: Mario Silva". http://www.mariosilva.ca/AboutMario.html. Retrieved 2006-12-29. 
  19. ^ "Daniel Marcio Fernandes Bio at myspace.com". http://www.myspace.com/Daniel_M_Fernandes. Retrieved 2006-12-29. 
  20. ^ a b Stuart McDonald. "Featured Article, 2009 prospects: Q&A with John Tavares". Hockey's Future. http://www.hockeysfuture.com/articles/10024/2009_prospects_qa_with_john_tavares/. Retrieved 2007-12-19. 
  21. ^ "Inaugural Celebrating Outstanding Portuguese-Canadian Achievement Awards". Portuguese Canadian National Congress. Archived from the original on 2007-10-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20071028144643/http://www.congresso.ca/congresso/copa.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-19. 
  22. ^ Miracles of Emanuel Jaques. Available: http://www.ccca.ca/c/writing/m/mays/mays002t.html Accessed: 2007-6-19

Further reading

External links