THE PORTUGUESE presence in Canada originates with the earliest European explorations of the Atlantic and the pursuit of abundant fish stocks off the east coast of Canada in the sixteenth century. Portugal’s role as an imperial power over the last several centuries resulted in Portuguese immigration around the world to its colonies from Brazil and Goa to Mozambique and Macao. Under the leadership of Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460), trade routes and colonies were established. Canadian geographic place names testify to the importance of Portuguese navigators in mapping of eastern Canada. The name Labrador, one example among many, in all likelihood derives from a Portuguese explorer, one Joào Fernandes, a “lavrador” or farmer. A few individuals of Portuguese heritage settled in New France and early Canada: between the years of 1900 and 1949 only 500 Portuguese entered Canada.

For over a century, Portuguese have been migrating from their homeland in search of work. Three epochs of migration are discernable for Portuguese men and women. Over one million people left Portugal for Brazil between 1886 and 1950. It was not until the Canadian and Portuguese governments signed labour contract agreements to supply railway construction and agricultural workers after World War II that Canada became a popular option for Portuguese immigrants for the first three decades following the war. The third epoch saw large numbers choose migration targets closer to home in Western Europe. In the 1950s, almost 20,000 arrived in Canada. The major Portuguese emigration was from the Azores and, in particular, the island of Sao Miguel. In the following two decades, in large part as a result of the family sponsorship program and chain migration,another 140,000 Portuguese chose Canada and by the 1996 census it was estimated that as many as 335,110 people of Portuguese heritage lived in Canada. Although they have settled in every province, Ontario is home to over two-thirds of that number and about 161,000 of those live in Toronto. Slightly under 50,000 live in Quebec, mostly in Montreal.

In many cities, Portuguese settled in traditional immigrant reception areas near jobs and transportation. Although often living near fellow Catholics such as Italian immigrants, they have been characterized by a high degree of residential segregation and active community institutional life. In 1991, 93 percent of Portuguese had less than nine years of school. Consequently, almost half of those Portuguese in the workf orce labour in manufacturing and construction. Fairly often employment was found through kinship connections or the advice of other Portuguese Canadians. Portuguese women, although initially tending to the traditional needs of the home as they had been expected to in Portugal, were virtually forced by the economic pressures of Canada to find work so that the immigrant family could achieve its ultimate goal: home ownership. Many worked in the garment industry either toiling in factories or taking in piece work and still others experienced low wages and difficult work as cleaning staff in corporate office buildings. In 1974 Portuguese-Canadian women in downtown Toronto made their mark in the labour struggles of the decade by striking to avoid reusing dirty garbage bags. In turn, Portuguese construction workers moved gradually into union leadership positions.

As the community has become more settled, institutional life has emerged to fulfil the cultural and social expectations of Portuguese immigrants and their children. Some 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. Organizations such as the Federation of Portuguese-Canadian Businessmen and the Association of Portuguese Businesses in Winnipeg, and Alliance des Professionels et Entrepreneurs Portugais du Québec indicate the growth in small business throughout the community. Heritage language programs abound in community schools throughout Canada to ensure that immigrant parents and their Canadian-born children can communicate. By the early 1990s, over thirty such schools existed in Ontario. Education has been a critical issue for Portuguese-Canadian community activists and some parents have expressed concern over the lack of support offered to young Portuguese-Canadian students within the public and separate school systems and in homes where both parents work. The Toronto Portuguese Parents’ Association, formed in 1981, has mounted a continued effort to encourage school boards, parents, and university students to help reduce drop outs, arbitrary academic streaming, and intergenerational misunderstandings.

The everyday life of Portuguese Canadians is enriched by the plethora of stores that cater to the culinary and consumption patterns of immigrants and their children. Fish stores with dried cod, restaurants with barbecued chicken, bakeries, and grape wholesalers add an energy and texture to such urban neighbourhoods as the one established around Dundas and College Streets in Toronto. To keep up with the neighbourhood bustle, community newspapers in Portuguese flourish such as the Voz de Portugal in Montreal or Toronto’s Correio Português. Television and radio programs on CFMT, CIRV, or CHIN offer oral and visual testimony to the vitality of Portuguese community life in Canada’s urban centres. In fact, some 50 Portuguese newspapers across Canada keep Canada’s Portuguese community informed about ethnic and cultural life both at home and abroad. Another significant aspect of neighbourhood life for many Portuguese Canadians is the active and vibrant pageantry of their Roman Catholicism. Almost 90 per cent of Portuguese are Catholic and, in the traditions of southern European Catholicism, their faith is often visually and publicly celebrated through the saints’ feasts during which processions, prayers, offerings, sporting events, family reunions, and elaborate culinary preparations and their consumption are central features.

Portuguese-speaking priests preside over feast days for Our Lady of Fatima (Nossa Senhora de Fátima) sponsored by the Portuguese Catholic Mission in Vancouver or other such feasts in Winnipeg, Toronto, or Montreal. The Christ of Miracles feast staged outside St. Mary’s Church was brought by Azorean immigrants to Toronto in 1966 and is one of the most elaborate religious events in the city.

While generally concentrated in the downtown core of Canada’s major cities, recently significant numbers of Portuguese have moved to suburbs such as Mississauga and Oakville outside of Toronto and Laval outside of Montreal. This spatial and social move, aided by Portuguese-Canadian real estate agents who settle them into suburban communities with large concentrations of other Portuguese, indicates the gradual economic security and comfort with which Portuguese-Canadians address their every day lives in Canada. With this move to the suburbs, there has also emerged an increase in Portuguese students pursuing university training for employment beyond the construction site or the factory floor to professions and small businesses.

Lillian Petroff/Carlos Teixeira