Portuguese Canadians

History

In the mid to late 15th century, it is believed that Diogo de Teive (1452), João Vaz Corte-Real (1470), Joao Fernandes and Pedro de Barcelos (1493) touched on the Eastern Coast of Canada. Conclusive evidence also exists for explorations done by Miguel and Gaspar Corte-Real, who were lost in Newfoundland waters in 1501 and 1502 respectively. Numerous place names also attest to the fact that the Portuguese fished for cod on the Grand Banks. The name Labrador likely comes from the Portuguese lavrador (“small landowner or farmer”). This indicates that the Portuguese knew of the territory. During five centuries of intermittent contact, however, only a handful of Portuguese fishermen settled on the Atlantic coast. Meanwhile, the Portuguese in New France descended from a few families founded by immigrants who arrived in 1668 and later.

Migration and Settlement

Over the years, Portuguese migrants have immigrated to Canada for the same reasons as many other population groups. Many came for economic opportunities, to escape underemployment in their countries of origin and a desire to escape political oppression.

From a trickle in the 1940s (around 200 people), Portuguese immigration to Canada increased rapidly after 1953, before dropping back down in the late 1970s. Between 1951 and 1957, 8,115 people immigrated from Portugal. Between 1958 and 1962, numbers doubled to 16,731. Between 1963 and 1967, migration increased to 32,473 and then to 54,199 between 1968 and 1973. By 1984, migration dropped to only 869 immigrants that year.

Portuguese immigrants came from the Azores (comprising 70 per cent of Portuguese immigration to Canada), the Madeira archipelagoes and from continental Portugal. In the 1950s, many new immigrants were recruited to work in rural and isolated locations in Canada, However, Portuguese migrants also established themselves in the larger cities afterward.

Economic advances followed urbanization. Most Portuguese labourers first worked in Canada as farmhands or railway labourers. When they moved to the cities, they sought out janitorial, construction and factory work. Women worked as cleaners as well as textile or food-processing workers. During the 1960s, increasing numbers of families opened variety and clothing stores, fish shops, bakeries and restaurants. The minority with secondary education often became realtors, travel agents, driving-school instructors or provided other services for community members. By the 1970s, a second Canadian-trained generation included high-school teachers, lawyers, social workers, engineers and civil servants. Many more entered semi-skilled and skilled trades.

In the 2021 census, 448,305 Canadians reported being of Portuguese origin. Most Portuguese Canadians reside in Ontario (300,600), followed by Quebec (64,385) and British Columbia (39,755). Most Portuguese live in urban centres, although there are pockets of rural concentration.

Social and Cultural Life

For the first generation of Portuguese immigrants, community cultural life was largely connected with popular forms of entertainments. These included soccer matches, dances, picnics and music. Recreational activities were sponsored by clubs with Portuguese regional affiliations, or with parish congregations or Portuguese political parties. Today, Portuguese formal culture and language is taught in after-hours schools and in various schools and universities across Canada where numbers permit.

In 2021, 266,555 people reported having Portuguese as their mother tongue (first language learned). Of this number, 113,305 live in the Greater Toronto Area and 37,195 live in Greater Montreal. Many of the first generation prefer to attend social activities in Portuguese. However, this is not always true for their Canadian-educated children.

Several Portuguese newspapers have been published in Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg and Vancouver.

Traditionally, most Portuguese were Roman Catholic (see Catholicism). However, some converted to other Christian denominations, including the Pentecostal, Baptist, Seventh-day Adventist churches as well as the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Group Maintenance

The first generation of Portuguese were concerned with maintaining their Portuguesismo, or “Portugueseness.” However, regional loyalties to one’s Portuguese area of origin have been equally compelling. At the local level, emphasis on individual and family economic advances, heightened by class distinctions based on education and ways of life, have, at times, served as barriers to community-wide co-operation.