[URBAN NOTE] The Portuguese Canadians
When I disembarked from the TTC bus at the corner of Dufferin and Dupont, I was interested to see that the Dupont Avenue street sign was labelled, in smaller type, "Rua do Alentejo." Taken from the south-central Portuguese province of the same name, like Dundas Street's label "Rua Açores" near my old neighbourhood, this street sign is ample testimony to the prominence of Portuguese Canadians in west-central Toronto.
This community is a young one, celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2003, after the arrival of the first significant group of Portuguese immigrants in Canada. Post-war Canada's need for labour and Portugal's political and economic backwardness prompted a massive population shift to Canada, in particular Toronto. Carlos Teixeira's extensive essay at Multicultural Canada provides an excellent overview.
Four decades after their first arrival in Canada, the Portuguese have communities from coast to coast. In 1991 most lived in Ontario (202,395), Quebec (42,975), British Columbia (23,380), Alberta (9,755), and Manitoba (9,530). Though many came to work on farms or railways, most settled in cities. In 1991 Toronto had 124,325 residents of Portuguese origin; Montreal, 32,330; Kitchener, Ontario, 13,755; Hamilton, 9,625; Vancouver, 9,255; Winnipeg, 7,970; Ottawa-Hull, 6,580; London, 6,330; and Edmonton, 4,685.
The pioneers lived in deteriorated, low-income, working-class neighbourhoods in the heart of the cities, on the margins of emerging central business districts, near jobs and transportation. The majority were single individuals who resided in low-rental flats, tenements, and rooming-houses - often with relatives or friends from the same village/region of Portugal - in order to save to buy a house and to bring over relatives from Portugal.
Portuguese colonies began taking shape in the 1960s. The steady increase in immigration and the constant arrival of entire families, through chain sponsorship, consolidated immigrant neighbourhoods. Often two or three families shared the same house or apartment/flat. The majority of these immigrants came from rural areas of Portugal, particularly in the Azores, and lacked knowledge of English or French, skills, and money. These districts functioned as reception areas, offering information and security, but also tended to isolate Portuguese from the host society.
Portuguese communities in Canada tend to be self-contained and self-sufficient. Their remarkable level of institutional completeness is demonstrated by the number of social and cultural institutions (198, including 111 in Ontario), religious institutions (thirty-eight churches), and ethnic businesses (over forty-six hundred, with some thirty-five hundred in Ontario), most located within the core of the communities. In 1981 Portuguese Canadians were among the most segregated groups in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.
The Portuguese Canadian community remains a tight one to this very day, though sometimes with negative consequences as recently reported ("Charting a new course") by the Toronto Star's education reporter Louise Brown.
“As a community, we’re proud of our ability to preserve our culture - but this is Canada! We have to nail down English! We have to create an environment that expects children to succeed at school,” said [Melissa] Arruda, 22, the youngest member of the new Portuguese-Canadian Education Network.
“Only four out of my 40 Portuguese classmates from grade school went on to university. Not that everyone has to go, but more of us should feel we at least have that choice.”
This is the new face of Portuguese Canada; seeking to rewrite the future by understanding how its children fell behind, and focusing on parents and schools to close the gap.
Fifty years after the first major wave of Portuguese immigrants landed in Canada - from one of the few countries where attending high school had not been mandatory for most of the 20th century - they remain to this day the least likely new Canadians to go to college or university. About 12 per cent of Toronto’s Portuguese community now earn a university degree - a far cry from only 1 per cent in 1971, but about one-third as many as in the population at large, according to a study this year by York University professor Michael Ornstein.
Some Portuguese community leaders admit that a culture with deep roots in skilled labour, which often has prized home ownership above higher education, may make it too easy for weak students - especially boys - to quit school for the heady $25 to $30 an hour to be made in construction.
But with more than 70 per cent of new jobs in Canada predicted to need some post-secondary training, many Portuguese-Canadians want to break that blue-collar cycle.
“We helped build this city. We help clean this city. Now we’d like to help run this city,” said lawyer Cidalia Faria, an assistant Crown attorney, at a recent standing-room-only conference for Portuguese parents run by the education network.
“Don’t think we’re asleep at the wheel - the Portuguese community has got its eyes wide open,” said Marcie Ponte, executive director of the Working Women’s Community Centre, which runs a free tutoring program called On Your Mark. But why do Portuguese Canadians still drop out in such numbers? It doesn’t help that some teachers and principals seem to have given up on the community, said high school English teacher Ana Fernandes, chair of the Portuguese Canadian Education Network.
“I hear that a lot: `Oh, he’s a Portuguese student; what can you expect?’ or `He’s Portuguese? Better give him just five pages to read instead of 10,’.” said Fernandes, who is working on her PhD in literature. Fernandes said Portuguese students need more role models.
Others say schools could do more to reach out to Portuguese parents and include material of interest to Portuguese Canadians in the curriculum.
“We’re still a massively working class community and a lot of parents don’t know where to go for help for their children, between the education barrier and the language barrier and shift work,” said professor Fernando Nunes, vice-president of the Portuguese-Canadian National Congress.
He added the curriculum makes very little mention of the Portuguese community’s contributions to Canada.
Some admit its tight-knit nature - in which it is possible to live and shop in Portuguese neighbourhoods and work on predominantly Portuguese job sites without ever needing to speak much English - plays a role in keeping children in the same footsteps as their parents.
At St. Helen Catholic School in Little Portugal, for example, 89 per cent of students were born in Canada, yet for 61 per cent, the first language they learned at home was not English.
This community is a young one, celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2003, after the arrival of the first significant group of Portuguese immigrants in Canada. Post-war Canada's need for labour and Portugal's political and economic backwardness prompted a massive population shift to Canada, in particular Toronto. Carlos Teixeira's extensive essay at Multicultural Canada provides an excellent overview.
Four decades after their first arrival in Canada, the Portuguese have communities from coast to coast. In 1991 most lived in Ontario (202,395), Quebec (42,975), British Columbia (23,380), Alberta (9,755), and Manitoba (9,530). Though many came to work on farms or railways, most settled in cities. In 1991 Toronto had 124,325 residents of Portuguese origin; Montreal, 32,330; Kitchener, Ontario, 13,755; Hamilton, 9,625; Vancouver, 9,255; Winnipeg, 7,970; Ottawa-Hull, 6,580; London, 6,330; and Edmonton, 4,685.
The pioneers lived in deteriorated, low-income, working-class neighbourhoods in the heart of the cities, on the margins of emerging central business districts, near jobs and transportation. The majority were single individuals who resided in low-rental flats, tenements, and rooming-houses - often with relatives or friends from the same village/region of Portugal - in order to save to buy a house and to bring over relatives from Portugal.
Portuguese colonies began taking shape in the 1960s. The steady increase in immigration and the constant arrival of entire families, through chain sponsorship, consolidated immigrant neighbourhoods. Often two or three families shared the same house or apartment/flat. The majority of these immigrants came from rural areas of Portugal, particularly in the Azores, and lacked knowledge of English or French, skills, and money. These districts functioned as reception areas, offering information and security, but also tended to isolate Portuguese from the host society.
Portuguese communities in Canada tend to be self-contained and self-sufficient. Their remarkable level of institutional completeness is demonstrated by the number of social and cultural institutions (198, including 111 in Ontario), religious institutions (thirty-eight churches), and ethnic businesses (over forty-six hundred, with some thirty-five hundred in Ontario), most located within the core of the communities. In 1981 Portuguese Canadians were among the most segregated groups in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.
The Portuguese Canadian community remains a tight one to this very day, though sometimes with negative consequences as recently reported ("Charting a new course") by the Toronto Star's education reporter Louise Brown.
“As a community, we’re proud of our ability to preserve our culture - but this is Canada! We have to nail down English! We have to create an environment that expects children to succeed at school,” said [Melissa] Arruda, 22, the youngest member of the new Portuguese-Canadian Education Network.
“Only four out of my 40 Portuguese classmates from grade school went on to university. Not that everyone has to go, but more of us should feel we at least have that choice.”
This is the new face of Portuguese Canada; seeking to rewrite the future by understanding how its children fell behind, and focusing on parents and schools to close the gap.
Fifty years after the first major wave of Portuguese immigrants landed in Canada - from one of the few countries where attending high school had not been mandatory for most of the 20th century - they remain to this day the least likely new Canadians to go to college or university. About 12 per cent of Toronto’s Portuguese community now earn a university degree - a far cry from only 1 per cent in 1971, but about one-third as many as in the population at large, according to a study this year by York University professor Michael Ornstein.
Some Portuguese community leaders admit that a culture with deep roots in skilled labour, which often has prized home ownership above higher education, may make it too easy for weak students - especially boys - to quit school for the heady $25 to $30 an hour to be made in construction.
But with more than 70 per cent of new jobs in Canada predicted to need some post-secondary training, many Portuguese-Canadians want to break that blue-collar cycle.
“We helped build this city. We help clean this city. Now we’d like to help run this city,” said lawyer Cidalia Faria, an assistant Crown attorney, at a recent standing-room-only conference for Portuguese parents run by the education network.
“Don’t think we’re asleep at the wheel - the Portuguese community has got its eyes wide open,” said Marcie Ponte, executive director of the Working Women’s Community Centre, which runs a free tutoring program called On Your Mark. But why do Portuguese Canadians still drop out in such numbers? It doesn’t help that some teachers and principals seem to have given up on the community, said high school English teacher Ana Fernandes, chair of the Portuguese Canadian Education Network.
“I hear that a lot: `Oh, he’s a Portuguese student; what can you expect?’ or `He’s Portuguese? Better give him just five pages to read instead of 10,’.” said Fernandes, who is working on her PhD in literature. Fernandes said Portuguese students need more role models.
Others say schools could do more to reach out to Portuguese parents and include material of interest to Portuguese Canadians in the curriculum.
“We’re still a massively working class community and a lot of parents don’t know where to go for help for their children, between the education barrier and the language barrier and shift work,” said professor Fernando Nunes, vice-president of the Portuguese-Canadian National Congress.
He added the curriculum makes very little mention of the Portuguese community’s contributions to Canada.
Some admit its tight-knit nature - in which it is possible to live and shop in Portuguese neighbourhoods and work on predominantly Portuguese job sites without ever needing to speak much English - plays a role in keeping children in the same footsteps as their parents.
At St. Helen Catholic School in Little Portugal, for example, 89 per cent of students were born in Canada, yet for 61 per cent, the first language they learned at home was not English.