Portuguese-Canadians from Sea to Sea: A National Needs Assessment
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Date
1998
Authors
Nunes, Fernando
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Portuguese-Canadian National Congress
Abstract
Description
There are approximately 292,185 individuals in Canada, who claim a Portuguese ethnic origin.
Most are concentrated in the urban areas of Toronto and Montreal, but they are also
significant populations scattered throughout small and rural centres, in nearly every province of
this nation. Yet, despite their numbers, Canadians of Portuguese background (also referred to as
Luso-Canadians) have traditionally been underserved and undlrepresented in the social and
political structures of our society. For many years, it was clear that there was a need for a
national organization, which could represent their concerns to the various levels of government
in Canada and Portugal. With this objective in mind, in March of 1993, a group of 250 Luso-
Canadian individuals and associations formed the Portuguese-Canadian National Congress and
charged it with the mandate to act upon issues relating to the full participation of community
members in Canadian society. In 1994, the founding Directors of the Congress received funds,
from the Federal Government for a national "Needs Assessment," - the first Canada-wide project
of this type to be conducted on this community - to help identify those issues.
Keywords
Luso-Canadians , Ethnic groups - Canada , Portuguese-Canadians
Citation
Nunes, F. (1998). Portuguese-Canadians from Sea to Sea: A National Needs Assessment. Toronto: Portuguese-Canadian National Congress.