The President of the Regional Government of the Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro, will attend this weekend, on the province of Ontario, the 39th Annual Gala of the Federation of Portuguese-Canadian Business & Professionals, also seizing the visit to Canada to contact the Azorean diaspora and the Azorean descendants that reside in this province.
The visit’s program starts Friday, in Toronto, with a meeting with representatives of the Portuguese media of Ontario.
Saturday morning, José Manuel Bolieiro visits the commemorative photographic exhibit of the 500 years of the Romeiros of São Miguel and 30 years of the Romeiros of Canada, by Joseph Amaral, at the Peach Gallery in Toronto.
In the afternoon, takes place the annual gala of the Federation of Portuguese-Canadian Business & Professionals, that will distinguish community and business leaders, and also grant several scholarships to students of Portuguese descent.
On Sunday, the President of the Regional Government of the Azores proceeds to the 2022 Carassuaga Festival of Cultures, visiting the pavilions of Portugal and the Azores. He will also promote a meeting with the province representative entities of the Azorean communities at the House of the Azores of Ontario.
The Regional Director for the Communities, José Andrade, will also join the visit to Canada.
The Azorean emigration to Canada was only possible in 1953, after the signature of bilateral agreements between Portugal and this country, on migrant’s entry. However, the contact of Azoreans with Canada dates back to the “discovery” period of the North American continent.
Although the pioneers (designation for the first Portuguese emigrants in Canada, in 1953) disembarked at the port of Halifax, on the province of Nova Scotia, they settled in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, as well as British Columbia, where they worked on agriculture, construction industry, railways and services.
Nowadays, the Azorean communities residing in Canada are mostly located on the province of Ontario, in the city of Toronto and its surroundings, on Québec, in Montreal and its surrounding cities, on British Columbia, in Vancouver and also in Kitimat, on the northern end of this province, on Manitoba, in the city of Winnipeg and the cities of Calgary, Edmonton and Victoria, on the province of Alberta.
As in the communities of other countries, the Azorean community residing in Canada celebrates the main religious festivities of the archipelago and preserves its cultural identity through diverse manifestations and also develops the associative movement that stimulates the teaching of the Portuguese language, as well as the creation of several media organizations.
