Proud Luso-Canadians Maintain Heritage in New Brunswick

Canada has a solid Portuguese presence that is easily traceable in most Provinces by way of locating its community organizations. However, once you enter Atlantic Canada, it gets more difficult to identify those who hail from the land of Camões since there are no clubs or associations currently in operation. Such was the case in New Brunswick where, after much searching, we were able to find Bernadette Fernandes, a Portuguese and humanitarian who specializes in economic development and who has lived in Saint John most of her life.

We scheduled a call for a late Sunday afternoon in early November. Bernadette had promised us a surprise which she definitely delivered in a larger scale than we expected. When we finally connected via video, we were presented with the honour of meeting her mother, Adelaide Paulo, one of the Portuguese pioneers in the Province. Now at 85 years of age, Adelaide maintains the look of a younger woman and a mind full of memories of a time in which the Portuguese in this region conglomerated to celebrate and promote their heritage. 

When Adelaide arrived in Moncton, in 1965, with baby Bernadette at just over one year of age, and another daughter at just under four years, she became part of only four Portuguese families (all from Northern Portugal) who had chosen New Brunswick as their new home. Her husband, Albino Fernandes, worked in construction with mostly Italian immigrants, but over the years more and more Portuguese began to arrive to work there. Albino quickly became fluent in Italian even before he could learn basic English. Adelaide, who could also communicate in French, had to learn English, the language of the land at the time (even though New Brunswick later became, in 1969, the only officially bilingual Province in Canada).        

Even though Adelaide and Albino had been immigrants in France before they traveled to Canada, the first few years here were not easy. “Portuguese immigration had opened to Canada and we became one of the first to arrive on an airplane. We landed in Halifax. It was difficult but we began to learn [English] and people wanted to help us. They taught us”, Adelaide recalls. “My mother lived in France for 5 years and my sister and I were born there”, Bernadette interjected. “We are from Miranda do Douro, from a village called Picote where the first ever dam was built in Portugal, in 1954. We visit there very often”, Bernadette Fernandes said in perfect Portuguese. 

Unlike in other cities such as Toronto where established organizations support newcomers from housing to finding work, New Brunswick did not have that in 1965. As such, the adaptation to a new language and a new way of life was undoubtedly more difficult but, at the same time, also faster. “When they arrived, they didn’t have a support system and we were dependent on each other. I find that we formed more of a European community with the Italians and the Greeks. We supported each other”, Bernadette explained. 

After their arrival, the Portuguese population began to slowly increase. Most came to work in the docks, especially during the 1970s. This surge in numbers led to new opportunities, such as the creation of a community association and a folklore dance group. “In the early 1980s, we used to get together and go to the beach, we celebrated Christmas, Easter, S. Martinho, and New Year’s Eve. We even had a folklore dance group that was once invited to perform at Canada’s Wonderland. The organization was called Associação Portuguesa de Saint John”, Bernadette recalls. She also remembers Café Europa, a bar “just like those Portuguese cafés in Toronto. People liked going there.”

By the late 1990s, most of the community had either left or scattered, which eventually led to the dissolution of the association, the disappearance of the rancho and the closing of Café Europa. “Very few are left. From my generation, I know one other Portuguese person and from my parents’ generation I would say no more than 20 people. In Fredericton, there are two families we know”, Bernadette said under a confirming nod from Adelaide. 

According to the 2016 Canadian Census, there are 1,785 residents in New Brunswick who consider Portugal as their ethnic background and 260 who noted Portuguese as one of the languages in which they communicate.

Even though the heyday of our presence here has long been gone, Adelaide still finds ways to keep close to her heritage. She watches RTP on her iPad and gets regular shipments of Portuguese groceries from Montreal. From what we gathered, octopus and moelas are favourites for both mother and daughter. Bernadette has also become an ambassador for our frango assado which is eagerly anticipated by her Canadian friends when they visit. “Batatas Fritas, salada de tomate, e frango no forno”, she lists the menu. According to Bernadette, her own daughter, who understands and speaks fairly well Portuguese, is also very good at baking pastéis de nata and making caldo verde.

The community organization is now inexistent and the social gatherings have dwindled significantly, but with Portuguese-Canadians as proud of their heritage as the family of Bernadette Fernandes, it will take a long time until our presence in New Brunswick vanishes into the realms of the History books.