Sol Português – The End of an Era!
Jornal Sol Português has arguably conquered the unofficial title of community leader in print media by publishing articles with high quality and essence. For the past 40 years, it has provided the Portuguese community of the Greater Toronto Area with rigorous coverage of local events and issues as well as vital editorial content from Portugal and the rest of the world. On June 16, 2023, it would grace its readership with its last issue, marking the end of an era for the local community media.
A note, published on its website solnet.com, called “Last Publication of Sol Português”, reads:
| It is with great sadness that we inform our esteemed readers and announcers, as well as the clubs, associations and the Portuguese community in general that this will be the last edition of Jornal Sol Português. For the past 40 years, we have followed the Portuguese community, acting as witness and recorder of its development and growth, as well as its challenges but mostly of its many successes. It was not an easy mission given the challenges and difficulties that characterize the written press, even more so in a country where Portuguese is not the official language, the resources are few and support basically inexistent. However, we are honoured to have contributed to the transformation of a community that is currently, after 70 years of the official Portuguese immigration, ever more involved and integrated in the general Canadian society where many of our members, many of whom we had the opportunity to highlight on our pages, have found success and notability in various fields. When we started this informational journey, the community and the world were very different from today. We are proud to have revolutionized the Portuguese language media in Canada through our example – and not only in the written press. Unlike in those days, the world is profoundly connected and access to information from our home country is instantaneous and immediate, if we so wish. Time has come for us to lay down the pen and rest, aware that the Portuguese community has more information options than ever. Time weighs on us and our health is on the decline. As such, after nearly 2,000 editions of Jornal Sol Português, let us look at this farewell as “holidays” – for many of us, the first in 40 years and very well-deserved – and an opportunity to remain on the “other side” of the writing process while others, undoubtedly, will carry on with the noble mission of informing. Lastly, we would like to take this opportunity to express our most profound and heartfelt gratitude to all the readers, announcers and contributors who, throughout four decades, were part of this journey. Our only objective was always to provide the community with unbiased and objective information, while fostering the spirit of unity among all the Portuguese who chose this country to start a new life, regardless of their place of birth or origin. On behalf of our team, past and present, a great and heartfelt “thank you” to all and wishes of great success to this wonderful community and to all who have fought, fight and will continue to fight for it to become stronger, more integrated in included. – Original, in Portuguese, Translated to English – |
Sol Português is the latest in a list of recently fallen publications that includes several other Portuguese language newspapers based in the Greater Toronto Area such as Voice, Team Desportivo and Jornal Flash, to name a few.
I was part of the journey
Growing up in Portugal, I inevitably shared a dream with every single boy in my village: to become a soccer player. Although this part of my future was not negotiable, I was prepared with a Plan B, which was to become a journalist. After I arrived in Canada at the tender age of 18 with rudimentary knowledge of the English language, I quickly assumed that my hopes of becoming a journalist would not materialize. That is until I saw an advert from Sol Português which called for local contributors. I immediately called and, after a pleasant meeting with António Perinú, I had become the newest contributor of Sol Português, the highest rated newspaper in the community.
I was treated like family from the first day. Sr. Perinú and the entire team were professional, courteous and extremely attentive. They informed me of assignments well in advance and always provided me with the necessary equipment to conduct my work, including cameras, voice recorders and even a computer to write my pieces if I wished to do so at the office. We quickly developed a trusting relationship, which resulted in new assignments for me such as selling advertising and publishing short stories that I had been working on for years. As a community reporter, I had the opportunity to attend dozens of events promoted by our local associations and to meet amazing people, many of whom I still call friends to this day. It was an experience that not only helped me learn a lot but also grow as a person.
Memorable moments include becoming the first in Toronto to interview Shawn Desman and Mariza, and to accompany and witness first-hand the fantastic work community leader, José Eustáquio, performed at ACAPO as he transformed it into the most significant Portuguese community organization in Canada.
Every good story has an end. Even though I had found a great working environment at Sol Português, I needed new challenges – even a son leaves his parents’ home to start a new life. At the time, I had come across a tremendous opportunity to become Editor of Team Desportivo and do what I truly loved, which was to cover community soccer on a regular basis. This experience led me to further my involvement in community media as I later used my accumulated knowledge and experience to found Flash Newspaper with David Silva. To this day, I still believe that my biggest contribution to the community, both at the time and historically, was through Team Desportivo and Jornal Flash…and I owe that to Sol Português because, without the opportunity it had provided me, I would probably never be involved in community media.
The last edition of Sol Português is another clear indication and familiar symptom of the slow decline in community involvement. While it is expected that the phenomenon occur in smaller communities across Canada, it becomes worrisome when references such as a reputable newspaper closes down in the most Portuguese city in the country.
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About The Author
Paulo Pereira
Paulo Pereira has worked in community media for over 20 years. He started as a reporter for Sol Portugues. Later, he became Editor of Team Desportivo, Director of Flash News, Director of Jornal da Aliança, Director of Luso-Ontario Magazine, and Editor at Correio da Manha Canada's newspaper. Paulo Pereira is also a co-founder of Associacao Migrante de Barcelos where he volunteered for many years as Secretary and Sporting Director. He also volunteered for Casa do Benfica de Toronto for close to a decade as member of the Board in roles such as Public Relations Director and Vice-President for Sports and Culture. Currently, he is the President of Project First Nations, a not-for-profit organization. In November of 2023, he was elected as a member of the Portuguese Community Council, representing the District of Toronto, which includes Ontario, Manitoba and Nunavut.