Newspaper With Longest Circulation in Canada
After becoming the pioneer in the area of community organizations when the Portuguese Association of Canada was formed in 1956, Montreal was also the cradle of the first newspaper ever published in the Portuguese language in this country with Jornal Luso-Canadiano, in 1959. A Voz de Portugal was established on April 25, 1961 and has been published since then uninterruptedly, making it the Portuguese-language newspaper with the longest circulation in Canada. During its first few years, it was entirely funded by the Government of Salazar, better known as the Estado Novo. Ironically, the date April 25 would turn out to be the downfall of this government in 1974 when democracy was restored in Portugal.
A Voz de Portugal continues to offer its readers with news from the community, Canada, Portugal and the world. In addition to the weekly printed version, it is also available online at https://avozdeportugal.com/.
For more information on the publication, please visit our Videos page to watch a piece conducted by Portugal’s national television station, RTP, in 2016. You can access the link directly here. The piece begins at minute 4:00. The piece states, erroneously according to an investigation performed by Fundação Mários Soares and published on the website casacomum.org, that it is the first ever published newspaper in Canada in the Portuguese language. Please let us know if you think we got it wrong.
Although Toronto is the largest Portuguese community in Canada, the first newspaper in the Portuguese language published here occurred in 1963 when Maria Alice Ribeiro and Antonio Ribeiro founded Correio Português. The publication is no longer in circulation.
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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.