Founding Date:	1974
Address:	53 Queen Street North Mississauga, Ontario L5N 1A2
Telephone:	905-286-1311

A growing and active organization

Audio Version:

In 1974, a group of ten people formed the first Portuguese club in Mississauga, on Haines Street, where community members gathered to chat and play cards. A year later, with growth in membership, the association rented 1310 Dundas Street East where there was more room to throw larger parties. Here, memorable social events and beauty pageants were held on Saturday nights for a community that in the late seventies already exceeded 20,000 people.  This was the home of the association until the year 2000, the year in which CCP Mississauga stopped paying rent and settled in its imposing new home.

The purchase of the property was a major step toward the dynamism of an organization that had suppressed its potential for decades without a proper hall to hold events. The process began in 1997 with the first fundraising event. A committee of 25 people was created, called pro-sede, to raise the necessary funds to complete the purchase. The committee managed to raise about $600,000. A bank loan of $1.3 million was necessary to complete the purchase of the building.

It was a daring investment only possible with the help of the many members and supporters of the Cultural Centre who hail from all regions of Portugal.  

If the purchase of the headquarters was the most significant milestone of the association’s history, the various groups and initiatives promoted by the association reflect its current reality. 

Soccer has existed since shortly after the Centre’s foundation, but later disappeared to be resurrected by then president, Gilberto Moniz, in 2001. The men’s team subsequently won titles in the Toronto Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer League.

Folklore was implemented in 1980. Gilberto Moniz was once again at the centre of the occurrence because it was during his mandate as president that the group was formed. The lack of instructors caused the group to dissolve but folklore returned to the CCCPM in 1995 when rancho Folclórico da Nazaré joined the Centre. Disagreements between the Cultural Centre and those responsible for the group again left the association orphan of folklore. However, the new Board did not want to deprive its partners of this important cultural component and decided to form its own rancho the following year, split between adults and children groups. It represents diverse regions of Portugal to reflect the origin of the Centre’s members. 

The CCPM is open every day with varied activities, such as the Portuguese school, the seniors group, and the youth group.

Another innovation of the Portuguese Cultural Centre of Mississauga is the library that was inaugurated on November 2, 2006 by then president of the Regional Government of the Azores, Carlos César. 

With files from Luso-Ontario Magazine, 2008

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