Alberta

Communities: Calgary – Edmonton

ALBERTA’S POPULATION: 4,460,000

STATISTICS FOR THE PORTUGUESE IN ALBERTA:

AS MOTHER TONGUE	AS MOST SPOKEN	KNOWLEDGE OF THE LANGUAGE	BORN IN PORTUGAL	ETHNIC ORIGIN
9,050 0.2% of population	3,905 0.1% of population	12,670 0.3% of population	4,050 0.1% of population	22,385 0.5% of population

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A TWO-CITY AFFAIR

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Alberta is home to some of the most splendid scenery in Canada and in the World. Home of the Rockies, pristine lakes, and winding rivers, it is a dream destination for many. It is also the home of over twenty-two thousand residents who consider Portuguese to be their ethnic origin.

Citing the Canadian Department of Citizenship and Immigration, the website of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Edmonton (https://ourladyoffatima.caedm.ca/about/history/, last accessed on August 18, 2022), shows that between 1948 and 1956 there were forty-four Portuguese living in the Province of Alberta. A year later, another 236 immigrants arrived here from Portugal. Just under half of these (116) went to work with the Canadian National Railroad, at the Calder Station, in Edmonton. The rest scattered across the province into rural areas and the City of Calgary. According to the source, the same government department found, in 1982, that 114 of those pioneers were from the Archipelago of the Azores, 22 from the mainland, and one from the Archipelago of Madeira.

Most of the Luso-Canadians who reside in Alberta have settled in either Calgary or Edmonton, where they have left a mark on the cultural and social landscape. A few others, although in reduced numbers, live in other areas of the province. Edmonton is the locality with the largest Portuguese-Canadian population with nearly 11,000 residents who consider Portuguese their ethnic background, of which 2,575 were born in Portugal. Calgary comes a close second: 8,600 consider their ethnic heritage to be Portuguese and 1,165 were born in Portugal. The 2016 Census shows that Alberta has a total of 22,385 residents who consider Portuguese to be their ethnic background – when we look at the numbers for Edmonton and Calgary (10,710 and 8,600 respectively), we can conclude that only a remaining 3,615 are scattered throughout other localities. The numbers are even more relevant for the two major cities in Alberta if we look at the total number of residents who were born in Portugal: 2,575 in Edmonton, 1,165 in Calgary, and a total of 4,050 in the province. This leaves a mere 920 residents who were born in Portugal scattered across other localities in Alberta.

The communities in Edmonton and Alberta began organizing around the same time, and both started with the church. Coincidentally, the parishes that serve each of the communities boast the same name: Our Lady of Fatima. These movements began in the 1960s but quickly grew into larger enterprises. In Edmonton, it began at the Sacred Heart Church but, by 1979, the community had acquired and paid off its current church. In Calgary, it took a bit longer for the Our Lady of Fatima church to be constructed. The community began to frequent the Holy Trinity Parish, then the Croatian Church, and lastly the St. John’s Parish which offered a space to build a makeshift church. In the mid-1990s, the Our Lady of Fatima Parish was inaugurated and has since served the community.

The associative movement began in the 1970s almost simultaneously in each of the cities. In Edmonton, the Gil Vicente Portuguese School was inaugurated in 1971 and continues in operation to this day with an average of 100 students registered yearly, including children, youth and adults. In that same year, three hundred kilometres south, the Portuguese Society of Calgary was founded. Over the years, it harboured a soccer program, a folk-dance group, and a Portuguese school, and promoted various cultural and social events for the community. Meanwhile, the 1970s also witnessed the creation of a filarmónica, a kindergarten centre and the Portuguese Association of Edmonton, but while the latter two ceased operations shortly after, the band resisted a few decades longer but did not survive.

In 1983, Associação Filarmónica Portuguesa de Calgary was founded and, over the years, has turned into a major band with international reach and national recognition. It has performed for various audiences across North America, has won important competitions in Alberta and, in 2019, conquered the Gold Medal at The Nationals, a nationwide band competition that was held in Ottawa. Around this same time, the Portuguese Folk Group of Calgary was also founded, but it joined the Portuguese Society shortly after and has remained with the organization ever since.

In Edmonton, after the collapse of the original Portuguese Association, a void had been created. A new movement began with the founding of Rancho Folclórico Caravela – Portuguese, in 1986, and, a year later, the Portuguese Canadian Multicultural Society (PCMS) was formed and took the folk-dance group under its umbrella. For many years, PCMS became the relevant cultural and social Portuguese organization in the city, later adding a sporting component with the formation of the Luso Stars Soccer Club.

It was out of the PCMS that the most recent Luso-Canadian organization in Edmonton was created, after some members of the folk-dance group decided to form a component to represent the Minho region. This led to an eventual separation and the official foundation of the Portuguese Cultural Centre, in 1997. The Centre has since gone through various stages of growth and decline but has, recently, witnessed a strong revival after the election of a dynamic executive board.

The Portuguese in Alberta remain dedicated to the promotion and the preservation of our heritage, as is evident by their commitment to the various community organizations in Edmonton and in Calgary. While in Edmonton there are talks of a possible union of all the organizations under the same umbrella, the same cannot yet be said for Calgary, although there will come a time when the conversation will need to be had. For now, these organizations continue to rely on the participation of those who are still connected to Portugal, but their survival depends heavily on the involvement of the newer generations of Luso-Canadians in Alberta.

With references from Statistics Canada, 2016 Census

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