Calgary

Community Organizations:

Portuguese Society of Calgary * Associação Filarmónica Portuguesa de Calgary

CALGARY’S POPULATION: 1,611,000

STATISTICS FOR THE PORTUGUESE IN CALGARY

AS MOTHER TONGUE	AS MOST SPOKEN	KNOWLEDGE OF THE LANGUAGE	BORN IN PORTUGAL	ETHNIC ORIGIN
3,700 0.2% of population	1,770 0.1% of population	5,365 0.3% of population	1,165 0.1% of population	8,600 0,5% of population

A COMMUNITY WITH POTENTIAL, SERVED BY SEVERAL ORGANIZATIONS

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The city of Calgary is home to over eight thousand residents who consider their ethnic origin to be Portuguese. Nearly 1,200 of those were born in Portugal. This large population of Luso-Canadians is ever more scattered and integrated into the general society, which hinders its involvement in the various cultural, social and religious organizations founded during the first three decades of our presence here. Once a vibrant and engaged group, the hegemony of the Portuguese community in Calgary is facing serious challenges.

The Portuguese began to settle in Calgary and its surroundings at the start of our official immigration to Canada, in 1953. In those days, the Government would assign newcomers to various parts of the country. They would be expected to serve at their designated location and in their assigned occupation for one full year, after which they were free to look for other employment if they so wished. In this area, most Portuguese newcomers arrived to work either in the CN Rail and other industries, such as construction, or as farmhands in rural areas.

Those who lived in Calgary tended to remain there, but many of those who were placed in rural settings began to move into the city in search of better working opportunities and living conditions. Just as was the case across the country, once these pioneers attained financial stability, they began to call for their families to join them. In Calgary, the process occurred naturally and, by the early 1970s, there was already a sizeable Portuguese-Canadian population living here.

The church became the first meeting point. Here, the community began by celebrating mass in Portuguese. “The priest was Canadian – Father Trudeau – and he was the one who [celebrated mass] for the Portuguese. He would do it in Portuguese,” Nelly Teofilo, a resident of Calgary and volunteer at the Portuguese Society of Calgary told us during a conversation in May of 2022. As the community grew, so did the need for a Parish dedicated solely to the community. It was with the effort of all Luso-Canadians in the city that the church of Our Lady of Fatima was built. Here, the community began organizing relevant religious festivities such as Senhor Santo Cristo and Divino Espirito Santo, and celebrating important dates such as May 13, which marks the first apparition of Our Lady of Fatima to the three shepherds. Most community religious celebrations are still held there, but now they also count on the collaboration of other organizations such as the local filarmónica.

In 1971, the first social and cultural organization outside the church was founded in Calgary when João Pereira, Franciso Enes, Paulo Lestinho, José Pereira Jacinto, Manuel de Castro and João de Lima (all now deceased) signed the incorporation documents of the Portuguese Society of Calgary. At the around the same time, the Canadian Luso Soccer Club had also been formed, but it joined the Society in that same year. The Portuguese Society of Calgary became the most important community organization, offering Portuguese classes, and social and cultural events. A decade later, the Portuguese Folk Group of Calgary was formed but, just like the soccer club, it also joined the Society shortly after its foundation. Currently, the Society continues to offer Portuguese classes, the folk-dance group remains active, and the soccer team is in the process of a revival.

In 1983, the Portuguese community of Calgary witnessed the foundation of Filarmónica Portuguesa de Calgary, a cultural staple that has been growing and reinventing itself over the years. Before the pandemic, it won a major national band competition. The pandemic halted its activity but as the world returns to normal, so does the Filarmónica.

In the early days, most of the immigrants who arrived in Calgary from Portugal were from the mainland, and most often from the North. However, as the community grew, most newcomers hailed from the archipelago of the Azores. “The majority of the people here were from the mainland. We still have a lot of people from northern Portugal [but] it’s more from the islands now. Back then, people from the islands were very much connected with the church and would participate in a lot of religious events and the people from the mainland were very much connected with the Portuguese Society of Calgary. Now it’s a mixture of both, but the majority of the immigrants in Calgary are from the Azores,” Nelly Teofilo informed.

Although Calgary harbours a sizeable number of Luso-Canadians, there are no stores, restaurants or bars dedicated to the community. “We used to have a couple of Portuguese stores. It’s very costly to operate a business like that in Calgary because we’re so far. We had a Portuguese store for many years. What started to hurt them a lot is that people can now get Portuguese products from Walmart, Safeway or Soby’s,” Teofilo explained.

Until recently, Mimo’s Restaurant, run and operated by Luso-Canadians, was a preferred spot for the community, but the pandemic forced it to shut down permanently. The maintenance of our heritage in Calgary is now fully dependent on the Society, the Filarmónica, and the church.

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