Mississauga

Community Organizations:

Portuguese Cultural Centre of Mississauga – Rancho Folclórico da Nazaré – Grupo Folclórico Transmontano

MISSISSAUGA’S POPULATION: 717,961

STATISTICS FOR THE PORTUGUESE IN MISSISSAUGA:

AS MOTHER
TONGUE		AS MOST
SPOKEN		KNOWLEDGE OF
THE LANGUAGE		BORN IN
PORTUGAL		ETHNIC
ORIGIN
15,985
2.2% of population		6,460
0.9% of population		20,385
2.8% of population		11,925
1.7% of population		34,035
4.7% of population
Source: Statistics Canada

Audio Version:

Mississauga enjoys its proximity to Toronto but, over the years, it has developed its own character, especially when it comes to the agglomeration of new buildings near Square One Mall. Here, there is an established Portuguese community, served by community organizations and by varied businesses that include bakeries, restaurants, supermarkets and professionals.

The city gets its name from the indigenous peoples of the same name who inhabited the area when the first Europeans arrived in the region, in the 17th Century. In 1805, the Government of York (now Toronto) purchased 340 square kilometres of land here and, a year later, a village was formed and grew in numbers across the locality. A few years later, the villages of Clarkson, Cooksville, Dixie, Erindale, Port Credit, Sheridan and Summerville united to form the town of Toronto. In 1820, another parcel of land was purchased, giving way to the formation of Barbertown, Britannia, Burnamthorpe, Derry West, Elmbank, Malton, Meadowvale, Mount Charles and Streetsville. This takeover led the Mississaugas to relocate to the Grand River Valley, in 1847. Eventually, Mississauga turned into the preferred spot for Torontonians to purchase fresh produce and to build vacation homes.

In 1937, Malton Airport – now Lester B. Pearson International – was inaugurated and is today one of the busiest in North America. Two years later, a stretch of the Queen Elizabeth Way was built, connecting Mississauga to Hamilton and then to Niagara Falls. As a consequence of this development, the town of Mississauga was officially formed in 1968. All of the villages above joined the municipality with the exception of Port Credit and Streetsville, which would join in 1974, the year Square One Mall opened to the public.

Marilyn Monroe buildings in downtown Mississauga (photo credit: pixabay.com)

The Portuguese arrived here mostly in the 1960s. The community grew slowly due to the most attractive neighbour – Toronto – at the time. However, by the 1970s, a sizeable community had been established here giving rise to the desire to form an organization. As a result, the Portuguese Cultural Centre of Mississauga was founded, in 1974. In the year 2000, it welcomed Rancho Folcórico da Nazaré into its new hall. The rancho, although formed in Toronto in the distant year of 1958, has moved permanently to Mississauga but has recently found another home in the city. Grupos Folclóricos Transmontanos is another folk-dance group that was formed in Toronto (in 1981) and that has permanently relocated to Mississauga.

Mississauga is the Canadian city with the third largest population of residents who consider Portugal to be their ethnic origin (4.7% of the population).

With files from Luso-Ontario Magazine, 2008
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