Portuguese Canadian Association of Saskatoon
RESILIENCE AND A FAMILY AFFAIR IN THIS SMALL COMMUNITY
| Founding Date: | October, 1989 |
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The first major contingent of Portuguese immigrants arrived in Halifax but quickly spread across this vast country. Most settled either in Ontario or in Quebec while others looked for different localities in the hopes of creating a better life for themselves and their families. In the process, a small number settled in Saskatchewan to work for the CN Rail and, slowly, began to create a dynamic and dedicated community that continues to celebrate and maintain the heritage of the old country brought along by those brave pioneers. The Portuguese Canadian Association of Saskatoon is at the centre of this small but resilient movement that intends to involve and inspire the newest generation of Luso-Canadians.
Jennifer Nunes is one such young woman who was born in Canada, but who is extremely dedicated to the preservation of our heritage. She is currently the president of the Portuguese Canadian Association and leads the group that organizes the festivities in honour of Our Lady of Fatima, at St. Mary’s Church. Her family is originally from Faial – where she also lived as a young adult for seven years – and her maternal grandparents are part of the group of pioneers who first called Saskatoon home. Her father arrived later, in 1983, but quickly became part of this movement not only by providing the community with a communal space when he co-owned the first and only Portuguese café in town, but also when he supported the creation of both the community social organization and the religious group, which his wife led in 1989.
“I was the first person in my family born in Canada. My grandmother came over with my grandfather and my mom and her siblings when they were little. My mom was 9 when she came over. My father immigrated to Canada after marrying my mom, a year before I was born. My dad immigrated in 83. There wasn’t a large community, but there were some who immigrated prior to my parents. About a dozen, and it was my grandmother’s tio who sponsored them to Canada”, Nunes told us during a telephone conversation in the Spring of 2022.
For the first thirty years, the community gathered around family and religious events. However, as families grew, so did higher ambitions. Some began to plan the founding of a community organization that would serve as a meeting point for all Portuguese immigrants, their offspring and newly formed families that had extended to other ethnicities. At the same time, a religious movement was taking place, but still unbeknownst to the person who started it. “What happened is that my grandma, Maria Silvina Silveira, went to Fatima and she purchased a replica of Our Lady of Fatima. She brought it over to Canada. It was actually to place it in a church. […] St. Mary’s Church accepted the donation and, from then on, my grandmother and our family started having the Our Lady of Fatima celebration. My grandmother made the clothing dos pastorinhos, so we had children dressed up like the Portuguese do everywhere for our processions, and that’s how it started. It was in 1989 as well”, Jennifer Nunes recounted.
Simultaneously, in 1989, the Portuguese Canadian Association of Saskatoon was being planned. “The lady who started it was Senhora Maria Reis. I think it was a committee effort, but she put it forward, signed the papers, paid whatever fee that was back then and then we had our first executive”, Nunes said.
The association began to promote social and cultural gatherings that included dances and the celebration of our traditional feasts. Additionally, it created a folk-dance group, a Portuguese language school and a soccer team that competed at the local level. Recently, the celebration of Our Lady of Fatima also became part of the association’s portfolio.
“From the 80’s to the early 2000’s, we had children folklore groups that would dance at our parties and at Folkfest in Saskatoon. Portugal was never big enough to have our own pavilion, so we would team up with the Brazilian Pavilion and perform there”, Nunes recalled. The group represented various regions of Portugal but focused more on Azorean music and dances since community members were mostly from the archipelago. “We want to have the rancho again and we even have adults who want to have it now. We were the kids, right? Now, some of us are interested in doing it again”, Nunes said.
Portuguese language classes, which are no longer active, were also an important element of the organization. “We had language classes. We had [them] for both adults and children, and even some people who needed it for university, but now the University of Saskatchewan doesn’t need that. Unfortunately, the new generation kind of lost interest and got busy. We stopped having the classes because we didn’t have enough numbers. However, we are really hoping now that my generation has kids under 10 and early teens, that they might be interested in starting it again, but we need to get a teacher. My boys are very interested in the language”, Jennifer Nunes informed.
Although the organization never received assistance from any of the levels of government for its Portuguese language program, there is now a strong possibility that Instituto Camões – which is now aware of the needs of the community – will begin supporting the organization with knowledge and resources.
While the folk-dance group and the Portuguese language classes are in the plans to eventually return, soccer, which was forced to stall because of the pandemic, is slated to restart soon. “We were invited to do it again this year, but we decided to do it next year. It’s men and youth U-15”, Jennifer Nunes said.
The organization does its best to promote regular events, but this always proves to be a challenge due to the relatively small size and the dispersion of the community across the city. “In regards to the association, it is mostly Portuguese but a lot of Canadians come support us. It’s embarrassing to tell you [how many people attend our events]. We get somewhere between 80 and 150 at most. Once upon a time, it was maybe 200. Primarily, we have a New Year’s Eve party, a Carnival in February, a BBQ for Dia de Portugal, in October we have our main party when we bring bands from Edmonton or Winnipeg to play and that is the anniversary of the association. In regards to Our Lady of Fatima, it’s definitely more multicultural now, especially since 2017 when I took over. It’s now a Diocese event. Hundreds of people come from every single nationality you can think of. We have Nossa Senhora de Fatima in May, when we do the procession, a mass and a gathering, and in October we have a mass and sometimes a gathering”, Jennifer Nunes said.
The association never rented or owned a permanent physical location to serve as its headquarters. It rents halls to hold its annual events and uses different locations to support practices for the soccer team. When Portuguese language classes and the folk-dance group become active again, it will be forced to find a location to support these activities. However, this will prove to be a positive challenge.
Although nowadays people are able to connect and stay up-to-date with events and occurrences around the world through the internet, the Portuguese Canadian Association of Saskatoon continues to play a crucial role in the preservation and celebration of our traditions, our language and our heritage. “The key is the association. We do, yes [feel isolated]. I think it’s always been that way. We are a very small community while bigger communities like Edmonton, which is closest to us, are able to have bigger events. We visit them, we go to their festas and we go to Edmonton to purchase Portuguese food. But we don’t have any connection with them. We know the owners of the stores because we go there often enough to purchase things, but that’s about it, that’s the extent of our connection with other communities”, Jennifer Nunes laments.
The aging and the inevitable passing of the pioneers presents a real challenge for the survival of the association. However, the second generation of Luso-Canadians in Saskatoon are still very much connected to their heritage and have shown, as Jennifer Nunes suggested numerous times during our conversation, real interest in reviving some of the activities that once made the organization and the community culturally and socially prosperous. The future of the Portuguese Canadian Association of Saskatoon depends on Jennifer Nunes and her counterparts. It’s a daunting task, but the dedication and commitment of Nunes and her community cannot be underestimated.
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