The city of Winnipeg, in the Canadian province of Manitoba, is to dedicate part of a street to the Portuguese community, a local community official has announced.
“Young street, between Notre Dame and Cumberland avenues, where the headquarters of the Portuguese Association of Manitoba has been located for over three decades, is going to be called Honourary Portugal Way,” said Nancy Gonçalves, vice-president of the association’s general assembly board.
The lawyer, daughter of Portuguese emigrants, presented the proposal to the municipal executive on March 13, 2023, and it was unanimously approved on April 25.
“We take this recognition to remember with pride all the generations that have been part of the history of Manitoba’s Portuguese community,” he added
Nancy Gonçalves, was born in Canada, but from the age of nine to 17, she lived in Portugal, in the region of Tomar (district of Santarém).
“The legacy of our community deserves the broadest personal and institutional recognition, for all the events. It is a duty of memory that we must continue to preserve and pass on,” he stressed.
At a time when we are celebrating 70 years of official Portuguese immigration to Canada, with the pioneers playing a major role in “building several cities”, this is a unique moment “for the community to come together even more and ensure that the history of the community continues to be written”.
The official ceremony will take place on June 10th, at 7pm (1am Sunday, continental Portugal), at the headquarters of the Portuguese Association of Manitoba.
Meanwhile, the municipality of Winnipeg has also announced that it will light up the ‘Provencher’ bridge and the Winnipeg sign, located in the tourist center of the city, with the colors of Portugal’s flag (green and red) at the end of June 10th.
Winnipeg is located in the prairie province of Manitoba in Canada’s western center, about 30 kilometers from the geodesic center of the country.
It is estimated that there are about 30 thousand Portuguese and Lusodescendants in Winnipeg.
