1. Little Portugal: A Cultural Enclave Portuguese immigration to Toronto began in the early 1950s, and peaked in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As of the 2001 Canadian Census, 357,690 Portuguese lived in Canada (total ethnic origin). The Toronto Census Metropolitan Area is home to the largest concentration of Portuguese (171,545) in the country. The majority of this group (96,815) lives in the City of Toronto, of which 12,075 reside in Little Portugal, the historical core of Portuguese settlement in Little Portugal is located in the downtown west end of Toronto. In this neighbourhood, Portuguese immigrants have created an institutionally complete community that is also one of the most visible ethnic neighbourhoods in Toronto. This neighbourhood today contains most of the community’s social, cultural, commercial, and religious institutions. Evidence from census data reveals that the Portuguese community in Toronto has expanded since the 1960s and 1970s, and that two major areas of new settlement have emerged. The first is northwest of Little Portugal in the traditional immigrant corridor, where the Portuguese are replacing the Italians. The second is in the western suburbs, in particular, Mississauga and Brampton. Nevertheless, most of the community’s social, cultural, commercial, and religious institutions remain in Little Portugal. Little Portugal is, however, a neighbourhood in transition, because of three major trends:
·the movement of many Portuguese from Toronto’s downtown to the suburbs
·the arrival of urban professionals, who seek to buy older houses close to the downtown core;
·the arrival of immigrants and refugees from the Portuguese diaspora (including Brazil and Portugal’s former African colonies). These processes, together with the out-movement of economically mobile Portuguese residents and the continued presence of an aging first generation, may affect social cohesion in the neighbourhood and the viability of the existing Portuguese commercial and institutional infrastructure.
2. Talking to the community In summer 2006, the author conducted informal interviews with 20 Portuguese and 20 non-Portuguese residents of the area. Forty-two people also participated in six focus groups. Of these people, 13 were Portuguese- speaking with roots in Portugal, 14 were Portuguese speakers from the former Portuguese colonies (Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, and Cape Verde Islands), and 15 were non- Portuguese residents of Little Portugal or people who lived elsewhere but work in the area. Of the Portuguese who participated in the interviews and focus groups, 33 were first- or second- generation immigrants (20 interviewees and 13 participants from the focus groups). In general, all the Portuguese respondents in this study agreed that Little Portugal is a neighbourhood in transition. However, there was little agreement about the degree of this change or the main forces at play in the neighbourhood. The comments reveal that the forces currently shaping the neighbourhood are diverse and complex. It is hard to predict the effect of changes – both internal and external to the Portuguese group – on the neighbourhood or the likely characteristics of this area in the future.
3. Who Moves Out and Why? Respondents identified three main groups leaving the area, with each group doing so for different reasons. The first group is made up of Portuguese in their 40s or 50s, most of whom are homeowners in Little Portugal. This is a group with assets and financial stability. This group aspires to move to the suburbs to improve their housing conditions; most were looking for a single detached home in a better neighbourhood to raise their children. For some of them, this move represents upward social mobility and status. One respondent described his perspective: As a construction builder I see where they are going. A few years ago a lot of Portuguese went to Mississauga…. but the developable land is gone there. They started going to Brampton and Milton because houses are 40 to 50 thousand dollars less expensive. Today, new housing developments are taking place in Oakville, King City, Maple, Caledon, Cambridge, Newmarket, Woodbridge, Barrie, Bradford, Orangeville… and the Portuguese are dispersing all over in search of new housing …Today everybody has a car… and the houses in the 905 area are cheaper and with more green spaces. Also, a lot of those Portuguese that live in the 905 area work in the construction business and now construction is concentrated in the 519 and 705 areas. Thus, it is easier for them to commute to work where new housing developments are taking place. This explains why we see more and more Portuguese dispersing and buying in the suburbs of Toronto. The second group is composed of well-off (some retired) Portuguese seniors, who have paid off their mortgages, and who move in order to join their children, who are already established in the suburbs. Most respondents agree that the likelihood of this group of seniors, and particularly women, feeling isolated once they settled in the suburbs is high. Some, after a few years in the suburbs, return to Little Portugal, the only neighbourhood in which they feel comfortable. The third group is made up of seniors, retired on fixed incomes, who live in a more constrained housing market, either because they do not own a dwelling and cannot afford high rents, or because they own their own home, but cannot keep up with the maintenance costs of their dwellings, including increasing property taxes. As one respondent put it: People who are older can’t maintain a three-storey Victorian house. Because of their health and age, they are not able to do the repairs needed in their homes… and the high property taxes …have gone through the roof… Portuguese, like Italians, …like to hold on to their houses for as long as they can…usually the move is due to health reasons… Unfortunately, we don’t have enough seniors’ housing in our community to accommodate these people…in a secure and comfortable place in an atmosphere where they would feel comfortable…the new trend will be moving to a retirement nursing home or long-term care…they have no choice.
4. Who Moves In and Why? Portuguese respondents agree that Little Portugal has, in the last two decades or so, been changed by the arrival of different groups of people interested in buying housing in Toronto’s downtown. One group is made up of urban professional Canadians – white-collar workers – who are gradually discovering this neighbourhood. Many members of this demographic group are disenchanted with the suburbs, and see advantages in living and working in downtown Toronto. The location of Little Portugal close to Toronto’s Central Business District is an important influence on their decisions to move into Little Portugal. The other factor, and probably one of the most important ones, attracting them to the neighbourhood is the nature of the existing housing stock – old Victorian-era or early 20th century houses, often large and well preserved. All these factors played a major role in their decision to select Little Portugal – until recently, a comparatively ungentrified neighbourhood – as their place of residence in Toronto. 5. Who Stays and Why? Most of the Portuguese who have decided to stay in Little Portugal are first-generation (that is, born in Portugal) blue-collar workers, with low levels of education and little knowledge of the English language. This group is the least assimilated of all Portuguese, and a population that is aging. Many have already retired. Most started by renting in the area, and then bought their own homes. When the Portuguese started buying houses in the 1950s and 1960s, housing was inexpensive, and with a small down payment, one could become a homeowner in Toronto. Many of them renovated their houses, often subdividing the house into rental flats to earn income to pay their mortgages off. They finished the basement or added more rooms to the house to accommodate the needs of their
families. There are even several cases of successful immigrants who speculated in the housing market of the 1950 and 1960s by buying other housing in the neighbourhood and renting it to new Portuguese immigrants arriving in the city. Not surprisingly, the Portuguese are today one of the immigrant groups with the highest levels of homeownership in Toronto. Some of these established homeowners do not want to leave their houses that they renovated themselves and where their children were born. This group seems to be resisting gentrification. They will sell their houses only if they want to or are forced to because of their age or health. Otherwise, they will do what they can to keep their houses in Little Portugal; a neighbourhood in which they feel at home. Here is one respondent’s story: I opened my first business in 1969 in Kensington Market. At the time this was the core of the Portuguese businesses in Toronto. Everybody used to go to the market to do their shopping. Gradually we left the area and went to Dundas and College….we [Portuguese] are like the birds…when one bird goes, all the others follow… My two daughters; when they married, they left the area and bought in North York and Etobicoke, but I stayed. My daughters are always asking, “Daddy, sell your house and join us.” My answer is no… I am used to life in Little Portugal close to everything… Portuguese business, churches, clubs…and public transportation. Also… I want to be independent… Thus, it is in Little Portugal… that I will die.

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