“Associations have a lot to offer young people. The first time I was part of a board I was 14 or 15 years old, helping in the financial department with my mother and learning accounting. To gain experience, because one day later it helped me with my academic training”, said Paulo Pereira, 28 years old, president of the Associação Cultural do Minho de Toronto (ACMT).

A graduate in accounting from the University of Toronto and with a master's degree in Finance from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, and the son of emigrants from Arcos de Valdevez (district of Viana do Castelo), the Portuguese-Canadian is serving the second year of his term as president of the board of directors of the community.

When many associations have great difficulties renewing their management team, ACMT has a management team made up of 10 members, aged 18 to 29.

Celebrating its 46th anniversary on October 13th, the Associação Cultural do Minho in Toronto allows “within its network” to make friendships that “last a lifetime”, whether through the folkloric ranch, the drum group or other activities available.

“The associations, when they were created, were mainly for immigrants when they arrived from Portugal, to have a little contact with Portuguese-Canadian society, with those who were already here and spoke the Portuguese language, to share the experiences of life here”, he stressed.

For Paulo Pereira, Portuguese associations in Canada “were important in the integration of the first waves of immigration”, but also for Portuguese descendants and generations who were already born in Canada, providing various services, whether in the “preservation of the Portuguese language, culture and gastronomy”.

“It’s not just about preserving things from Portugal, traditions that parents and grandparents brought to Canada, it’s also about making connections between Canada and Portugal”, he clarified.