According to the 2021 Census, there were 448,310 or 1.21% of Canadians claimed full or partial Portuguese ancestry, a decrease compared to 482,110 in 2016 (1.40% of the nation's total population).

Recent historiography suggests Corte Real May have reached Canadian coasts in 1473, before Columbus officially "discovered" America.

[10][11] Portuguese and Spanish Sephardic Jews also contributed founding the oldest Jewish congregation in Canada, establishing Montréal synagogue in 1778.

[12] During the 1950s, a large number of immigrants from the Azores and Madeira, fleeing political conflict with the regime of António de Oliveira Salazar, moved into the downtown core of Canada's major cities such as the area of Portugal Village in Toronto, Ontario and further west along Dundas Street to Brockton Village.

As well, Portuguese emigrants settled in areas of British Columbia from the mid 1950s onwards, including Vancouver and Kitimat where they worked in the lumber and smelting industries, and the Okanagan Valley in the interior of the province, where many became orchard farmers.

Hamilton, Ontario also has a solid Portuguese community concentrated in the downtown core around Barton and James Street and nearby the St. Mary's Roman Catholic church.

British Columbia has around 35 000 Portuguese-Canadians, concentrated in the Lower Mainland (Vancouver, Surrey, Richmond, Burnaby, Delta, Coquitlam) with around 20 000 Portuguese Canadians.

Other centres for Portuguese immigrants and their descendants are Kitimat, Prince Rupert, Victoria, and the Okanagan region where many are fruit farmers.

Cruz de Cristo (regions of Mainland Portugal), Pico, Sao Miguel Island and Madeira.

Single ethnic or cultural origin responses The Portuguese Canadian community chose 2003 as the year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their officially sponsored immigration to Canada.

He added that Canada Post was proud to be issuing a stamp honouring Portuguese Canadians during the month of June, when cultural celebrations honouring the life of 16th-century poet Luís de Camões, considered Portugal's greatest poet, were taking place in many communities across the country.

They participate in the International Conference of the Festivals of the Holy Spirit, which united Azorean communities around the world yearly.