The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, ended this Sunday in Toronto and beyond with a five-day official visit to Canada dedicated to the Portuguese emigrant community in this country.

At the end of the day, the Head of State will leave for New York to take part in the general debate of the 78th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, until Friday.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa began his visit to Canada on Wednesday, where according to the 2021 census, there are about 450,000 people of Portuguese origin.

This week, your program includes a tour of Toronto's most Portuguese neighborhood, known as “Little Portugal,” past a mural by Portuguese artist Vhils honoring the struggle of Portuguese trade unionists in Canada and a Portuguese pastry shop.

In the afternoon, this was followed by a visit to the Portuguese-Canadian Charities, an institution that supports people with disabilities, in Mississauga, a city near Toronto, which was the final point of this official visit.

In these five days, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa divided the program into the two largest cities in Canada, Toronto and Montreal.

Although he did not travel to the capital, Ottawa, the head of state met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a hotel in Toronto.

Justin Trudeau was also with the President of the Republic at an exhibition about the arrival of the first officially registered Portuguese emigrants to Canada, 70 years ago.

The so-called pioneers arrived in 1953, after the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1952.

In Canada, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was accompanied by representatives of the six parties that make up the parliamentary group, Minister of Foreign Affairs João Gomes Cravinho, on the first three days of the visit, and Minister of State for the Portuguese Community, Paulo Cafôfo, who joined the delegation in Toronto .

The deputies included in the President's delegation are João Azevedo e Castro, from the PS, Francisco Pimentel, from the PSD, Diogo Pacheco de Amorim, from Chega, Rodrigo Saraiva, parliamentary leader of the Liberal Initiative, Bruno Dias, from the PCP, and José Soeiro, from Left Block.