Paper short abstract:

How do Portuguese-Canadians experience re-integration upon returning to Toronto including use of bilingualism, coping strategies, and networking? How do over 150 Portuguese organizations in Toronto represent 'Portuguese', what services do they provide, and what types of funding are they allocated?

Paper long abstract:

My research 'Experiences of Portuguese-Canadian Transnationals' re-integration in The Greater Toronto Area' aims to understand how Portuguese-Canadians use their bilingualism to connect to a sense of belonging and identity, and maintain and retain social ties in both Canada and Portugal. My study has two specific objectives: (i) to understand the ways in which Portuguese-Canadians experience re-integration upon returning to the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) including their bilingualism/language use, identities/sense of belonging and connections to place and to compare their experiences to Portuguese-Canadians living in central Portugal, and (ii) to investigate over 150 Portuguese organizations/community centres and associations in the GTA to discern the types of services provided, languages used, resource allocation, and ultimately, assess the ways in which these Portuguese organizations represent 'Portuguese' within a Canadian discourse. My research questions are: (1) How do Portuguese-Canadians experience re-integration and how does this impact their bilingualism, identity, and connection to place? (2) What is defined as 'Portuguese identity' within a Portuguese-Canadian discourse and what power relations are embedded in these discourses? My aim is to ultimately assess and provide recommendations for services in order to allocate meaningful support for Portuguese-Canadian returnees to Canada, as well as the larger Portuguese-Canadian community in the GTA.