The politician chose Canada for the celebrations of June 10th, in what is his first official visit to the country, which began on June 11th, ending on Tuesday.

He added that the diaspora in Canada "represents the best that Portugal has", a situation that happens practically "all over the world", with "special significance in Canada".

In his speech, Santos Silva also showed those present a tie signed by Azorean writers, from Antero de Quental to Natália Correia and Nemésio, who "knew how to honour the name of Portugal, just as the Portuguese-Canadian diaspora does.

On Sunday afternoon, the President of the Assembly participated in the inauguration of a mural in honour of Aristides de Sousa Mendes near the Portugal Park in Montreal. He then visited the Santa Cruz Mission, meeting at the end of the day with the Portuguese community.

On Monday, he will be in Ottawa, where he will visit the federal parliament to meet with the president of the Canadian Senate and the speaker of the House of Commons to take part in the raising of the Portuguese flag at the federal parliament.

On Tuesday, he concludes his visit to Canada in Toronto, with a visit to St Helena primary schools on the agenda.

Data from the 2016 Canadian census shows that the number of Portuguese and their descendants in the metropolitan area of Montreal is expected to exceed 60,000, which represents about 15% of the Portuguese community in Canada.