From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Goans/N.k. Wagle
Despite their self-identification as Goans, their Christian faith, their Portuguese names, and their European lifestyle, Canadian society generally perceives Goans as South Asians in terms of ethnicity and race. Like other South Asian immigrants, Goans, therefore, have had to bear discrimination from Canadian society.
A first-generation Goan immigrant with a knowledge of Portuguese finds it easier to communicate with Portuguese Canadians. The Canadian-born second generation often do not interact with the Portuguese because of ignorance of the language and lack of memory of a shared history. Racial difference also is a hindrance to Portuguese-Goan social interactions. On the other hand, Goans assimilate easily to the Canadian–South Asian milieu. The closeness or distance in relationship with South Asians varies, depending on regional and class affiliation. In this regard, Goan Christians will have more dealings with Hindus from Goa, with whom they share common cultural traits, than with Christians from other parts of India.
Representatives of the two major Goan associations in Canada, the CCA and the GOA as well as the Quebec Goan Association, the Hamilton Goan Association, the Goan Association of Winnipeg, the Calgary Goan Association, the Edmonton Goan Association, and the Vancouver Goan Association, came together for the Goan International Convention, held in Toronto in 1988. The convention was also attended by representatives from Goa, Africa, Australia, Great Britain, Malaysia, the Middle East, and the United States. From this convention emerged a new federation of Goan Christians called the International Goan Organization (IGO). Its aim is to coordinate the cultural, economic, and educational activities of Goan Christians all over the world, and to maintain close links between Goa and the Goan diaspora.
As a direct result of the IGO’s initiatives, young people from the Goan Christian community in Canada went to Goa to attend workshops and familiarize themselves with the cultural and industrial life of Goa, while individuals from Goa came to Canada to acquire training in Canadian business management. An international conference, “Goa: Continuity and Change,” was held by the IGO in association with the Centre for South Asian Studies of the University of Toronto in 1991. The activities of the International Goan Organization support the desire of Goans in Canada to become part of a larger network of overseas Goans in order to encourage group solidarity and make it possible for its members to retain their ethnic identity.
The motto of the Goan Overseas Association – “work, courage, unity” – also expresses the essential ethos of the closely knit Goan community in Canada. Perhaps more than any of the other South Asian communities in Canada, Goans have the benefit of Western cultural linkages, accumulated over four centuries, to aid them in adapting to the Canadian environment. Their love of Western dance and music, their skill in sports, and their Christian faith are socializing factors that have also helped Goans to integrate with mainstream Canadian society. Yet their desire to retain their Indo-Portuguese history and culture, and to keep in contact with Goa as their cultural centre, unites them to the larger South Asian community in Canada.
