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'Helped bring me back to my family's roots': Winnipeg's Portuguese centre builds bonds

Caso do Minho Portuguese Centre has been strengthening the Portuguese community in Winnipeg for over 50 years. A new video by students in Sisler High School's Create program celebrates the connections made there.

Casa do Minho Portuguese Centre has kept culture alive in Winnipeg for 51 years and counting

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How this centre's volunteers keep Portuguese culture alive in Winnipeg

January 25|
Duration 3:12
Volunteers at Winnipeg's Casa do Minho Portuguese Centre, a community hub for 51 years, pride themselves on keeping their language and culture strong in the city.

Casa do Minho Portuguese Centre is in Samuel Sousa's DNA.

His father was a founding member of the hub for Winnipeg's Portuguese community 51 years ago. Sousa has been coming to the Wall Street centre since age three.

He's now the president.

"I felt it was part of my legacy, and I want this place to be successful, to continue to be successful, and to continue on for many, many years," said Sousa.

A man with a dark beard and short dark hair is shown from the chest up, wearing a black polo shirt with an embroidered crest on the left side. He is looking slightly to the side with his mouth open as if speaking.
Samuel Sousa's dad was a founding member of the Casa do Minho Portuguese Centre. Today, Sousa is the association's president. (Sisler Create)

Success means bringing the city's Portuguese community together throughout the year to host events, parties and fundraisers — and above all, "maintaining the culture," said Sousa.

"It's the language. It's the food. It's the dancing. It's the music. It's everything."

Community member and centre regular Mario Lopes agreed.

"The centre has helped bring me back to my family's roots," said Lopes.

"It's helped me to practise speaking the language. And I would not say I'm 100 per cent fluent, but I'm probably about 90 per cent fluent in the language, and that's obviously a big part thanks to the centre."

An exterior view of the Casa do Minho Portuguese Centre Inc. building, showing a large mural depicting people in traditional Portuguese attire dancing. The entrance is labeled "MAIN HALL 1080 WALL ST." Snow is visible on the ground.
Caso do Minho Portuguese Centre has been a touchstone for the community in Winnipeg for 51 years. (Sisler Create)

Winnipeg's Casa do Minho Portuguese Centre, and the community that embraces it, are now the focus of a short documentary by film students in the Create program at Sisler High School in Winnipeg.

Create students Sebastian Dusa, Aidan Marr, Blake Paguio and Tareq Barhoumeh produced the short video.

Click the player above to watch it.

Meet the filmmakers 

Head and shoulders portrait of a young, Caucasian man with short, straight blond hair. He is wearing light blue and white striped button down shirt with an orange T-shirt underneath.
Sebastian Dusa has been making videos since early childhood. He began making iMovie projects in Grade 4 and then moved on to making YouTube videos and short-form content. He has a passion for writing and directing. In his free time he enjoys reading, playing video games, playing games with friends and watching movies. (Jurgen Haussler)
Head and shoulders portrait of a young, Caucasian man with short, wavy brown hair. He is wearing a short sleeved blue T-shirt and grinning.
Aidan Marr has had a passion for filmmaking since middle school. It began with iMovie mini movies and progressed to major productions at Vincent Massey Collegiate. Aside from film, he loves listening to music and hanging out with friends. (Jurgen Haussler)
Head and shoulders portrait of young man with short, curly purple hair. He is wearing a grey sport coat with a purple dress shirt and pink tie underneath.
Blake Paguio is a Filipino Canadian and a passionate emerging filmmaker, with a growing interest in sports videography and action shots. Blake’s lifelong passion for sports includes basketball, football, rugby, swimming, cross-country and karate. His energetic personality and love for both storytelling and movement continue to fuel his growth as a visual artist. (Jurgen Haussler)
Head and shoulders portrait of young man with short, curly brown hair. He is wearing a blue polo shirt with a Titanic logo on the chest.
Tareq Barhoumeh is a Palestinian Canadian. He was born in Kenora, Ont., but grew up overseas. He graduated from Vincent Massey Collegiate and has a love for visual storytelling, cinematography and editing. He is greatly inspired by his favourite movies and TV shows, and hopes to one day make movies as a cinematographer. Outside of school he likes to watch movies and shows, spend time with friends, travel, play violin and listen to music. (Jurgen Haussler)

More about Project POV: Sisler Create

CBC Manitoba's Project POV: Sisler Create is a storytelling collaboration that partners filmmaking students with CBC Manitoba journalists to produce short docs. You can see past projects here. 

The Winnipeg School Division's Create program is hosted at Sisler High School and trains post-high students in the creative digital arts.

During the fall of 2025, CBC journalists taught storytelling to filmmaking students and led producing workshops at Sisler.

Create focuses on education and career pathways into the creative industries. Students can take courses in animation, film, game design, visual effects, graphic design and interactive digital media.

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