Portuguese Canadians () are Canadian citizens of full or partial Portuguese heritage or people who migrated from Portugal and reside in Canada. According to the 2016 Census, there were 482,610 or 1.4% of Canadians claimed full or partial Portuguese ancestry, an increase compared to 410,850 in 2006 (1.3% of the nation's total population). Most Portuguese Canadians live in Ontario - 282,865 (69%), followed by Quebec 57,445 (14%) and British Columbia 34,660 (8%). History of Portuguese in Canada Portugal played a pioneering role in the explorations of the New World in the 15th and 16th centuries. In the 15th century, Prince Henry of Portugal, better known as Henry the Navigator, established a school of navigation in Sagres, in the Algarve region of Portugal. From this school emerged explorers who found their way to the Indies, South America, North America and Africa, including the portuguese João Fernandes Lavrador, who was the first explorer of Labrador, and Gaspar Corte-Real, who was also one of the earliest European explorers of Canada. Corte-Real explored the northeast coast of "Terra Nova", naming Conception Bay, Portugal Cove, and Labrador, named after Fernandes Lavrador. Also João Alvares Fagundes explored Newfoundland, as well as Nova Scotia, in 1520-21. In 1524 the cartographer Estêvão Gomes traveled along the coasts of northeastern North America. During his journey, he possibly reached the Cabot Strait and Cape Breton, in the present-day Nova Scotia. In 1705, the Portuguese Pedro da Silva became the first post courier in the French territory of North America, New France. He settled in the Canadian part of the territory. During the 1950s, a large number of immigrants from the Azores and Madeira, fleeing political conflict with the regime of António de Oliveira Salazar, moved into the downtown core of Canada's major cities such as the area of Portugal Village in Toronto, Ontario and further west along Dundas Street to Brockton Village. The stretch of Dundas Street passing through Brockton Village is also known as "Rua Açores". Many other Portuguese have immigrated to Montreal since the 1960s. From the 1970s, increasing numbers of Brazilians moved into the Portugal Village, Toronto. Recently, a number of Canadians of Goan heritage have opted to pursue Portuguese citizenship they are entitled to through their heritage as a result of Goa being an overseas province of Portugal until 1961, thus adding to the Portuguese Canadian population in Canada. Demographics The Toronto suburbs of Brampton and