Remarks by the Consul-General of Brazil in Toronto, Ambassador Enio Cordeiro, at the National Flag Raising Ceremony

(Sept 5^th, 2025).

Thank you for being with us in this celebration.

We are grateful for the presence of the Honorable Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly MPP Effie Triantafilopoulos, the Honorable MPP Lee Fairclough, representing the Ontario Liberal Party, and my dear good friend and Minister, the Honorable MPP Michael Tibollo, representing the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario.

I wish also to recognize the presence of my colleagues of the Consular Corps in Toronto, the representatives of the Ontario Protocol, members of the Brazilian community and all Canadian friends that came to share this moment with us.

September 7^th 1822 was the day we started our path as an independent nation and it marks the beginning of a long history of friendship with all members of the international community.

Brazil is an active member of all major international organizations, a member of the Mercosur, a common market association with Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay, a member of CELAC, a political and cooperative association of all Caribbean and Latin American States, a member of the Organization of American  States, a member of the G-20, a group that endeavors to promote dialogue and cooperation bringing together the Leaders of the major developed and developing countries, and also a member of the BRICS, originally a group of five emerging economies representing 40% of the global population and GDP which has recently enlarged to encompass a political dialogue expressing the views of the Global South in international affairs.

Together with Portugal, Angola and 7 other countries in Africa and Asia, Brazil is also a proud member of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries, an association in which we promote cooperation and share the richness of our common history, our culture and our beautiful language.

In all these converging vicinities, Brazil is a consistent voice for cooperation and the peaceful resolution of conflicts. Brazil was elected 11 times to serve as a non-permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations. Our last term in the Council took place in 2022-2023. Brazil chaired the meetings of the G-20 last year and the meetings of the BRICS in 2025. Also this year, Brazil will host the Conference of the Parties of the UN Convention on Climate Change in a critical moment for the international efforts to address these pressing challenges to our planet.

With Canada, our friendship bonds and trade relations started almost 190 years ago with the designation of Brazilian Vice-Consuls in the Canadian ports of Halifax (in 1836) and Saint John (in 1858). Our two countries fought together in WWII and established diplomatic relations in 1941. Our relations are guided today by a Strategic Partnership.

President Lula was recently invited for the G-7 summit in Kananaskis. In a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney both parties decided to resume this year the negotiations for a free trade agreement between Canada and Mercosur, which had been dormant for the past few years.

Our bilateral trade with Canada nears 10 billion U.S. dollars a year and our bilateral private investments have already exceeded an aggregated value of 20 billion dollars in each direction. We just received a few days ago a visit by the Canadian Minister of International Trade, MP Maninder Sidhu, who went to Brasília and São Paulo to discuss the prospect for new trade and investment partnerships.

 Moreover, trade delegations from Brazil will come to Toronto next week to participate in activities organized by the Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce with a view to reinforce our economic ties.

Brazil and Canada share core values in the defence of democracy and human rights. We are two large and genuine multiethnic and multicultural societies.

Brazilians are proud to be one people and one nation of so many colors and origins, a true melting pot of human integration. Any Brazilian citizen may trace his  origins at the same time to many roots in native Brazilian indigenous groups and European, African or Asian ancestors.

We continue to be blessed with the arrival of new immigrants that find the opportunity to rebuild their lives in Brazil.

More than half of a Brazilian population of 210 million inhabitants identify themselves as African descendants, and this makes us the country with the largest population of African descent in the world.

In the last decades, a new demographic movement formed a diaspora of 5 million Brazilians living abroad.

In this trend, every year more Brazilians are calling Canada home.

We estimate that nearly 150 thousand Brazilians live today in Canada, out of which around 80 thousand Brazilians settled in the vicinities of Toronto. This community is largely formed by small entrepreneurs and their families, by students and employees in the private sector. More than 12.000 Brazilian students are currently enrolled in educational programs in Canada. Many Brazilians have also become Canadian citizens, and they are embraced by the Canadian people with openness and generosity.

Brazilians are in this way adding their contribution to the multicultural landscape of Toronto with musical performances, street festivals, cinema and gastronomy, thus contributing to a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Brazilian culture.

Allow me now to address a few words in Portuguese to my fellow compatriots.

“Tenho imenso prazer em dirigir-me à comunidade brasileira nesta data tão especial para todos nós. Em meu segundo ano em Toronto, começo a conhecer de perto a comunidade e sua dinâmica. São brasileiros unidos, solidários e criativos. A cada dia descubro novos empreendedores, novos artistas, novos pesquisadores, todos perfeitamente integrados à comunidade local e exemplos acabados da criatividade e da capacidade de adaptação e superação que caracterizam o nosso povo. A diáspora brasileira representa um patrimônio cultural inestimável.

O Consulado quer ser um ponto de referência para todos os brasileiros aqui residentes. Seguiremos trabalhando com dedicação para que os cidadãos nacionais se sintam bem representados e atendidos pelo Consulado-Geral.

Quero fazer um especial agradecimento aos funcionários do Consulado-Geral e também a todos os brasileiros que têm trabalhado pela divulgação de nossa cultura em Toronto, assim como a contribuição e o apoio recebido do Conselho de Cidadãos Brasileiros, da Câmara de Comércio Brasil-Canadá, da Federação de Empresários Brasileiros e Canadenses e do Consulado Honorário do Brasil em Winnipeg.

A Data Nacional é ocasião para refletirmos sobre nossas raízes comuns e nossa identidade. É também um momento que nos convida à reflexão sobre o que ardorosamente desejamos para o nosso País.

Queremos um Brasil unido em torno dos ideais democráticos, do respeito às instituições, da supremacia da Constituição e da afirmação serena e madura de nossa soberania no contexto internacional. Um País em que o respeito à dignidade humana e a superação das profundas desigualdades sociais sejam sempre o objetivo central e norteador de todas as instâncias e decisões políticas.

Nos próximos meses, convido a todos os brasileiros da jurisdição a juntarem-se aos esforços do Consulado-Geral na condução das eleiçoes no exterior.

Temos todos o dever cívico de participar das eleições e o direito de escolher nossos governantes em clima de pluralismo político e de respeito às convicções de todos os cidadãos. Confiamos na solidez de nossas instituições democráticas e na soberania de suas decisões. O resultado legítimo das urnas deve ser respeitado por todos com civilidade, sem lugar a inconformismos, sem tentativas inaceitáveis de ruptura do estado de direito e sem violências sob pretexto algum.  

Que tenhamos todos uma Feliz Data Nacional!

Thank you.