Photo of Domingos Marques working at O Jornal Português
Black and white photo of Domingos Marques working at a small desk in the office of the community newspaper O Jornal Português.
Date: c.1969
Location:
O Jornal Português office, Dundas St. West and Palmerston Avenue, Toronto
Domingos Marques was born in 1949, in Murtosa, district of Aveiro. His father was a cod fishermen in the White Fleet who became an immigrant in 1957. Domingos’ mother and his siblings joined his father later, while he stayed in Portugal to continue his priesthood studies in the seminary, where he had been enrolled since the age of 10. In 1968, at age 19, he visited his family in Toronto and decided to take a sabbatical before advancing towards the final stage of his priesthood studies. During this period, Domingos volunteered with St. Mary’s Catholic Church, where Fr. Alberto Cunha put him to work organizing the parish’s youth group and working on his newspaper O Jornal Português. Eventually, Domingos decided to discontinue his studies for priesthood and stay in Canada. Throughout his life, he would become a progressive community organizer, social worker, journalist, newspaper owner, popular historian, teacher, and school board trustee dedicated to improving the lives of his fellow working class Portuguese immigrants