Magellen Community Charities, a non-profit organization in honour of the Portuguese navigator, intends to open the centre for 320 senior citizens in 2022, for the 500th anniversary of Fernão de Magellan.

"It's a 20-year-old dream where many community members were already thinking of a senior centre, but there were no licenses available. When I was in government I worked on that," said Charles Sousa, director of the institution. Ontario's former finance minister also explained that the project is part of the provincial budget.

Charles Sousa also stressed that the building will function as a true "Casa de Portugal", showing that the Portuguese community "is involved and is contributing to the city of Toronto and the province of Ontario".

The Canadian $85 million (€58 million) project will be funded through grants and loans from financial institutions, and government support (federal, provincial and municipal).

The municipal land was ceded for a period of 99 years at the symbolic cost of one dollar per year, being exempt from property tax, being a "new partnership of the municipality".

"We have several partnerships in terms of affordable housing, but with a home for the elderly, is the first. It is a project of importance for the city and the local community, and very significant for the Luso-Canadian community that has no infrastructure in this sense and that for many years has felt the need for a home for the elderly," said the Vice-Mayor of Toronto Ana Bailão.