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This paper examines the ways descendants of Portuguese immigrants in Canada, raised under the shroud of their Portugal ancestry, contemplate, formulate and negotiate their identities via the two primary sporting pastimes of the two countries: soccer, in the case of Portugal; ice hockey, in the case of Canada. The findings presented in this article are based on empirical data collected through semis-structured interviews and casual conversations with Portuguese-Canadian descendants during a fieldwork period that took place from October 2nd to November 5th of 2009 in the Canadian cities of Toronto, Ottawa-Gatineau and Montreal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both the theoretical corpus of intercultural clinical psychology (ethnopsychiatry) and its clinical practice have identified certain analogies between torture and terrorism, particularly in the action dynamic and in certain effects such as traumatism. And yet, at the Sapsir (Service d'Aide Psychologique Spécialisée aux Immigrants et Réfugiés at Université Laval, Canada) refugees and torture victims often do not show the expected symptoms of exposure to extreme situations. The case study related in this paper, show that important variables appear to be a strong attachment to a cultural identity and an active sense of belonging to the reference group. These cultural elements favour the psychological protection of the individual and maintain an internal sense of security by placing the individual in a rich, meaningful cultural universe, and giving him the status of an active subject rather than a passive victim. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]