Community

The Census of Canada has been conducted at ten-year intervals since 1851.  On the third census, the 1881 census was the first to include the western provinces and territories and the first to show the presence of people from the Philippines. This census did not indicate year of immigration, only residency which could mean just being present in an area when the census was taken. 

Nootka Sound in the 1700s was a rugged remote international port – a major source of sea otter pelts valued as fur in China and Japan.  Hence, Russian, American, and English ships called upon there with some frequency.

 If you look at history books and online sources as recent as 2019, all of them will say that the first Filipino immigrants in Canada arrived in the 1930s, mostly settling in Winnipeg, Manitoba. So I left it at that.

September 1, 2021 - Canadian Filipinos are four of the 75 finalists of the 13^th annual Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards. Also known as a People’s Choice Award, voting is an essential part of this popularity contest to be named as one of Canada’s top immigrants.

Canadian Filipino Net, the online-only publication of nonprofit Maple Bamboo Network Society, marked the end of its fifth fiscal year with record numbers.

The Tagalog word sayang (roughly translated into “what a waste”) carries with it a myriad of Filipino cultural attributes to which perhaps only citizens of poor countries can relate. Indeed, fried rice is our solution to using days-old cooked ice. Even kaninglamig (cold rice) connotes not just leftover rice but the thought of not throwing away a single grain of rice.

Community groups in North Vancouver have banded together in response to a spate of anti-Asian graffiti that sprouted in the city’s Lower Lonsdale. Filipino Canadian artist Esmie Gayo McLaren was commissioned to provide a poster image with the message “Inspiring Connection and Friendship.”

What started out as a magazine exploring the identity of the “hyphenated Canadian”, Living Hyphen now produces podcasts that uncover what it means to live in between cultures.

At least three Filipino Canadian businesses have been nominated for this year’s Small Business BC Awards (SBBC) in several categories. Cast your votes for these businesses on the SBBC website https://smallbusinessbc.ca/awards/. 

Pinoys on Parliament 2021 (PoP21) holds its third annual national youth leadership conference via a free online event from February 19 to 21. The theme for this year’s conference is Bayanihan, a spirit of communal unity and collaboration, with workshops and panel discussions on leadership in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and Filipino Canadian identity in arts, culture and politics.

Editor' Note: at the end of each year, CFNet reviews all the articles it has published and selects for its yearend review articles that were the most read, most liked or had the most impact.  This year those articles were mostly related to Covid-19 which has occupied the mind of almost everyone in the world.) 

Since launching in 2016, Canadian Filipino Net (CFNet) has gone from strength to strength.

Year 4 marks another milestone for the online publication of Maple Bamboo Network Society (MBNS), a Vancouver-based nonprofit dedicated to celebrating Canadian Filipinos.