February 15, 2026 – On Valentine’s Day, Torontonians showed their love and compassion for the thousands of Iranians who have been jailed or killed for demonstrating against Iran's repressive Islamic theocracy and calling for the return of exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi as the leader of democratic transition after anti-government protests started erupting in Iran at the end of last year.
The massive Saturday rally in freezing Toronto was estimated at 350,000 with protesters braving the winter cold and wind while waving their green, white and red flags and placards to convey that they stand behind those protesters back in Iran and to make non-Iranians around the globe aware of what is going on there and to get them involved in supporting the revolution. This was just one of the many worldwide rallies held for Iran on Valentine’s Day. Demonstrators called for political change in Iran as widespread protests inside the country had been met with violent crackdowns.
Filipinos suffered similar intimidation, repression, imprisonment, torture, and violation of human rights during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos in the 1980s and the most recent murderous regime of Rodrigo Duterte, now on trial at the ICC in the Haig, for the crime against humanity of murder allegedly committed in the Philippines between November 1, 2011 and March 16, 2019 in connection with his so-called “war on drugs campaign.”
In brotherhood thru pain and suffering, Filipinos must join Iranians in their fight for freedom because only when we join forces and support each other against evil can we conquer fear and free ourselves of these oppressors.
Editor of Canadian Filipino Net
Eleanor R. Laquian has written four bestselling books and co-authored four others with her husband, Prod Laquian. Over ten years, she served in various capacities at the University of British Columbia’s Institute of Asian Research: as manager of administration and programs, editor and chair of the publications committee, and primary researcher of its Asian Immigration to Canada project.
She did her BA degree in journalism at Maryknoll College in the Philippines, a master’s degree in public administration at the University of the Philippines, and postgraduate studies at the School of Public Communications at Boston University in the US.
Before immigrating to Canada, she worked with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization, and the UN Information Center. She was a researcher and bureau manager of The New York Times in Beijing, China from 1984 to 1990. She was the first and only Filipino to conduct a nationwide survey of Filipinos in Canada, in 1972, for her master’s thesis at UP. It was published as A Study of Filipino Immigrants in Canada, 1952–1972.
She updated the survey in 2005 for a book, co-authored with her husband Prod: Seeking a Better Life Abroad: A Study of Filipinos in Canada, 1957–2007,published by Anvil Publishing in Manila. She and Prod have visited over a hundred countries for work and pleasure. They immigrated to Canada in 1969.
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