Winnipeg community members and elected officials came together for a flag raising ceremony Saturday morning to kick off Filipino Heritage Month, observed in June across Canada.
Wearing Filipino traditional clothing such as dresses with butterfly sleeves, members of the Filipino Canadian community gathered for the ceremony at the Philippine Canadian Centre of Manitoba.
Madelin Pana, a Filipino Canadian was born and raised in Canada, says heritage month celebrations helped her to discover and connect with her culture.
“I find that it really brings my community together,” said Pana, wearing a bolero made by her grandmother. “It really brings me so much pride in the sense of culture.”
According to Statistics Canada, between 1996 and 2021, the Filipino population in Canada quadrupled. Winnipeg has the highest concentration of Filipino population with one in 10 residents being of Filipino descent based on the 2021 census data.
“The community has definitely grown ever since I was a child,” Pana said. “I would say there were only a couple of Filipino children in my elementary school.”
Community members say, for newcomers heritage events create a sense of home in the foreign land and make them feel welcomed.
“It gives us an opportunity to value our Filipino heritage even if we are in the foreign land,” said Garry Sanchez.
Kevin Lamoureux, chair, the Canada-Philippines Inter-parliamentary friendship group said,“(The heritage month) is one of the ways in which we really can love and appreciate the many contributions our Filipino heritage community contributes on a daily basis.”
Shell Baladad, co-president of the Philippine Heritage Council of Manitoba, says the community sees a steadily increasing turn out for the heritage events with more youth in attendance.
“Our future plan is to pass this on to our future generations,” Baladad said. “We would love to have more involvement in our youth community.”
The community also reaches out to other ethnic groups. this year Filipino community made connections with local Jewish and Indigenous groups
“We are hoping every year to involve other cultural groups, because it’s our way of connecting with them,” says Perla Javate, co-president, Philippine Heritage Council of Manitoba.
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