Philippine Asian News Today Vol 18 No 20 | Page 14

A14

PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY October 16 - 31, 2016

Immigration
Corner
By Giovanni G. Mata

The Family Class
program allows permanent
residents or Canadian citizens
to sponsor their parent or
grandparent
to
become
a permanent resident in
Canada.
The
Immigration,
Refugees and Citizenship
Canada is not accepting
applications at this time but it
will re-open the program on
January 3, 2017 with a cap
of 10,000 new and complete
applications.
You are eligible to
sponsor your parent or
grandparent if you are a
citizen or permanent resident
of Canada, at least 18 years
of age, and you have met the
minimum necessary income
requirement. To meet the
income requirement, your
income for each of the three
years preceding the date

PARENT and GRANDPARENT SPONSORSHIP:
Program re-opens on January 3, 2017

of your application
should be equal to the
Low Income Cut-offs (LICO)
plus 30%, taking into account
the size of your family unit.
You may refer to the Federal
Income Table in the IRCC
website to see if you meet the
LICO requirement.
If you are applying
this January 2017, you need
to show your income for the
taxation years of 2013, 2014,
and 2015, and submit your
Notice of Assessment issued
by the Canada Revenue
Agency for all those years.
The income requirement
must be maintained from
the time you submit your
application until your parents
or grandparents become
permanent residents.
Aside
from
the
eligibility requirements, you
must also sign an undertaking

that you will provide financial
support and basic needs of
your parents or grandparents
such as food, clothing,
shelter, eye and dental care,
personal and household
necessities. Your obligation in
your undertaking commences
from the time they become
permanent residents and
continues until the end of
the term of the undertaking
which is 20 years. You will be
considered in default if you
fail to meet your obligation. If
your parents or grandparents
are receiving financial support
from the government while
the undertaking is in effect,
you will not be allowed to
sponsor other family member
until you have reimbursed
the amount of any social
assistance or welfare they
have received. As a sponsor,
you must therefore ensure

that you can provide for your
own needs and those of your
parent or grandparent.
Before you start the
application process, you must
first determine if you have met
the eligibility requirements. If
so, make sure that you will be
able to comply the obligations
in your undertaking. The
next step is to gather all the
supporting documents listed
in the checklist and complete
the application forms. Pay
the processing fees through
credit card or certified cheque
and include the receipt with
your application. Send your
application to Case Processing
Centre in Mississauga and
make sure that it will be
received on or after January
3, 2017. You must act quickly
and prepare your application
now, as intake quota fill in a

matter of days.
Giovanni
is
an
articled student at Equity Law
Group. Articling is the last
phase of becoming a lawyer
in Canada. Law Society of
British Columbia Rule 2-60
permits an articled student
to provide all legal services
that a lawyer can offer, with
some exceptions. He is
also a licensed immigration
consultant
with
ICCRC,
a Philippine Trial lawyer,
Certified International Trade
Professional in Canada, and
an Arbitrator. If you need
help with your sponsorship
application or have questions
about the process, you can
reach Giovanni at giovanni@
equitylawgroup.ca
Disclaimer:
This
article is for information
purposes only and not to
provide specific legal advice.

FILCO-OP CELEBRATES ITS
7TH YEAR !
One Filipino Cooperative of British Columbia
(OneFilCo-op) was founded
in response to the recession
that posed a challenge to
middle
class
Canadians
starting in 2008.
A core group Filipino
immigrants in Vancouver and
the Lower Mainland talked
among themselves and asked
the question: How can we
gather the Filipino community
to talk about the recession
and its impact on our lives?
This initial discussion
led to more than a dozen
community
consultation
meetings in Vancouver which
was attended by Filipino
immigrants from around the
Lower Mainland. The meetings
attracted between 20 and 40
participants. The participatory
meetings were marked by
vigorous discussions and
debate as to how best answer
the above question. Various
response options were put
forward: start a “paluwagan”
(a Filipino traditional informal
savings club), establish a
foundation or other social
organization to raise funds,
like grant applications, and
set up a business corporation.
In one of the meetings, the
idea of forming a cooperative
was raised. By consensus,
the community consultation
decided to focus future
discussions on how to set up
a Filipino co-operative.
As it turned out, the

subsequent meetings started
to attract the participation
of Filipino immigrants who
have been co-operators back
in the Philippines: co-op
officers or members, co-op
community organizers, co-op
trainers and educators, coop advocates and activists,
and government and NGO
co-op administrators. In
addition, the emerging cooperative started to attract
to the subsequent meetings
of
Filipino
immigrants
who
were
community
development practitioners,
social workers and planners,
corporate executives and
leaders, government officials,
university faculty, journalists,
entrepreneurs, youth and
student activists, housewives,
international
development
consultants,
and
other
professionals.
With this tremendous
response, the organizing
group facilitated another
series of action planning
workshops
that,
am ong
others, featured the formation
of study groups to explore
various aspects of the cooperation formation process.
Thus, study committees were
set up to look into: BC cooperative registration laws
and process; co-op name,
the co-op business plan,
its organizational structure,
information and education
campaigns,
membership
promotion and recruitment

and political strategy.
This massive, intense,
and energetic drive of the coop organizers, after some
missteps and re-alignment
of plans and strategies,
One Filipino Co-operative
of BC was finally launched
on October 30, 2009, at
the John Oliver Secondary
School. With registration
papers filed (including an
Article of Cooperation signed
by over 100 signatories), the
interim Board of Directors,
co-op members, journalists,
representatives
of
the
Philippine Consulate-General
in Vancouver and other
supporters formally presented
to the Filipino community the
formation of the first Filipino
co-operative
in
British
Columbia.
Now, seven years
later (and just prior to its
7th anniversary celebration),
OneFilCo-op of BC officers
and members can look
back at its story which was
nurtured and woven through
the years, through thick and
thin, by many of the original
participants in the community
consultations, officers and
members
who
continue
to serve voluntarily after 7
years, and with a 200 regular
membership base and about
$200,000 loan funds.
Perhaps, the most
appropriate way to picture
OneFilCo-op at this stage
of its history is to list the

major features of its current
operations and its myriad of
activities.
M e m b e r s h i p
Promotion,
Recruitment,
Education and Participation.
•
Countless
Premembership
Education
Seminars
conducted
in
Vancouver,
Richmond,
Burnaby, Coquitlam, Surrey,
North Vancouver and other
cities. The group PMES is
supplemented by an online
version as well as one-on-one
sessions.
•
A core of OneFilCoop educators, by its Education
Committee, composed of
officers, committee members
and members with talent
in developing, delivering
and evaluating membership
education activities.
•
A regular column in
the Philippine News Today,
entitled “Coop Talk” as well
as occasional features and
news bits in other Filipino
community and mainstream
newspapers.
•
Networking and active
connection with groups of
Filipino immigrants (seniors,
social
service
workers,
caregivers,
professionals,
church
and
community
events)
•
Area
Coordination
Teams (ACT) in several
Lower Mainland cities whose
main task is to reach out to,
groundwork and eventually
recruit new members at the

WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM

community level.
Leadership, Governance and
Sustainability Initiatives.
•
An
active
and
volunteer Board of Directors
and Committee Officers who
conduct regular and special
meetings
every
month.
This Board is composed
of many who were in the
co-op formation stage and
enhanced by new members
whose leadership and skills
emerged in the course of their
participation in OneFilCoop’s affairs and activities.
•
A Board meeting with
due notice and agenda issued
prior,
prepared
financial
reports and written minutes.
•
Annual
General
Meetings that have been held
since its first one in 2009.
•
A
Five-Year
Development Plan (20142019) that was developed and
presented to the members,
and which has been enhanced
through an annual beginningof-the year as well as mid-year
review and planning exercise.
Services and Programs to the
Members.
•
Capital Build-up and
Savings Promotion through
continuing
membership
recruitment and expansion,
occasional capital call from
eligible officers and members,
raffles and other promotions
•
Micro lending (regular,
emergency, fly-now-pay-later,
car, bayad sa credit card,
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