HEADLINES
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY July 1 - 15, 2018
BC Premier Horgan meets Filipino community
BC Premier NDP John Horgan,
together with MLA Mabel Elmore and
MLA Adrian Dix met at a round table
discussion with the Filipino community
at Max’s Restaurant in Burnaby. The
round table discussions for the BC NDP
government to hear the community’s
concerns in its various sectors.
Christopher Sorio, who spoke
for the Filipino Workers Network of
BC said it was important that the BC
government to hear the concerns of
the community.
“We have some issues that can be
resolved if the BC government learns
about them and collaborates with
us,” Sorio said. The Filipino Workers
Network of BC is an organization of
Filipino-Canadian workers, unionized
or non-unionized, and their goal is to
provide the workers in the community
a forum to pursue social and economic
justice for themselves and their
community.
“We have a lot of workers who
do not belong to unions, and are not
aware of their rights as workers, and
we have to let the government know
that the number of Filipino workers in
the workforce are vital to the economy
of BC,” Sorio adds. Sorio established
the network in Toronto before moving
to BC to start one here.
Other
speakers
from
the
community included members of
Migrante, professionals and community
volunteers and other stakeholders who
had different concerns that they raised
with Horgan.
Nora Angeles, UBC professor,
said that one of the concerns she has
is that while other communities have
their own cultural center, the Filipino
community has none.
“We are the third fastest growing
population of immigrants in BC, yet,
smaller communities have their own
and we don’t. There is something
missing here,” Angeles said. She said
she would like her children to know and
be proud of our culture, and a centre
that would show the Filipino heritage
would be key to this awareness.
Horgan assured the community
leaders that the government is doing
its best to look into the needs of the
community.
“MLA Elmore, who is the first
MLA elected with a Filipino her