Filipino Community & Lifestyle News
With files from Edwin C. Mercurio There’s nothing more frustrating than arriving in Canada as an international student or as a Filipino newcomer and not being able to afford to buy a home, rent an apartment or even find a place to stay. “In recent years, many Toronto homes have become more and more expensive,” […]
An unexplained manananggal sighting as an eight-year-old triggered Motzie Dapul‘s interest in horror stories and the occult. A manananggal is a winged, fanged creature with a severed lower body—a very common mythical creature in Filipino stories. “Nung eight-years-old ako, me manananggal sa labas ng bintana sa Batangas. Nakita ko ang anino, wala akong makita na […]
As Noreen Ocampo—a Philippine-born, Canadian-trained dental hygienist on a medical mission to the Philippines—peered into the mouth of a young boy from Smokey Mountain, her heart broke at what she saw. “Nabulok na ang permanent teeth (his permanent teeth were all rotted out),” Ocampo said. She said most of the kids from Smokey Mountain—one of […]
A newcomer to Canada deals with so many new things: speaking an unfamiliar language, getting accreditation for foreign credentials, culture shock and an overwhelming sense of displacement. For someone from the Philippines, for example, where people have become accustomed to a lack of free government programs, healthcare benefits and employment support, it could come as […]
With Filipino immigrants representing Canada’s third largest source of immigration, coupled with the country’s need for more workers—particularly in the construction industry— Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced pathways to break down barriers to permanent residency. “We need about 100,000 construction workers. They won’t all come from inside Canada,” Miller said, speaking at the Filipino-Canadian Professionals […]
When newcomers arrive in Canada looking for their first job, they are often asked the question, “have you had Canadian work experience?” Since they’ve just arrived, they haven’t worked in the country yet, so the challenge becomes how to entice an employer to take a chance on them and give them their first Canadian work […]
There’s a refreshing innocence on the set of Filipino coming-of-age play ‘The Waltz’, the sequel to Marie Beath Badian’s Prairie Nurse, shown at The Factory Theatre in Toronto from October 22 to November 13, 2022. Taking place in the 90’s, time doesn’t go supersonic: the pace is relaxed. This play is set at a time when cellphones […]