Filipino Heritage in Manitoba

 Tuesday March 15, I spoke about the contribution to people who have come from the Philippines to Manitoba, in my remarks on the Filipino Heritage Month Act.

 

Bill 205–The Filipino Heritage Month Act

Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Madam Speaker, it is im­por­tant and sig­ni­fi­cant that we have a Filipino heritage month in June. It is entirely in–ap­pro­priate because that is the month where traditionally there has been a lot of focus on Philippine heritage, including celebrations, Philippine ball and many other events.

      There are many, many people who have come from the Philippines to Manitoba and it's over many years, so that those who are of Philippine heritage are now one of the largest groups, national heritage groups, that we have in Manitoba.

      It's im­por­tant to recog­nize this and it's im­por­tant, as well, to recog­nize that people who are of Philippine heritage are now working in a wide range of jobs and positions in Manitoba–and they really are a cross-section of who we are as Manitobans. Now, many nurses, doctors, engineers, lawyers, even a Cabinet minister, this is–the heritage of the Philippines is now in­creasingly becoming part of the heritage of Manitoba. It is who we are, and it is im­por­tant to recog­nize that with this month designation.

      People with a Philippine heritage played an extra­ordin­arily im­por­tant role early on in the garment industry, and since then and currently in health care, but, clearly, it's not restricted to these areas. It includes many, many other areas of em­ploy­ment in our province.

      There are and should be more attention by gov­ern­ments than there has been in terms of helping people who come from the Philippines get the credentials that they need. I met not long ago with a group of Philippine heritage people, people who'd come from the Philippines and were here who were trained as doctors and were having great dif­fi­cul­ty in getting their training accepted and the updates that they needed in a reasonable period of time to be able to practice here.

      It's just but one example. There are blocks in many other areas of employment that need to be attended to, as well. But, clearly, we could and should be doing much better. This was a weakness, really, over the last 20 years that has still not been adequately addressed, and needs to be for people who come from the Philippines, but also for people who come to our province from other places, more recently, of course, Afghanistan and Ukraine.

      The Philippine heritage is a rich one. We have notable people like Jose Rizal, who was involved in the Philippine in­de­pen­dence movement, was an individual of many many talents and con­tri­bu­ted to the history and the success of the Philippines as a country.

      A number of years ago, I had the op­por­tun­ity to visit the Philippines and to talk with people not only about coming to Canada but to learn about what is happening today in the Philippines. It is a country which is growing rapidly and not just in popu­la­tion but in terms of economic potential, in terms of stature in the inter­national com­mu­nity.

      I think the current president may have set that back a little bit, but there are always movements forward, movements back. And, in general, the arc of history for the Philippines has been positive, and the Philippines will have, I'm sure, an in­cred­ible future and an in­creasingly im­por­tant role in the global world in the years ahead.

      There are many different groups from the Philippines, from different areas of the Philippines, and I have had the op­por­tun­ity on summer days to get together with groups from different parts of the Philippines at various parks around the province, enjoying good company and good food and sharing a good time.

      So I welcome the op­por­tun­ity to speak and support this bill for a Philippine heritage month, and I hope that we're able to pass it and make it a reality in time that this June can be the first Manitoba Philippine heritage month.

      Thank you.