A recent article published in the Asian Pacific Post reported that the Philippines have overtaken China as the leading source of immigrant workers to Canada. Whereas the number of Chinese who moved to Canada decreased by one third between 2005-07, the number of Filipino migrants have doubled within the past decade. The article cites that the reason for this is a direct result of the economic boom in China which have seen more people staying within the country for work, and thus, the service-sector jobs in Canada are being filled with Filipino workers. The executive director Flordeliz Dandal of the Kababayan Community Centre stated, ““Most Filipinos who come to Canada are really motivated to work and then send their salaries back home… They don’t care about politics, and they don’t yet have time to engage in Canadian political life unless they have been here a long time.”
I found this article interesting as it resonates with many stories of other Asian immigrant groups who came to Canada solely for the purpose of sending remittances home. It’ll be interesting to watch the Filipino community grow and establish stronger roots in Canada within the next decade and see what role they would play in the political arena.
For the rest of the article, you can find it here: “Filipinos are No. 1!”
Tags: Filipino Canadians
