Category Archives: Canada

Canada is not a hotel

April 7 1:41 pm ,

Minister Jason Kenney

Minister Jason Kenney

In Canada, several changes are happening on the immigration front. Many immigrants, old and new, are very interested, even apprehensive. But politicos reacted fast to allay the fears of the public. The article below, which was an interview of Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney, was published in the Philippine Canadian Inquirer.

Richmond, B.C.—Mr. Jason Kenney, Minister of Employment and Development and Minister of Multiculturalism, came to Richmond  to discuss the budget unveiled by Minister Jim Flaherty as Economic Action Plan 2014 but was—understandably—bombarded by questions on the spate of changes on the immigration front.

Indeed, media representatives of three of the largest and fastest growing immigrant population in Canada—the Chinese, South Asians and Filipinos—met with the minister at a roundtable to seek answers to questions that are making their groups very concerned: Bill C-24, the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act and what it would spell for their groups in the near future. 

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Posted in: Canada, Immigration , Tagged: ,

Save the Yolanda Typhoon victims from human traffickers

November 21 1:35 pm ,

Rise up, Philippines!

Rise up, Philippines!

She has seen it happen, she said.

When a disaster strikes, young girls who come from good families—sheltered, vulnerable—would become orphans. Depraved men—and women—from the underworld, otherwise known as human traffickers, would circle them like vultures. In their fragile state, with no one to look after them, no one who knew who they were or where they came from, they would fall prey to that life.

The Philippines has just experienced a disaster and no one knows who is looking after the orphaned children.

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Posted in: Canada, Rescue72 Disaster Preparedness

It’s official, I am a record holder

October 12 1:36 am ,
Swim fishie fishie

Swim fishie fishie

Yes, it is official. I am a Guinness World Record holder. Who would have thought? It was unplanned, unintentional and totally amazing. Here’s the press release. Ehem.

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Posted in: Canada

Guiness World Record Holder

September 12 1:33 pm ,

Row, row, row your boat

Row, row, row your boat

Well, not yet. It is not yet official.

But I don’t think I could listen to Row, row, row your boat anymore.

Yes, I joined the recent attempt to break the current record of 154 participants for a nursery rhyme relay. There were 180 of us for the Nursery Rhyme Relay singing of Row, Row, Row Your Boat during the 10th Richmond Maritime Festival held in Richmond, British Columbia.

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Posted in: Canada , Tagged: , ,

Vancouver’s Grouse Grind

September 9 11:30 am ,

The view

Ancient sentinels by Danvic Briones

The Grouse Grind® is a 2.9-kilometre trail up the face of Grouse Mountain, called Mother Nature’ s Stairmaster. It is located in Western Canada.

I signed up to conquer The Grind.

But it conquered me.

When Sun Tzu said “subdue the enemy without fighting”, I didn’t know he was talking about mountains.

And there, on top of craggy stairways, winding their way to a seemingly unreachable top, on a tough terrain that has been peppered with foggy breaths and hardened determination, I found out – I am not superwoman.

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Posted in: Canada, Life Stories , Tagged:

A whisper said: go

August 2 6:57 am ,

The many shades of blue

The many shades of blue

Pleasantville. The movie.

Where Reese Witherspoon—everyone (some in a burst of fire, others fireworks)—had an awakening that put the colors in the small town inside the TV set. That comes to my mind when I go through new roads. It is as if the pasty-grey scene is unfurling before me, in a slow unravelling of life and color and beauty.

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Thoughts while on a bike

May 27 1:53 pm ,
Love, on wheels

Love, on wheels

I was 12 and my dad just bought me one. It was not a BMX, the “in” bike at that time, but impressing others really did not matter in those days. The world was younger, life was simpler, and material pursuits were not a concern.

My cousins and I – we would roam our fiefdom in Imus, Cavite, nodding our heads to people we knew (like little ladies and lords). We stop at a sari-sari store to get our softdrinks in plastic bags. It had a straw peeking at the opening and was met by grateful, thirsty, puckering lips. Or we would buy our favorite bread boling (never figured out how it is spelled but they were ball-like small hard bread smothered with margarine and the name maybe is the colloquial equivalent of bowling and depicted, maybe, little bowling balls). It tastes of heaven.

We had the wind in our hair, steered free of jeepneys and trikes, we had speed, the sun, carefree laughter. We had no destination and no concept of time and we did not care. We went over bridges and humps, through cemeteries, rough roads. We stopped to repair our bikes some of the time, or walk a flat tire.

It was fun.

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Are Filipino families going to be reunited in their lifetimes?

May 22 2:46 pm ,
raincouver

4 seasons in 1 day

Immigration is a topic close to my heart. After all, I myself am an immigrant. Below is an article I wrote for PCI after I interviewed Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. To those parents or grandparents of Filipino-Canadians  who are waiting to immigrate to Canada, or to anyone interested in starting their lives in Canada, read on.

Canada, going the way of America—at least in immigration—is the fear of most Filipino-Canadians. In America, family reunification is a farce, or at least the 25 years or so of waiting makes the lives of separated families seem like one. Those who leave have to reckon with their guilt; those who are left behind are despondent and desolate. The tarmac bears witness to their goodbyes.

The long immigration lines have started to appear in Canada as the waiting period for family reunification stretched to almost a decade. It would soon be overwhelmed with the growing numbers if nothing was done, so Citizenship and Immigration Canada decided to freeze the lines in 2011. Very recently, however, they announced that the bars are to be lifted as solutions to the backlog have been found.

But at what cost?

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Posted in: Immigration , Tagged: , , , , , ,