Filipino Canadians

Filipino Canadians as per cent of population by province/territory
Total population
957,355[1] 2.58% of the Canadian population (2021)
Regions with significant populations
Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver
Ontario	363,650 (2.6%)
Alberta	216,710 (5.2%)
British Columbia	174,280 (3.5%)
Manitoba	94,315 (7.2%)
Quebec	44,885 (0.5%)
Saskatchewan	43,755 (4.0%)
Languages
English (Canadian, Philippine), Canadian French, Tagalog (Filipino), Visayan languages, Ilocano, Kapampangan, and other languages of the Philippines
Religion
Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Iglesia ni Cristo Minority: Islam and Irreligion
Related ethnic groups
Filipino Americans

Filipino Canadians (French: Canadiens philippins; Filipino: Mga Pilipinong Kanadyense) are Canadians of Filipino descent. Filipino Canadians are the second largest subgroup of the overseas Filipinos, surpassed only by the United States, the Philippines's former colonizer, and one of the fastest-growing groups in Canada.

Only a small population of Filipinos lived in Canada until the late 20th century. At the 2016 Canadian census, 851,410 people of Filipino descent lived in Canada, mostly in urban areas. The majority of Filipino Canadians being Tagalog. Filipino Canadians are the third-largest Asian Canadian group in the nation after the Indian and Chinese communities. They are also the largest group from Southeast Asia in the country. Between the 2011 and 2016 censuses, the Filipino community in Canada grew from 702,200 to 820,100, a growth of about 7%, compared to the rest of Canada, which grew by 5% during the same time period.

By the 2021 census, Filipino Canadians enumerated 957,355, or 2.58% of the total population, further displaying the community's rapid growth.^[2]

Early Filipinos in British Columbia

Vancouver

Manila

Manila and Vancouver on opposite sides of the Pacific

Filipino migration to North America began with Philippine-made ships crossing the Pacific Ocean during the Manila galleon trade. As early as 1565, Spain began sending vessels northeast from the Philippines, riding the Kuroshio Current in a sweeping circular route across the northern part of the Pacific. Filipino servants, stowaways, and mariners arrived in parts of the west coast of North America, from what is now Mexico to as far north as Alaska. By late 1700s, "Manila men"^[3] were recruited in naval operations, aboard the ship San Carlos el Filipino sent to support the short-lived Spanish settlement of Santa Cruz de Nuca and Fort San Miguel, Nootka Island, off the coast of Vancouver.^[4]

Canada's earliest documented Filipinos coincided with North America's first wave of Asian immigration in the 1800s. At least nine male Filipino sailors, aged twenty-four to forty-two, appeared on the 1881 census of British Columbia. Living on a vessel in New Westminster, they were recorded ethno-racially as "Malay" [a loose term to describe Austronesian people] and listed as "Mahomitan" [an archaic term for Muslim].^[5]

A small Filipino community resided in Bowen Island, British Columbia in the 1880s.^[6] They probably engaged in both fishing and farming. It included Fernando Toreenya, a fisherman who came to Canada from the Philippines in 1886 at the age of 20 years old with his First Nations partner Mary/Marie Adams. They lived in Snug Cove and had three other Filipino boarders living with them, William Matilda, Antoni Bentorre, and Ricardo Castro. Others included Ben Flores, who were "beachcombers and fishermen"^[7] and were settled on a barge in Snug Cove; Basinto Pasento, who called his home Pasento Ranch and died in February 1904, John Delmond, and Jose Garcia. Several others worked as loggers, millhand, mine labourers, and longshoremen intermarrying with Indigenous peoples and other Pacific Islanders. By the turn of the century, there was a significant number of Filipinos; they were either naturalized as Canadians or were U.S. nationals in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia.

History of Filipinos in Canada

Larger numbers of Filipinos migrated to Canada in the 1930s. In 1950, 10 Filipinos were recorded in Manitoba. The first-generation Filipino Canadians were mainly women who worked as nurses and teachers and in the health sector. These first Filipinos came from the United States to renew their visas after they had expired in the hope of returning to the U.S. Most of them returned, but some stayed in Canada.

From 1946 to 1964, the total number of Filipinos in Canada was 770. In the 1960s, Canada recruited more professionals, mostly from the United States, with some coming directly from the Philippines. Most of the nurses, technicians, office workers and doctors arrived in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In the late 1960s, more Filipinos came to Winnipeg to work in the garment industry.

During the 1970s, most Filipinos came directly from the Philippines to Winnipeg to work in clerical, sales and manufacturing fields. In the late 1970s, more Filipinos came to join their relatives who worked in Canada under the family reunification program. More and more Filipinos decided to settle in Ontario, particularly in Toronto, where jobs were prospering.

In the 1980s, Canada saw an influx of Filipino contract workers, many who found work as live-in caregivers. Many of the contract workers later became landed immigrants under the Live-In Caregiver Program.

During the 1990s, more Filipinos came as families and independents instead of being sponsored by family or being recruited as contract workers.

From 1990 onward, there has been a steady flow of Filipinos entering Canada, with about 10,000 to 20,000 coming in every year. In December 2008, the Philippines passed China as Canada's leading source of immigrants.^[8]

Wealth, education, politics, and socioeconomics

As of 2016, Filipino Canadians are a relatively recent immigrant group with the majority immigrating after the 2000s; most identify as first-generation or generation 1.5 immigrants.^[9] Out of the 780,130 Filipino Canadians, only 13,125 considered themselves third-generation.^[9] While racialized poverty tends to be higher for first-generation immigrants of any ethnic group, Filipino Canadians paradoxically show low poverty rates among all generations relative to other visible minorities.^[10]

In 2015, Filipino Canadians experienced a 7.4% poverty rate which was the lowest among all visible minorities. The non-racialized poverty rate was 12.2%. Filipino Canadian men and women were the least likely among all visible minorities to be unemployed at 5.8% and 4.7% respectively.^[11][12]

In Metro Vancouver, nine out of ten Filipino immigrants are employed within five years of arriving in the city, less than 10 per cent are classified as low income, and six in ten own their homes.^[13]

Filipino Canadians are more likely than the overall Canadian population to have at least a bachelor's degree or higher.^[14]

Filipino Canadians are more likely to work in the health care industry and the social assistance industry (20.6%) than some other visible minorities.^[15]

Despite representing a large immigration group, there have been only two Filpino-Canadians elected as federal members of parliament: Rey Pagtakhan (1988) and Rechie Valdez (2021).^[16]

Immigration

According to the 2021 Canadian census, Philippines is the third largest source country for immigration to Canada.^[17]

Demographics

Most Filipinos who immigrate to Canada settle in the large urban areas where there are more jobs and a vibrant community life. These areas include: Metro Vancouver, Greater Calgary, Edmonton Capital Region, City of Winnipeg, the Greater Toronto Area, and Greater Montreal. According to Statistics Canada seeing the current trend, by 2031, the Filipino Canadian population is projected to reach between 1.9 and 2.1 million. Much of this growth will be bolstered by high immigration rates, assuming immigration to the United States remains as restricted as it has been. Notably, Canada now has a Filipino population more than twice as large percentage-wise as that of the United States, the Philippines' former colonizer. The Filipino population in Canada is also somewhat more dispersed, as the majority of Filipino Americans are found in the far western United States.

By province/territory

Province	Filipino 2001	% 2001	Filipino 2011	% 2011	Filipino 2016	% 2016	Filipino 2021	% 2021
Ontario	156,515	1.4%	295,700	2.3%	311,670	2.4%	363,650	2.6%
British Columbia	64,005	1.7%	135,990	3.1%	145,030	3.2%	174,280	3.5%
Alberta	33,940	1.2%	113,205	3.2%	166,195	4.2%	216,710	5.2%
Manitoba	30,490	2.8%	61,270	5.2%	79,820	6.4%	94,315	7.2%
Quebec	18,550	0.2%	34,140	0.4%	34,910	0.4%	44,885	0.5%
Saskatchewan	3,030	0.3%	16,705	1.6%	32,340	3.0%	43,755	4.0%
Nova Scotia	655	0.1%	2,110	0.2%	3,400	0.4%	6,615	0.7%
Newfoundland and Labrador	265	0.1%	1,395	0.3%	1,385	0.3%	2,270	0.5%
New Brunswick	355	0.1%	1,155	0.2%	1,975	0.3%	5,190	0.7%
Northwest Territories	470	1.3%	975	2.4%	1,300	3.2%	1,665	4.1%
Yukon	235	0.8%	735	2.2%	1,190	3.4%	1,945	4.9%
Nunavut	35	0.1%	140	0.4%	230	0.6%	315	0.9%
Prince Edward Island	35	0.0%	95	0.1%	670	0.5%	1,760	1.2%
Canada	308,575	1.0%	662,600	2.0%	780,125	2.3%	957,355	2.6%

The majority of Filipino-Canadians are women; they make up about 65% of the population.

Notable people

See also

• Overseas Filipinos
• Canada–Philippines relations
• Asian Canadians
• Asian Americans

References

Further reading

• Glenda Lynna Ann Tibe Bonifacio (2014). Pinay on the Prairies: Filipino Women and Transnational Identities. University of British Columbia Press.
• Anita Beltran Chen (1998). From Sunbelt to Snowbelt: Filipinos in Canada. Canadian Ethnic Studies Association, University of Calgary.
• Roland Sintos Coloma; Bonnie McElhinny; Ethel Tungohan; John Paul Catungal; Lisa M. Davidson (2012). Filipinos in Canada: Disturbing Invisibility. University of Toronto Press.
• Ruben Cusipag; Maria Corazon Buenafe (1993). Portrait of Filipino Canadians in Ontario: 1960-1990. Kalayaan Media Limited.
• Gemma Dalayoan; Leah Enverga-Magsino; Leonnie Bailon (2005). The First Filipino Immigrants in Manitoba (1959-1975). Department of Culture, Heritage, and Citizenship, Government of Manitoba.
• Eleanor Laquian (1973). A Study of Filipino Immigrants to Canada, 1962-1972. United Council of Filipino Associations in Canada.
• Angela Reyes; Adrienne Lo; Bonnie McElhinny; Valerie Damasco; Shirley Yeung; Angela F. De Ocampo; Monina Febria; Christianne Collantes; Jose Salonga (2008). ""Talk about Luck" Coherence, Contingency, Character, and Class in the Life Stories of Filipino Canadians in Toronto". Beyond Yellow English : Toward a Linguistic Anthropology of Asian Pacific America. Oxford University Press. pp. 93–110. ISBN 978-0-19-971670-8.

External links

• History of Filipino Canadians