Vancouver’s Filipino-Canadian community will have a strong new voice at City Hall with the appointment of Rey Umlas, representing the Filipino Canadian New Era Society, to the Mayor’s Working Group on Immigration. In an organizational meeting Nov. 6 at City Hall, Mayor Gregor Robertson thanked the working group’s participants for their time and emphasized the priority he places on “getting some momentum on issues facing our immigrant communities.” With a majority of the city’s population now from immigrant roots, most from south Asia, it’s critical for the city council to have a direct understanding of the issues facing immigrants and how city government can help, Robertson said. “How are immigration policies affecting us? Is there more we can do to support immigrant services? Can the city provide more leadership as an employer?” Robertson asked. “These are all areas where I’d like your advice and analysis.” Umlas joins people like Tom Avendano, of Multicultural Helping House, and a wide range of representatives from organizations like MOSAIC, SUCCESS and the Vancouver Board of Trade, all with a direct interest with immigration and settlement services, on this critical advisory body. Mayor Gregor Robertson has asked the working group, first created by Mayor Larry Campbell in 2003 and continued by Sam Sullivan, to advise him on the impact of the temporary foreign worker program, how new Canadian immigration policies are affecting city residents, and how Vancouver can improve its support for immigrants through initiatives like mentoring programs to provide Canadian workplace experience. A related project, funded by the Province of BC, will seek to improve links and understanding among the city’s aboriginal, First Nations and immigrant communities. (I am co-chairing the working group along with Prof. Miu Chung Yan, a professor at UBC’s School of Social Work. Councillor George Chow is council liaison.) The working group, which expects to meet up to five times in 2010 after the Winter Olympic Games, will report to council late next year. After an initial review of the terms of reference, the working group agreed to organize its work in three areas:
- an assessment of the city’s performance as a role model for major employers in providing mentorship opportunities, access to services through programs like 311, employment equity programs and support for anti-racism initiatives;
- advice to council on how the city can act as an advocate for immigrant communities through engagement with senior governments, support for immigrations and expansion of affordable housing; and
- support for the city’s new project to expand links among aboriginal, First Nations and immigrant communities, which is being led by a separate advisory committee with many of the same members who sit on the working group.
Robertson urged the working group to consider ways the city could align its work with the Vancouver School Board and the Vancouver Park Commission to improve services to immigrants, particularly young people.
On, June 30, 2010, Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III was sworn in as the 15th president of the Republic of the Philippines. Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales and Jesuit Fr. Catalino Arevalo, a close friend of the Aquinos, who held the bible, swore in the only son of former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino and former president Corazon Cojuangco Aquino. To most Filipinos, this day was very memorable because it symbolizes the beginning of a new hope for the country, the hope of a clean and honest government.
