It was past midnight on April 29th when Filipino Canadian Member of Parliament Rechie Valdez addressed her supporters in an election watch party in her riding of Mississauga-Streetsville. It was a nail-biter election for Valdez, as a tight race between her and Conservative candidate Sue McFadden developed throughout the evening.
“I just want to say first of all, thank you so much to Mississauga-Streetsville for putting your trust in me again as your member of parliament, truly an honour to be able to serve you,” Valdez said, addressing her supporters. “I’m in a totally different position now because we have new leadership and a fresh perspective, and being able to come with all those experiences again is going to help this time around.”
This is Valdez’s second term in Ottawa, but she was the only candidate of Filipino descent who emerged victorious in an election that saw nine Filipino Canadians running for a seat in parliament.
Toronto area with a significant Filipino population lacks Filipin political representation in parliament
Throughout history, only two people of Philippine descent have successfully won seats in the Canadian House of Commons. This is despite Filipinos being the third-largest immigrant group in the country.
In Toronto, the riding of York Centre houses the area of Bathurst Street and Wilson Avenue, known unofficially as Little Manila. Statistics Canada’s 2021 census shows over 18,000 Filipinos live in this riding. However, despite its large Filipino population, this riding has never had Filipino representation in Parliament.
Little Manila walking tour guide Yshmael Cabana says examining the number of Filipino Canadians registered to vote or who can raise funds and familiarize themselves with Canadian party politics can help people understand why the lack of representation persists.
In the 2020 by-election for York Centre, Filipino Conservative Party Candidate Julius Tiangson ran in this riding but ultimately lost to Liberal Candidate Ya’ara Saks.
At that time, it was a close race with Tiangson garnering nearly 42 per cent of the votes while Saks got 45 per cent.
“I was elected here in September 2020, during the pandemic. I think it was the right time to stand up for this community and the Filipino community here who were so much a part of the health sector during the pandemic,” Saks says. “I knew by running and representing that they were going to be a key part of my work here in representing York Centre.”
Saks lost her seat to Conservative Party candidate Roman Baber in the April 28 vote. In an interview with OMNI News, Baber said their party will work on recognizing foreign credentials and ensuring healthcare workers can practice their profession in the country – a sentiment many Filipinos, in and out of his riding, have been pushing for.
However, while going around the riding, Filipinos tell OMNI News that more representation in Parliament could mean more understanding of issues that affect Filipinos in Canada.
Little Manila tour guide Cabana said having a Filipino advocate for Filipino issues would greatly help the Filipino community.
“They would become the pride of Filipinos,” Cabana says. “Not just in Canada but also in the Philippines.”
He said it would also help future Filipino candidates in Canada if there were an increase in the civic participation of Filipinos in Canadian politics.
Candidates running against long-time incumbents, a non-party stronghold
In the recent federal election, several Filipino candidates ran against candidates who had held the riding for years.
Quebec’s Ahuntsic-Cartierville Conservative candidate Margie Ramos ran against Liberal incumbent Melanie Joly, who has served as Canada’s foreign affairs minister since 2021.
In Manitoba, Rachel Punzalan, Conservative candidate for Winnipeg North, ran against Liberal incumbent Kevin Lamoureux, who has represented the riding since 2010.
Conservative candidate Lita Cabal ran for Vancouver East in British Columbia against NDP incumbent Jenny Kwan, a politician since 1993.
The first Filipino member of parliament, Rey Pagtakhan, says it’s possible to win against an incumbent in a riding that’s not a party’s stronghold.
“Members of the Liberal Party told me, ‘Rey, that’s not a winnable riding’. I go, ‘What do you mean?’ ‘We have never won here, in the history of Canada, we have never won until then,” he says.
In the 1988 federal election, Pagtakhan, under the Liberal Party banner, defeated NDP incumbent David Orlikow, who had held the Winnipeg North riding for 26 years.
“They called that a giant victory, because nobody was expecting it, I was not expecting it,” he says. “Then I concluded, there is a personal factor. In other words, they must have voted for me because of who I am over and above my party.”
Yet the question remains: With about one million Filipinos in the country, why can’t the community secure more seats in Parliament, and why did it take almost two decades between Pagtakhan’s tenure and Valdez’s win?
“It could be due to various reasons,” says Pagtakhan, who continues to be a community advocate since returning to private life in the early 2000s. “People are afraid to run, or ran but didn’t win, or it was just not their cup of tea, the fear of the unknown.”
“Historically, many Filipinos have come to Canada to support the workforce, the labour force,” says Jon Reyes, the first Filipino member of the legislative assembly in Manitoba. “Many are not in high executive positions, but it has changed now.”
He points, however, to the changes in increasing political and community engagement beyond becoming a candidate, such as volunteering or helping candidates in their campaigns – a trend Valdez has seen during her campaign in this recent election.
“We had a weekend called ‘Filipinos for Rechie’ and believe it or not,” Valdez says. “We had Filipinos from as far west as B.C. and all across the GTA to come (to Mississauga) to support.”
What does it take for Filipinos to win?
Inviting OMNI News into his home in East St. Paul, Man., Pagtakhan shows a replica of what used to be his seat in the House of Commons, where he served as a member of parliament from 1988 to 2004.
He says that a community member has to have a record of achievement in their career for the riding’s population to have a basis for credibility.
“If you can take those times in between (elections), it will help a lot in understanding the process. You can’t just jump in because there’s an election,” he says. “If you’ve done real community services, volunteering here, helping here long before you entered politics, then (the voters) know your purpose in politics is not so much about power for yourself, but really for the people. Service for people.”
Manitoba’s first Canadian-born Filipino member of the legislative assembly, Reyes, says a team’s strong support, a strong message, and “timing” on the community’s needs are also vital for a candidate to win.
“You need to have kapal ng mukha (or) thick skin to the audience. Regardless of what people say with respect to seeking office, nomination, going to political office,” he says. “That individual has to have a drive and desire to truly help the people, and they can’t do it alone.”
However, once they win a seat in Parliament, Filipinos who become Members of Parliament still face challenges in Canada.
In 2002, a former MP told a newspaper that Pagtakhan would not make a good veteran affairs minister because he is not “originally Canadian.” However, the MP denied this and said he was misquoted.
This experience is not too far from what Valdez told OMNI News.
“Being the only (Filipino-Canadian) voice was very challenging because not many people look like me on Parliament Hill,” she says. “I would continue to walk in spaces in Parliament, and I would continue to get ID’d, even as a federal minister, I continue to get ID’d on Parliament Hill.”
‘Representation must continue to happen’: Valdez
For the Filipino-Canadian community’s voice to be continuously heard, Reyes says the community needs more elected officials of Filipino background, regardless of party.
Pagtakhan agrees, and adds that as long as they can be civically engaged and they know their purpose,
“You must be a beacon of trustworthiness, hence no baggage, very ethical, and surrendering yourself for public service, for the common good,” he says. “And common good means include the marginalized by definition, those who need most.”
Valdez, who is still the only member of parliament of Philippine descent, says it would be an honour to serve as long as she can and that representation must continue.
“There was a 17-year gap between me and Dr. Rey Pagtakhan,” she says. “We can no longer have those gaps.”
— with files from Paula Saraza
