NOSTALGIA PILI-PEG

From 500 to over 30,000: Migrating to and Staying in Winnipeg

I am sure there are many well-known assumptions Winnipegers might have about Filipino migration to Winnipeg. There are, of course, the obvious ones like Filipinos migrate to Canada to leave a ‘Third-World’ country, seek a ‘better life’ and secure the future of their children. As true as these assumptions may be about many Filipino-Canadians today, one would have to wonder if such reasoning was always the case. After all, the community was first established by a number of young, often single, well-to-do group of educated, worldly professionals.

Take the attached 1968 Winnipeg Free Press article for example. In Carmen-Litta Magnus’ article “Filipinos Adjust to Winnipeg Life” (Winnipeg Free Press, 7 December 1968). She describes a growing community of 500 Filipinos represented largely (she claims 90 percent) by professionals. At the time, 170 Filipina women had just arrived in the city as Canada Manpower recruits to work in the then bustling garment industry. The photo of the man happens to be of Dr. Basilio N. Bautista, then president of the Kayumanggi Philippine Association, and a post-doctoral student training in plastic surgery at Winnipeg General Hospital and Children’s Hospital. He explains that the community has grown because “[m]any come because of the academic advantages and others for adventure. We are an adventurous people.” An interesting viewpoint that is quite the opposite of what most assume today.

Now with over 30,000 strong and growing, the Filipino-Canadian community in Winnipeg can credit the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program, Federal Family Reunification Program, Temporary Foreign Worker Program, births and an institutionalized labour export system in the Philippines to its growth. But, when you dig deep and see that the community has grown because people also stayed, settled and planted roots in the city (despite the harsh winters and everything else that bemoans Winnipeg), one may realize that there is an element of individual agency working as well. The community’s foundation in Winnipeg stands on the decisions of an adventurous number of Filipino voyageurs. Economic divide or not, the deeper reasons why the first few Filipinos chose to call Winnipeg home deserve to be explored.

NOSTALGIA PILI-PEG

PILIPINAS + WINNIPEG = PILI-PEG!

For the past few months we have had the honour of recording nearly 25 personal narratives representing the Filipino-Canadian experience in Winnipeg. The goal is to best represent each decade from 1960 to today. It has been an ambitious and important task that we take to heart as our responsibility for future generations. This blog is meant to share in our excitement as we delve into the lesser-known past of Winnipeg’s largest immigrant community. Join us! Share your thoughts photos and memories!

History appears to be repeating itself yet again for the growing Filipino-Canadian community.

If you flip through to page A12 of today’s Winnipeg Free Press you’ll be welcomed by the heading “Filipino nurses find life sweet in rural RHAs” along with a proud photo of 20 kababayan nurse-recruits at a ceremony in their honour at the Manitoba Legislative Assembly. Looking back to 1960, the Free Press was pleased to also announce “Filipino Nurses Study Hospital Trends Here” in the Items of Social and Personal Interest Section (p.12). There’s a happy photo of Purification de la Cruz and Estrella Dayrit complete in nurse uniform at work at the Misericordia General Hospital.

Healthcare has and continues to link many Filipino immigrant professionals to Winnipeg. Today, there is a reported nursing surplus in the Philippines with more nurses than jobs available. Perhaps one can go farther to say that international wage discrepancies, institutionalized labour export systems, and limited employment at home has driven an established culture of out-migration to the bounties of rural Manitoba. According to Minister Theresa Oswald, over the last decade 2,000 nursing positions have opened with vacancies largely in rural areas (L. Kusch Winnipeg Free Press (December 4, 2009) p.A12). The pull for Filipino recruits specifically is an intriguing one. One I admit we will need to research more thoroughly for the upcoming exhibit.

Back in 1960, Winnipegers did not have to travel too far for Filipino nurse-recruits. Rather, there were already a number of them living, studying, and/or working next door in the United States. For the 9 Filipinas (Augustina Berry, Jovita Liban, Rebecca Carino, Bienvinida Neis, Estrella Dayrit, Purificacion de la Cruz, Vicenta Tolosa, Cora Laigo, Fe Viloria) who arrived at Winnipeg’s Misericordia General Hospital in 1960, they had already gained clinical experience as exchange visitors in Chicago; Rochester, Minnestota; Philadelphia; and Hamilton, Ohio. The ease of movement for Filipino scholars and professionals to travel to the United States attests to the Philippines’ colonial history as a former colony of the United States. Canada became the next stop for a number of these pensionados where the demand for healthcare professionals also appeared until the late 1970s. The healthcare resurgence for Filipino recruits reappeared again in the 1990s and today.

Photo credits: (top) David Lipnowski / Winnipeg Free Press, 2009; (bottom) Winnipeg Free Press, 1960