Filipino Nurses Support Group
Letter to the Editor
Vancouver Sun

On the "Immigration wave changing Canada"

March 11, 2010

 
Re: Immigration wave changes Canada’s looks and sounds, by Miro Cernetig, 10 March 2010

With the projected reversal of Canada’s visible minority population to
become the majority over the next 20 years, the more important issue at hand is whether the country will promote significant social change for these non-European immigrants to achieve genuine settlement and
integration into Canadian life.

Not being part of the white majority has meant decades of social exclusion for the Filipino community and other immigrant groups. We are also overrepresented however, in the vast bulk of the country’s population that lives from paycheque to paycheque, has no job security, and whose rights as workers are more likely to be violated.

While Filipinos have been part of Canada for over 50 years, we continue to face barriers that impede our full participation. We are rendered invisible by ongoing forms of racism, gender oppression, and economic marginalization despite the growing presence of a large Filipino population currently numbering over 500,000.

With the Filipino community being the fourth largest visible minority
group which could double in size in the next 25 years to over 1 million, so will our social exclusion intensify without any significant policy change, namely in immigration, labour, and human rights, alongside the promotion of our community’s development.

Sincerely,
Sheila Farrales
for the Filipino Nurses Support Group

--