Filipino-Canadians host networking event on Monday

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This article was published 24/06/2022 (817 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Almost immediately after landing in Winnipeg, Karla Atanacio began searching for Filipino associations.

The then 13-year-old had travelled roughly 12,000 kilometres from her home country.

“I didn’t know anything about Winnipeg,” Atanacio, now 22, said. “I didn’t even know where it was on the map.”

She discovered Aksyon Ng Ating Kabataan (ANAK), a non-profit representing young Filipino-Canadians.

The organization led Atanacio to “more opportunities to network,” she said. She met Pinoys of various backgrounds and roles, which helped pave her career ambitions and life in Canada.

Now, Atanacio is bringing it full circle with ANAK and the Manitoba Filipino Business Council (MFBC).

The two organizations have partnered to host a community celebration this Monday honouring Filipino-Canadians’ ancestry. The event comes during Filipino Heritage Month.

“We are so far away from our homeland, and we want to find out how we can still have that connection,” said Atanacio, who volunteers as ANAK’s director of human resources.

She also volunteers as the MFBC’s director of youth engagement.

The Filipino community accounted for roughly 10 per cent of Winnipeg’s population, according to the national 2016 census. Ethnocultural data from 2021’s census hasn’t yet been released.

“Representation is there… but I think knowing somebody who’s already in the place where you want to be brings a lot of confidence in you,” Atanacio said of networking. “Somebody has your back, and there’s somebody there that could guide you on how exactly they got there.”

It’s an MFBC goal to ensure its business community is connected to each other and Filipino culture, said Jackie Wild, the council’s president.

“For so many decades, since Filipinx people started immigrating to Manitoba, many of our ancestors… were told to suppress a lot of the things that made them so proud,” she said.

“I get emotional thinking about my mom and my dad coming here with very few connections and only a few dollars to their name, and not seeing enough resources available to them to empower them to be who they are.”

Society has changed dramatically, but “there’s still a long way to go,” Wild said.

The MFBC saw a board change in the beginning of 2020.

In February, the group set out a new strategic plan. It wanted to broaden the MFBC’s offerings beyond the usual networking events on business topics like filing taxes and marketing. The idea is to be more community-based, Wild said.

COVID-19 erupted in Manitoba before the council could lead an in-person shindig. The MFBC has since hosted several events online, even drawing crowds from Vancouver and Toronto.

The June 27 event will be the first time attendees are in the same room. Up to 30 people will fill a section of 433 Main St.

“It’s going to be incredibly interactive,” Wild said. “(We have) a limited amount of people so… we can really dig in to those conversations that I think are going to be really meaningful, in regards to reconnecting with our Filipinx culture, heritage and identity.”

ANAK will lead activities. One will require participants to form three clusters based on their family background — each group will represent one of the main regions in the Philippines.

The Asian country has over 7,000 islands and many dialects. Connecting with Filipinos who have similar backgrounds can be comforting, Wild said.

Meditation is also on the agenda.

“(It’s) to help participants feel connected to our culture, the community around us and our ancestors,” said Viz Cabrera, ANAK’s director of development. “The activity is quite healing.”

The event could be useful to second and third generation Pinoys who don’t know much about their culture, Wild said. It’s also about unlearning assumptions surrounding Filipino culture.

MFBC and ANAK’s event is open to all Filipinos, including those not in the corporate sphere.

The business council is planning to survey its community in the upcoming months “to exemplify why you should be investing in our local Filipinx business community,” Wild said.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com