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Consul General Angelica Escalona with the members of Kainan Na in front of their pop-up at The District inside Square One Shopping Centre in Mississauga

12 April 2024 – Consul General Angelica Escalona, Consul Grace Villamayor and Cultural Officer Maricel Samonte of the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto visited the Filipino food and desserts pop-up of Kainan Na at The Food District, Square One Shopping Centre in Mississauga. Kainan Na is a non-profit composed of Filipino-owned food vendors that aims to help members grow their business through strength in numbers.

In celebration of the 75th anniversary of Philippine-Canada relations, Kainan Na’s food pop-up offered an exclusive menu of Filipino dishes and snacks with a Canadian twist such as adobo burger, sisig poutine, bibingka with bacon and maple syrup, a sari-sari charcuterie that includes Canadian maple smoked bison and longanisa, as well as a Filipino high tea.

The Kainan Food pop-up was open from 5 to 14 April 2024. According to Janet Lim, Founding Director of Kainan Na, “We enjoyed brisk sales. There were times when the lines were very long. We’re happy to see non-Filipinos enjoy Filipino food. Around 40 percent of our clients were non-Filipinos. Our best sellers include the Filipino High Tea, halo-halo flambe and sisig poutine.” END

Consul General Angelica Escalona going through Kainan Na’s wide selection of Filipino baked goodies, preserves and kakanin displayed at the pop-up at The District in Square One Consul General Angelica Escalona with Kainan Na’s Janet Lim and Consul Grace Villamayor in front of Kainan Na’s Filipino High Tea, which consists of choice of tea served with traditional Filipino sweet and savory delicacies with a touch of Canadian flavor such as Canadian whisky ube truffle and 3-bite pistashew sansrival bomb  

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  SSS personnel answer queries and provide guidance to SSS members and pensioners

06-08 April 2024 – The Philippine Consulate General in Toronto conducted the first of its four consular outreach missions to Winnipeg for this year on 06 - 08 April 2024. The Consulate’s outreach team provided consular services to 885 applicants who availed of services for ePassport and travel document application, notarization of documents, civil registry submission, dual citizenship application and overseas voting registration.

The Migrant Workers Office (MWO)-Toronto and Social Security Services (SSS)-Toronto participated in the three-day consular outreach mission to provide their services to the Filipino community.

A total of 63 former Filipinos were able to reacquire their Filipino citizenship after an oath-taking ceremony. Consul Mary Grace Villamayor shared information about the government’s Bagong Pilipinas campaign to those who reacquired Filipino citizenship.

For the first time, consular outreach clients were able to avail of Post’s ePayment services, which allowed them to pay by credit or debit card. One of the clients remarked, “Salamat at pwede nang hindi cash lang ang pagbabayad. Hindi na ako kailangan maghanap ng ATM.” END

(Left photo) Consulate personnel registers Filipinos for overseas voting (Right photo) Consulate outreach mission clients can now pay using credit or debit card Former Filipinos in Winnipeg take the oath for reacquisition of Philippine citizenship administered by Consul Mary Grace Villamayor

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Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew with Philippine Ambassador to Canada Maria Andrelita S. Austria (photo courtesy of Province of Manitoba)

08 April 2024, Winnipeg - Philippine Ambassador to Canada Maria Andrelita S. Austria met with Manitoba officials as part of her official visit to the province.

The Ambassador met Premier Wab Kinew and Minister of Immigration and Labor Malaya Marcelino at the Manitoba Legislative Assembly Building.

Ambassador Austria conveyed the Philippine government’s gratitude for the hospitality given to Filipinos by the Province of Manitoba. In turn, Premier Kinew acknowledged the contribution of Filipinos to the province. “The community is very important to our government,” he emphasized. The Premier and Minister Marcelino conveyed willingness to work with the Philippine government on the matter of foreign credentials recognition of Filipino nurses who are already in the province.

Ambassador Austria and Premier Kinew discussed the possibility of establishing direct flights to the Philippines as well as the upcoming Team Canada Trade Mission to the Philippines. The Premier conveyed his intention to visit the Philippines in the near future.

The Ambassador also had separate meetings with Lieutenant Governor Anita R. Neville and Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham. The Ambassador discussed the Filipino diaspora in Manitoba and the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Canada this year. As Manila and Winnipeg are sister cities, the Ambassador and Mayor Gillingham talked about ways to reinvigorate the sister city relationship.

Ambassador Austria was accompanied by Consul General Angelica Escalona, Deputy Head of Mission Myca Magnolia Fischer, Consul Rodney Jonas Sumague and Honorary Consul Ronaldo Opina during the meetings. END

Mayor Scott Gillingham and Ambassador Austria during their meeting at the Winnipeg City Hall (Left to right) Consul Rodney Jonas Sumague, Deputy Head of Mission Myca Magnolia Fischer, Consul General Angelica Escalona, Ambassador Austria, Lieutenant Governor Anita Neville and Honorary Consul Ronaldo Opina. (Left to right) Honorary Consul Opina, Consul General Escalona, Ambassador Austria, Minister Malaya Marcelino and Premier Kinew   

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Philippine Ambassador to Canada Maria Andrelita S. Austria gives her message during the town hall meeting

06-07 April 2024, Winnipeg - Philippine Ambassador to Canada Maria Andrelita S. Austria held multiple meetings with the Filipino community (Filcom) from 06 to 07 April 2024 as part of her official visit to Manitoba. It was her first visit to Manitoba as Philippine Ambassador to Canada.

The Ambassador had a town hall meeting with different Filipino community organizations at the Holiday Inn Winnipeg. Among the matters discussed were the Filcom’s petition for a career Philippine Consulate in Manitoba, the need to engage Filipinos living in rural areas of the province, and the promotion of Philippine culture and local Filipino businesses.

Ambassador Austria encouraged the Filcom to be more active in the public policy and decision-making processes in their respective communities and in advocating for the interests of Filipinos. The Ambassador also encouraged the Filcom to organize activities to mark the 75th anniversary of Philippines-Canada diplomatic relations this year.

The Ambassador held separate meetings with a group of Filipino nurses and a group of Filipino international students. The discussions with the nurses centered on credentials recognition while discussions with the international students focused on their status given the recent changes in the immigration policies of Canada.

Ambassador Austria was joined by Consul General Angelica Escalona, Deputy Head of Mission Myca Magnolia Fischer, Consul Rodney Jonas Sumague, Honorary Consul Ronaldo Opina, Welfare Officer Benny Reyes and SSS Representative Lucille Simbol during the meetings.

On 06 April, the Ambassador had the opportunity to meet Dr. Rey Pagtakhan, recognized as a trailblazer for being the first Filipino Canadian elected to the House of Commons and appointed to several Cabinet positions. Dr. Pagtakhan shared his personal migration story and path into politics and expressed his readiness to help in planning activities to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Philippines-Canada diplomatic relations.

The Ambassador led a wreath-laying ceremony at the Rizal monument in Winnipeg with the Knights of Rizal on 07 April. Member of Parliament (Winnipeg North) Kevin Lamoureux and Member of Legislative Assembly (Tyndall Park) Cindy Lamourex also attended the ceremony.

According to Canada’s 2021 Census, Manitoba has the highest proportion of Filipinos on a per capita basis, with Filipinos comprising 6.78% or 90,045 of the provincial population of 1,342,153. END

A FILCOM leader asks a question during the town hall meeting. Meeting with Filipino Nurses Meeting with Filipino International Students Meeting with Dr. Rey Pagtakhan (seated, second from right) Wreath Laying at the Rizal Monument in Winnipeg with MP Kevin Lamoureux (5th from right) and MLA Cindy Lamoureux (4th from left) and the Knights of Rizal