Rapidly growing Filipino community renews calls to establish cultural centre in Vancouver

B.C.'s Filipino community is calling on the province to make good on its promise to establish a cultural centre for the community.

An open letter signed by three community organizations asks the premier and other provincial politicians to "take the next step" in getting a Filipino cultural centre built, something the letter refers to as "a decades-long dream of Filipinos."

In a December mandate letter, Premier David Eby instructed Lana Popham, the minister of tourism, arts, culture and sport, to prioritize making progress on a provincial Filipino cultural centre.

Mable Elmore, B.C.'s parliamentary secretary for anti-racism initiatives, was instructed to support Popham in a similar letter.

The director of the Tulayan Filipino Diaspora Society, one of the groups behind the open letter, says Eby's mandate letters galvanized the Filipino community.

"It really caught a lot of people's attention," said RJ Aquino. "People became excited about the fact that it's official in the sense that the premier has expressed his desire and support to establish this for the Filipino community."

In a statement to CBC News, Popham said she has been working with Elmore and that the next steps for the centre will include community engagement.

"It's too early to say what that model will look like, but we are also looking to engage other government partners at the federal and municipal level to support this important project," reads the statement. "This important work requires solid business planning, which will take some time."

Popham added thecommunity engagement will be planned with Mabuhay House Society, a community organization that is expected to run the future cultural centre.

Growing Filipino population

Aquino says the rapidly growing Filipino community in British Columbia has a great need for the space.

"It gives us a focal point to not just have these cultural events but to also address a lot of other needs that our community has around housing, child care, you know,senior centre."

According to the 2021 census, there are over 174,000 people of Filipino descent living in British Columbia.

Aquino says the community is mostly focused in Vancouver, and that's why they've also called on Mayor Ken Sim to support a cultural centre in the city.

"The physical space is obviously the biggest hurdle. the biggest challenge is procuring and building on it," he said. "That's where we're looking forward to getting the support from the province and the city."