The Filipino Community

 

Throughout the city, a group of residents warmly call each other kababayan (countrymen). Although the members of Toronto’s 100,000 member Filipino community are dispersed—living in Parkdale, St. Jamestown, North York, Scarborough, and Mississauga—they are a closely knit community bonded by a unique culture which is a mix of Indo-Malay, Spanish, Chinese, and American influences. At Toronto’s multicultural festivals, popular Filipino dance troupes perform the tinikling, a dance which imitates the movements of the rice bird stepping through clashing bamboo poles. The community’s rich traditions in music, dance, and drama have added to Toronto’s cosmopolitan character.

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Following the Second World War, Filipino nursing students began entering the United States. On expiry of their American visas, a small number came to Canada and settled in Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, and Vancouver. Nurses and laboratory technicians were employed by the six major teaching hospitals in Toronto. Many sponsored their spouses and families for immigration to Canada. In the late 1960s, young professionals unable to find work emigrated from the Philippines, and as a result of martial law introduced in their homeland in the 1970s, a large number of clerical and manufacturing workers also entered Canada.

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Members of the Toronto community moved into the Maitland and Yonge streets area, and the St. Jamestown area, close to the hospitals and offices where they worked. Close by were Catholic churches frequented by the community: St. Basil’s Church on Bay Street, Our Lady of Lourdes Church on Sherbourne Street, and the Holy Family Church on King Street. More recently, members of the community have settled in Crescent Town and Massey Square on Victoria Park, along the Danforth, in Thorncliffe Park near Don Mills, and in Mississauga, Brampton, and Markham.

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Many members of the community are employed as nannies and domestics. Filipino entrepreneurs have added to the city’s commercial sector with food stores, craft shops, travel agencies, and hair salons found along Queen Street West and in other parts of the city.

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Places to Go

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A sign posted on the outside wall of the Kababayan Community Centre on Queen Street West welcomes visitors to the oldest Filipino neighbourhood in the city.

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Amidst the Greek restaurants along Danforth Avenue are a few Filipino establishments. The varied cuisine of the Philippines combines tropical fruits and vegetables with pork, chicken, and seafood. National dishes include lechon (barbecued suckling pig), adobo (varieties of garlic, chicken, and pork casserole), sinigang (stewed fish with vegetables), and lumpia (vegetable roll). Rice is the staple dish served with every meal. The merienda is a favourite pastime—a mid-afternoon snack consisting of sweet cakes, tarts and fritters.

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Mayette’s, (Tel. 416-463-0338, 2038 Danforth Ave), specializes in Filipino dishes including crispy pata, kare-kare (oxtail, tripe, and tropical vegetables with sauce), kaldereta (goat meat stew), pancit palabok, pancit guisado, nilaga, and paksiw. Other restaurants located throughout the city that offer Philippine cuisine include: Aristokrat Restaurant, (Tel. 416-635-6812, 355 Wilson Ave); and Ellen’s Place, (Tel. 905-629-9559, 1090 Kamato Road, Mississauga), offers fine Filipino cuisine.

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Philippine Oriental Food Market, (Tel. 416-466-6938, 1033 Gerrard St. E).

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The Filipino Centre, (Tel. 416-928-9355, 597 Parliament St., Suite 116). Services include Filipiana collection, employment networking, individual tax preparation, free estate planning, workshops for new comers to Canada, and health services.

 

 

Religious Centres, Schools and Other Institutions

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Many Filipinos are Roman Catholics, while others belong to different religious denominations. Community churches include:

•   COMMONWEALTH AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH, (Tel. 416-267-8073, 83 Commonwealth Ave).

•   FILIPINO CANADIAN SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH, (Tel. 416-633-4631, 788 Sheppard Ave. W).

•   FIRST FILIPINO BAPTIST CHURCH, (Tel. 416-534-4342, 382 Lippincott St).

•   HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC CHURCH, (Tel. 416-532-2879, 1372 King St. W).

•   IGLESIA NI CRISTO, (Tel. 416-231-6006, 310 Burnhamthorpe Rd).

•   JOHN XXIII COMMUNITY, (Tel. 416-429-4000, 150 Gateway Blvd).

•   OUR LADY OF LOURDES CATHOLIC CHURCH, (Tel. 416-924-6257, 11 Earl St).

•   SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST, (Tel. 416-636-2471, 535 Finch Ave. W).

•   ST. BASIL CATHOLIC CHURCH, (Tel. 416-926-7110, 50 St. Joseph St).

•   ST. PATRICK CATHOLIC CHURCH, (Tel. 416-598-3269, 141 McCaul St).

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Holidays and Celebrations

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•   EASTER is an especially festive occasion for Toronto’s Filipino community. The 2,000-year-old rite of Salubong is celebrated just prior to Easter Sunday with church services. The Lenten season is observed with solemnity and great devotion, with different activities scheduled each day of the Holy Week. On Good Friday, friends and relatives gather to re-enact the passion and death of Christ by quoting passages from the story of the resurrection and pasyon (singing).

•   SANTACRUSAN. On the last day of May, a procession representing biblical characters winds through the streets of the city—the culmination of the Flores de Mayo. The Santacrusan is a religious celebration honouring St. Helena, the Greek Emperor Constantine’s mother who travelled in search of the wooden cross on which Christ was crucified. The last figure in the parade is a girl dressed to resemble Queen Helena, carrying a small cross and escorted by the young Prince Constantine.

•   INDEPENDENCE DAY. On July 4, 1946, the United States of America granted the Philippines independence, freeing the country from centuries of Spanish rule. Philippine Independence Day is on June 12 because on that date General Emilio Aguinaldo (President of the First Revolutionary Government of the Philippines) first announced the independence of the Philippines. Filipinos in Toronto hold a parade starting at City Hall and ending with a fiesta celebration in a park followed by a dinner dance. On the eve of the celebration, a gala ball is held.

•   CHRISTMAS sees gatherings of family and friends and includes lantern contests where prizes are given for the most colourful and symbolic lanterns. Children dress up as pastores (shepherds) and perform plays depicting the nativity scene for which they are awarded gifts. Filipino groups like the Kagayanons, Culture Philippines, and the Carolinians sing Christmas carols as a fund-raising event for worthy projects. Filipinos traditionally kiss the hands of elders to earn blessings.

•   DANCES. Throughout the year, cultural groups, such as the awardwinning Fiesta Filipina Dance Troupe, perform dances like the maglalatik, featuring male dancers who play bamboo shells that are attached to their bodies; the pandango sa ilaw, a dance that creates a festival of lights performed with oil lamps; and the itik itik, which imitates the movement and rhythm of ducks.
   

See Holidays and Celebrations in Glossary.
 

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Media

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•   ATIN ITO (monthly newspaper), (Tel. 905-855-8380, 1544 Southdown Rd., Mississauga). Publisher: Eduardo Lee.

•   THE FILIPINO BULLETIN BOARD, (Tel. 416-724-9077, 48 Millhouse Cr). Contact: Carlos Unas.

•   FILIPIANA (monthly newspaper), (Tel. 416-534-7836, 1531 Queen St. W). Publisher: Bin Kon Loo.

•   FILIPINO RADIO PROGRAM, CHIN 1540 AM, (Tel. 416-531-9991, 622 College St). Sunday, 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Hosts: Joel Recla and Agatha Luna.

•   MANILA MEDIA MONITOR, (Tel. 416-285-8583, 98 Comrie Terrace). Contact: Ace Alvarez.

•   THE PHILIPPINE REPORTER (by-weekly newspaper), (Tel. 416-461-8694, Main Floor, 807 Queen St. E). Editor: Hermie Garcia.