Filipinx Identity in Canada
What does it mean to be Filipinx in Canada? Who gets to define Filipinx-ness? Based on what criteria?
Identity is difficult to pin down and is constantly contested. For several of our storytellers, Filipinx identity in Canada is made even more complicated by the fact that Filipinxs in Canada are caught up in multiple national and cultural contexts. For second-generation Filipinxs especially, language, cultural practices, traditions and histories may not be as easy to access, practice or learn. Some of our participants discuss the lack of representation in schools or the media, for example, as barriers to one’s identity formation as diasporic Filipinxs. Other storytellers discuss being compelled into assimilation in an effort, however mistaken or incomplete, to reduce barriers or experiences of marginalization. For some, such assimilation has led to a weakened sense, even absence, of Filipinx identity.
A second way that Filipinx identity in Canada is complicated concerns the reality of diversity within Filipinx communities. Regional, ethnic and linguistic differences, along with differences in migration pathways and generations, complicate the possibility of a singular Filipinx identity. Attempts to unify under one notion of Filipinx-ness are often problematic, as they tend to install normative characteristics, such as the Tagalog language or Roman Catholicism, as definitive of Filipinx identity. Several of our storytellers share their fraught relationships to Filipinx as an identity category precisely due to the ways that this category has been defined in exclusionary ways historically.
A third way that Filipinx identity in Canada is complicated concerns the force of racialized - and racist - notions of Filipinx-ness that circulate in the context of white supremacy in Canada. Stereotypes of Filipinxs as subservient or hardworking or as workers in a narrow set of occupations such as nursing or caregiving get in the way of a full recognition of the reality of diversity and difference within Filipinx communities in the diaspora. Some of our storytellers share needing to actively resist these stereotypes as a means of pushing back and affirming the validity of their own ways of understanding and performing identity.
In the vignettes below, storytellers share what, in all its complications, Filipinx identity in Canada means to them.
“Oh, I rarely say that I’m Filipino Canadian.”
Claire Baguio: And I have a bit of a maybe…a little bit off topic. But I mean, I’m wondering do you consider yourself to be Filipino Canadian, because you’ve only moved here in 2016. So, I’m wondering if that’s an, I guess, like an identifier you use or you just identify as Filipino.
Jasper Mallonga: Oh, I rarely say that I’m Filipino Canadian. And the only…the only reason I say that sometimes, if I do, it’s more of just identifying myself as someone who lives here. And not really, you know, I don’t, I don’t know what it means to be Canadian. But I do know how much Filipino I am. And yeah, I’ve never really been in a place where I have to define what it means. But you know, it’s, I only use Filipino Canadian for things like bios, for LinkedIn or something or whatever. But other than that, I…yeah, I don’t know what it means to be Canadian. Other than, you know, having that citizenship, or passport or whatnot, I’m not entirely sure.
“We were always striving for like that Filipino-ness.”
Sammie Jo Rumbaua: “I guess the intro for myself being in Vancouver since 1990, is just I’ve always been involved in the Filipino community in regards to participating in Philippine Independence Day, with a dance with a hip hop dance group. That’s kind of how I really got immersed with the Filipino community and with the entertainment, having friends that are dancers and hip hoppers, and DJs and all that stuff. So I actually started off doing all ages events here. But yeah, it was really like, kind of like, you know, a little bit of hip hop saved my life or my best friend’s sister was a was a choreographer, and they actually held dance classes at Collingwood Neighbourhood Houses, Collingwood Neighborhood House. And so we just danced, and we wanted to perform for people. And so I was like, 16, and be like, let’s book a hall and let’s do competitions and all that stuff. So that was really like the start of even my event productions and stuff.”
SJR: But even coming to Vancouver, there was not that many Filipino, like coming to BC, there wasn’t that many Filipinos in the schools at that time anyways. And so I think, you know, that whole transition of being like, okay, we’re back in Canada, which is, which is cool, but we were always striving for like that Filipino-ness, like wanting, you know, we’re lucky that my parents, you know, cook Filipino food, but we’re always like, looking for those. You know, things like the markets, or just the stores and everything so, and then having, you know, that time of living in Vancouver, Surrey, Richmond, you know, you kind of saw more of the Filipinos in Richmond, because that’s where most of the Chinese Filipino restaurants were, or stores or even. But, you know, like I said, Thank goodness for those independent days that every, you know, Filipino Independence Day Celebration, that’s kind of where we gather and I would tell all my friends, like this sort of good and I only and in schools, I wasn’t, there was not that many Filipinos in schools, but because of dance, a lot of Filipinos ended up joining us in dance. And I ended up like really being friends with a lot of private school kids. And that were Filipino. Because in the public school, we weren’t they weren’t there. Like it was mostly non Filipinos at that time. My early, early age.”
Jocelle Refol: How did you end up getting involved in the community at such a young age when there wasn’t as many Filipinos that you could see present in Vancouver at that time?
SJR:Yeah. I mean, I could remember. Well, even when grade six, like in Surrey, so I was, you know, I just remember my best friend, Rouella like she’s my best friend for since today. She literally came out, she’s like, are you Filipino? Because like, there’s literally only three Filipinos, me, Rouella, and Reggie in our grade, Surrey elementary school Panorama Park. And so when I was like, yeah, I’m Filipino and she’s like, yeah, me too. And she happened to live two doors down for me. And so with that, it was her family was already immersed in the Filipino community where her mom was like the president GIMILAMI, Filipino Catholic Association who held Santacruzan. And so I would go with her to her events. And she was like, in the Santa Cruzan like, she was like the her mom’s association was doing the whole Santa Cruzan thing and so being a princess and all that stuff, so I like tag along. But really, when we started our hip hop dance group, you know, our choreographer was already performing in those Independence Day at Plaza of Nations nations. And so that was kind of like the point of like, let’s get all our friends to come watch us and perform. And so, you know, I think there was also our friends Lani & Boom Duyupay, they started a TV show called Mango Vibe, like, a long time ago. And it was literally like featuring, like Filipinos that were doing things because we had a lot of friends that were like dancers and DJs. And we just wanted to feature them and let the world know about, like how talented they are. And so Boom used to be in a singing group called Kulay in Vancouver, and he went back and forth to the Philippines to and he’s like film director and stuff. And so he really kind of showed how to, like display our arts and culture and talent on film and video. And so and there was also a calendar that he oops, there was also a calendar that, that he produced to do a fundraiser and my older cousin, Mary Anne and her son, Adryan was in it. And so it literally was like a calendar. I don’t even know what it was fundraising for, or whatever. But it just featured all the Filipino cool teenagers because I was like, I was like, 13 at the time. And they were like, all, like 17, 18.”
“Well, I’m not the stereotype, and so maybe my identity isn’t as strong because I don’t follow those stereotypes.”
Claire Baguio: Okay, so what is your relationship to being Filipino or Filipino Canadian?
Alex Montinola: It’s very minimal, truthfully. And I, like I think, like, I’ve thought about it over the years in terms of where this, this came from, like, this lack of connection. And sometimes, like, I would go to Filipino events, and sometimes I’d go do like stereotypically Filipino things, and it just wouldn’t interest me so much. And then I would feel bad about that, because I’m like, this is my heritage, this is something that I should be, like, enjoying being part of, and like, having it be part of my identity. But it’s just not something that interests me as much as, like, it doesn’t interest me in the same way that I’m like, I like this kind of book genre versus this one. And sometimes I see like, Filipino pride or like, like these other Filipinos doing so well and in their fields, and I feel a sense of pride in that way.
But I wouldn’t put up a Filipino flag on my car, or. It’s not part of—like, it is it is part of, important part of my identity because of the cultural aspect In terms of like, yeah, like, I grew up Roman Catholic, my parents would speak to me in Tagalog, they… like, I eat Filipino food. And that’s, that’s like the reason why I could never go full vegan, because it’s like, I can’t—my partner’s mostly vegan, like strong - 12 - vegetarian, weak vegan, as she says. But I can’t fully commit to that type of lifestyle. Because Filipino food is— like, I love food and Filipino food, even if I don’t have it all the time. It’s still something I want to take part of. So I guess it’s, it’s not—like, being Filipino is not as part of my identity in the same way as being like a psychiatric nurse is part of my identity. It’s not as big of a part. But it’s kind of just interwoven to who I am. And like, my preferences and the things that—the experiences I want to, want or don’t want to take part in.
I really want to go back to the Philippines and be part of that culture again. I remember my family once went on a cruise over the summer, and also the waitstaff are Filipino. And so it was nice, being able to use Tagalog and speak in that way. And so I guess it’s my relationship to being Filipino and the identity aspect isn’t as minimal as, as I previously thought, just, even just saying now. I’m like—
CB: Yeah, even just talking about it.
AM: —well, actually, there’s a lot of things. But I guess it’s not, like—when I think minimum—like, when I think of someone that has a strong identity, it’s like, Filipino flags, Like, maybe more like stereotypes and stuff like that. And I’m like, well, I’m not the stereotype, and so maybe my identity isn’t as strong because I don’t follow those stereotypes. But then I guess it’s like, the small things that matter to me are things that are part of like, maybe not my current identity, but it’s definitely part of my history.