The Philippine Centre Canada launched the Young Filipino-Canadian Resilience Project in November 2020 to help reduce the impacts of the pandemic on young Filipino-Canadians’ (18 to 40 years old) physical, psychological, and emotional wellbeing. The project was delivered through online learning events that aim to build resilience based on Filipinos’ inherent values and culture by focusing on topics such as self-awareness, positive thinking habits, psychological and emotional resilience, and practical life and leadership skills.

Nationally recognized young Filipino-Canadians who are successful in their respective fields facilitated five webinars as special guest speakers. Each webinar was attended by 20-30 participants.

November 16^th, 2020 – Dr. Valerie Gail Damasco from the University of Toronto and Dr. Rose Anne Torres from the University of New Brunswick opened the series of online resilience events with a discussion called “Developing a Learning Process for Resilience During COVID-19” to set the framework for the series as a whole.

 

November 18^th, 2020 – The second webinar, “Katatagan: Caring for Oneself”, was led by Dr. Fritz Pino, who works as an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Regina. “Katatagan” is a Filipino word that means stability. Her talk addressed the importance of caring for oneself as a part of defining one’s identity.

November 20^th, 2020 – Dr. Eileen de Villa, currently serving as the Medical Officer of Health for the City of Toronto, gave a talk called “Bayanihan: How do we tackle COVID-19 as Filipino-Canadians?”. “Bayanihan” is a Filipino word that refers to the Filipino custom of working together as a community to achieve a particular goal. The discussion spoke to ways that young Filipino-Canadians can engage in their respective communities in the midst of challenges that the pandemic has presented.

November 24^th, 2020 – “Katapangan sa Kinabukasan: How do we care for our future beyond COVID-19?” was the theme of the fourth webinar presented by Dr. Phil de Luna, who serves as a Director at the National Research Council of Canada. He is also an award-winning materials scientist, carbontech entrepreneur, and thought leader. Dr. de Luna encouraged the participants to harness their potential for success as a means of contributing to Canadian society. “Katapangan sa Kinabukasan” is a Filipino phrase that translates to “courage in the future”.

November 25^th, 2020 – Dr. Valerie Gail Damasco and Dr. Rose Anne Torres facilitated the final activity in this series on resilience by launching a discourse about charting a course of action beyond COVID-19. What steps can young Filipino-Canadians take to rise to the challenge of achieving more for service in the community?

The Young Filipino-Canadian Resilience Project was made possible by funding support from the Employment and Social Development Canada through the Canadian Red Cross.