Canada's first Filipina federal minister arrives carrying a lot of expectations

The tears Rechie Valdez shed as she took the oath as minister of small business in this week's federal cabinet shuffle marked a breakthrough for her — and for the Filipino community she represents.

"It was a profound moment for me to know that I was representing the close to one million Filipinos now here in Canada," she told CBC News on Friday.

Filipinos are arguably the most politically underrepresented group in Canadian federal politics.

A community that, according to the latest census, has 960,000 members has not had a single Filipino-Canadian representative in Parliament since 2004 other than Valdez, who was elected in 2021. Rey Pagtakhan became the first Filipino-born Canadian to be elected to the House of Commons in 1988 and served in the Liberal government's cabinet.

By comparison, Canada's 770,000 Sikhs were represented by four out of 40 ministers in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's first cabinet. Prominent Sikhs outside the government include NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Conservative finance critic Jasraj Singh Hallan.

Rechie Valdez has experience in small business, having run her own bakery. She said she takes seriously her opportunity to serve as a voice for a community that is underrepresented.

"I can tell the community across Canada I'll definitely be advocating on your behalf and I will continue to listen to your needs and bring it up to cabinet," she said.

Census data shows Filipino-Canadians have a unique demographic profile, said analyst André Bernard of Statistics Canada.

"The Filipino population have lower unemployment rates and lower poverty rates than the general population," he said.

Fewer than five per cent of Filipino-Canadians fell below the poverty line in 2020, compared to over eight per cent of the general population.

"But they also have lower wages," said Bernard. "They have lower employment income."

Filipino wage-earners average $26.59 per hour, as opposed to a national average of $33.22 per hour and $31.23 per hour for all racialized groups.

Filipinos "tend to be over-represented in certain industries and occupations," Bernard said. "For example, over a quarter of women are working in health occupations. That's much more than for the general population.

"As well, men are more likely to work in manufacturing and utilities than the general population."