Filipino Canadians had mixed reactions towards the anti-mass immigration billboards posted in Toronto, Canada.
One of the billboards showed People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier photo with the caption “Say No to Mass Immigration.”
However, the controversial billboard has been removed after negative comments from the public.
A Filipino immigrant said, “Bilang immigrant, para sa akin masakit yun kasi nagpunta ko rito dahil alam kong magkakaron ako ng maandag buhay, marami akong matutulungan. Ngayon kung yung mga taong puputulin nila ang pagkakaron ng naraming immigrant dito, di parang pinutulan na rin sila ng buhay.” (As an immigrant, it’s painful for me because I went here because I know I’ll have a better life here, I can help more people. Now that these people want to cut having immigrants here, then it’s like they also cut someone’s life.)
On the other hand, a Canadian said, “At last somebody had the guts to express openly the sentiment of most Canadians that are against undocumented people who claim to be refugees.”
The Liberal government has a contradicting position with regard to anti-mass immigration billboards in Canada. The liberals plan to continue to increase the number of immigrants if they will still have another term.
Hon. Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration said, “We’ve increased the number of spaces to allow more Canadians to sponsor refugees. We’ve reunited more families than ever before. We have also listened to the business community and employers to allow them to bring more workers to Canada. We’ve increased the provincial nominee program. We’ve dealt with the backlogs in programs like the caregiver program.”
Filipino Canadians immigrants
Over the last three years, Canada had a 1.4% increase in population from 2017 to 2018. The increase was due to natural increase (births and deaths) and the influx of immigrants in the country.
Canada welcomed 303,257 immigrants from 2017 to 2018.
As of April 2018 census, there are a total of 901,218 Filipinos in Canada or 2.6% of Canada’s national population.