Filipinos are No. 1!

For the first time, Filipinos are the largest source of immigrants and temporary workers for Canada, overtaking the traditionally largest source country China.

The number of Filipinos who chose to move to Canada permanently and temporarily rose to 19,064 immigrants and 15,254 temporary workers in 2007, surpassing China’s numbers.

Jack Jedwab, executive director of the Association for Canadian Studies, says that the increase is partly explained by Canada’s focus on temporary workers, and the fact that many Filipinos fill caregiver and service-sector jobs particularly in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia, which have all recently signed labour agreements with Manila.

Jedwab also said the figures represent changing economic conditions in those countries where Canada has traditionally sourced its immigrants and temporary workers, particularly bustling China and booming India.

During 2005-07, the number of Chinese people who moved to Canada decreased by one-third, while those from India (the second largest source) dropped by 20 per cent over the same period.

The number of Filipinos migrating to Canada, meanwhile, has more than doubled over the past decade.

"Fewer Chinese workers are coming in because of the economic boom there, and we are filling service-sector jobs with Filipinos," explained Jedwab.

Altogether, Canada granted 236,758 permanent residency Canadian visas last year and 115,470 temporary Canadian work permits. The latter category nearly doubled since 1998.

Flordeliz Dandal, executive director of the Kababayan Community Centre in Toronto, said Filipinos who move to Canada are still largely focused on sending remittances to family left in The Philippines.

"Most Filipinos who come to Canada are really motivated to work and then send their salaries back home," Dandal said. "They don’t care about politics, and they don’t yet have time to engage in Canadian political life unless they have been here a long time."

While Overseas Filipino Workers in much of Asia are being effected by the global financial crisis, with the Philippine labour department this week reporting some 2,000 job losses for workers in Taiwan and thousands more in South Korea, Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said Filipino workers "so far" remain in high demand in Canada, as well as in Middle East countries and Australia.

Romulo met separately with Philippine Labour Secretary Marianito Roque and Bangko Sentral Governor Amando Tetangco last week to discuss the impact of the global financial crisis on the more than 8 million Filipino migrant workers and their billions of dollars in remittances, which continue to prop up the Philippine economy.

"Fortunately, so far, Filipinos are not affected by the financial crisis," said Romulo at a press conference in Manila.

"Governor Tetangco assured me that the remittances of the Filipino workers are expected to even improve during the first half of the 2009 but as to the second half, he [referring to Tetangco] could not make a projection yet," added Romulo.

All the same, the Philippine government is monitoring the impact of the financial crisis on its OFW’s.

At the onset of the global financial turmoil that originated in the U.S., The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs issued instructions to all Philippine embassies and consulates to monitor possible job displacement of Filipino workers – particularly in the U.S., where there are more than two million Filipino migrant workers.

In terms of the number of Permanent Residents in Canada, Chinese-Canadians and Indian-Canadians still make up the two largest groups, with the Filipino population making up the third largest group.

Significantly, the Filipino population in Canada has more than doubled in the past 10 years, boosting the steadily growing Canadian population to 33,441,300 people. Canada remains an attractive option for immigrants, particularly Filipinos.

With their solid training, firm grasp on English and extensive family networks, Filipinos find the transition to life in Canada relatively painless.

And Canada has been grateful for the contributions of workers from abroad, establishing a vast network of settlement services to help them feel at home.

In fact, a recent HSBC survey has given Canada the top spot in terms of how friendly and welcoming locals are to newcomers.

According to the HSBC Bank International’s Expat Explorer Survey, people who relocate to Canada have "a relatively easy time befriending locals, joining a local community group and learning the language."

Ninety-five per cent of those surveyed said that they have made friends with Canadian locals. (Germany was ranked a close second at 92 per cent, followed by Australia at 91 per cent).

The study surveyed 2,155 expats in 48 countries and measured the countries’ relative friendliness based on four categories: number of respondents who joined a community group, number who learned the local language, percentage who bought property, and respondents’ ability to befriend locals.

Meanwhile, teachers, nurses and caregivers remain the most popular choices of occupation for Filipinos, with two-thirds of those pursuing these professions being women. It is no coincidence that these occupations are in high demand overseas in countries like Canada.