'I can not describe in words what you did'

By Alex P. Vidal

SURREY, British Columbia -- Jagrup Brar admitted he had an inkling that a group of well-wishers from the Filipino community was planning to visit him in his constituency office in Fleetwood on Thursday (February 9) afternoon.
But the behemoth Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) did not know he would be serenaded by two famous Filipino-Canadian teens and presented with a scrapbook by the president of the Surrey Philippine Independence Day Society (SPIDS) in a brief ceremony. Brar, who represents the Surrey-Fleetwood in the Parliament, has been dominating newspaper and TV headlines since the conclusion of his 31-day sojourn as homeless resident living on the province's monthly rate last January 31.
Narima Dela Cruz, SPIDS president and founding director, led a small group from the Filipino community to honour Brar "for your exemplary deed and for giving us inspiration."

SCRAPBOOK

Dela Cruz, a successful realtor and civic leader, presented Brar with a scrapbook containing newspaper clippings and journals she compiled since the start of Brar's symbolic act of fighting poverty by living on a $610 welfare fund whole month of January 2012."What you did I can not describe in words," Brar told Dela Cruz at the conclusion of the ceremony. "This means you are telling me that what I did was right.""This is nothing compared to what you did," retorted Dela Cruz, whose 11-year-old daughter, Glisha, sang Mandi Moore's "Only Hope" dedicated to the New Democratic Party (NDP) stalwart from Fleetwood.New York-bound Nhemy JJ Cepeda Jr. completed the tribute by belting Mariah Carey's "Hero".
Ruby Bhandal, Brar's constituency assistance, said the MLA was touched by the gesture of Dela Cruz's group. "Coming from your community, this gesture is really something," she commented.

CHALLENGE

Brar's month-long experiment was part of the Welfare Challenge to all MLAs put forward by a Vancouver-based group called Raise the Rates."It took us three months to figure out what this was all about," said Brar who explained that seventy percent of the people were asking him why he did the challenge."I asked the opinion of my daughter, Noor, who told me, 'I think you should do it and make a difference,'" Brar added. "My staff also pushed me to do it."Brar also spoke of the myriad painful stories he has heard over the last month. Brar disclosed that in British Columbia, 319,000 or 64 percent of the 500,000 people living below poverty line are working in poverty. Of this number, 96,000 are living with disability. The government is spending $70 million a year to help people secure jobs, he said.

EXPERIENCE

"Because of that experience (31-day journey), I was able to tell about the poverty which was somewhat difficult at times. But the next part, which is making a positive change in the lives of those living in poverty, is going to be the hardest, I know that. But we can't afford not to do anything," he narrated.Born in India, Jagrup was a member of the Indian National Basketball team and earned a master’s degree in Philosophy. He then moved to Canada to study at the University of Manitoba where he earned a Master's degree in Public Administration, MPA. Brar moved to British Columbia from Winnipeg 16 years ago. Since then, Brar and his family have put down strong roots in Surrey.

PUBLIC

For over a decade, Brar worked in the public and non-profit sectors, assisting professionals with career development and working with employers to develop strategies to recruit a highly-skilled, multicultural workforce. As the Executive Director of the Surrey Self Employment and Entrepreneur Development Society (SEEDS), Brar trained new entrepreneurs to develop and launch successful small business ventures.Also present during the program were Miss Pacific North west Junior Teen Erika Teguibon, Carmencito Palomares-Schijven, PNT Idol's Nemecio Cepeda Sr., FYE Live's Jerry "PapaBear" Legaspi who acted as emcee, Rotary Club of Surrey Fraser Heights president Kuldip K. Ardawa, Engr. Joel Dela Cruz, among other guests.

Educator Jackie Diy: Our smile is felt through our voice

By Alex P. Vidal

BURNABY, British Columbia -- Never hesitate to smile. Your smile is felt through your voice and no amount of words will ever make up for that one simple smile.
This was the message educator and enterpreneur Jackie Diy shared to readers of Connections, official corporate magazine of FortisBC Inc., which featured Diy in its January 2012 cover story. 
Formerly a subject matter expert and trainer for eBay, Inc. which closed its Burnaby contact centre in 2009, Diy has returned to Willingdon Business Park (Burnaby) this time to join BC’s utility company, FortisBC. 
"Customer service is about making your customers feel that they are important and this should radiate through your tone, manners, efficiency and the quality of service that you provide," quipped Diy.  
"It is making sure that whatever it is you do for them today will create a good and lasting relationship down the road."


MENTOR 


Diy, one of the mentors of the recently organized "FYE Live" marketed by the Surrey-based Maxipro Entertainment, emphasized that "customer service is your willingness and ability to fully represent your organization in the best possible way."
"Through your words and actions," Diy explained, "you are able to create satisfied customers who in turn spread the good word about the company you work for." 
Connections is issued quarterly and features news and articles about the company and its employees, the community, market, energy products, etc. 
The January 2012 issue is highly important because it talks about the return of FortisBC’s customer service from outsourced companies to in-house – news that customers embraced with excitement as the change was communicated to them before the end of 2011. 


LARGEST


In 2004, Fortis Inc., the largest investor-owned distribution utility in Canada, acquired all the distribution, transmission and generation assets of the West Kootenay Power and Light Company and renamed it FortisBC Inc. In 2007, Fortis Inc. purchased Terasen Inc., which included the Terasen Gas group of companies, from Houston-based Kinder Morgan Inc.
In July 2010, Terasen Inc. and FortisBC Inc. started sharing the same leadership team. Then, on March 1, 2011, the Terasen group of companies began operating under the FortisBC brand name. 
Today, the natural gas and electricity businesses continue to operate as before, as separate legal entities, while sharing the name FortisBC.

'We need more immigrants to build Canada'

.By Alex P. Vidal

APV and Minister Harry Bloy

The State Ministers

PORT MOODY, British Columbia -- In the next 15 years, Canada will need 650,000 skilled laborers, Minister of State for Multiculturalism Harry Bloy disclosed during a gathering of four state ministers and representatives of Filipino community at the Inlet Theater on February 6.
"Immigration has built this country," Bloy declared. "We need you (immigrants) to continue to build this country."
He assured the third largest ethnic community in Canada that "we are always prepared to listen and work with all of you to the best that we can."
Bloy emphasized that Premier Christy Clark has a "family first" policy saying "we all share the same values and we shall continue to build jobs so you can provide for your families."
Bloy and Clark's chief of staff Pamela Martin represented the Premier in the two-hour program. They were joined by Health Minister Mike de Jong, Social Development Minister Stephanie Cadieux, and Labor Minister Margaret MacDiarmid. 


CENTER


When asked by Salvacion Dayao of the Philippine Canadian Trade Center about the possibility that the federal government will help the Filipino-Canadian community build its first-ever Philippine Cultural Heritage Center, the Liberal MLA demoted by Clark in September 2011 for his failure to measure up to the demands of communicating program changes that were affecting developmentally disabled clients and their families, made a safe answer.
"All I can deliver tonight is my moral support. I am willing to sit down with you on this matter," said Bloy. 
He did not elaborate.
Immigration Watch Canada, meanwhile, scored Canada’s major political parties for adopting the attitude that "they know what is best for Canadians and that Canadians do not have to be consulted when major decisions are made."


PER YEAR


"Why Is Canada bringing in 250,000+immigrants per year?" asked the Immigration Watch Canada. "Ottawa has never provided a logical answer to that question. In fact, it has withheld vital information or tried to deceive Canadians with false claims about the benefits of immigration."
It added: "We believe Canada should have some immigration, but that immigration levels should be reduced to about 50,000, that is, to about 20% of the current annual 250,000 intake. We advocate that  the 50,000 intake level should be kept in place indefinitely to compensate for the immigration disaster that has occurred in the past 20 years.
"We also advocate a significant reduction to Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker program which currently allows  another 250,000+ non-Canadians to work in Canada every year. The 250,000 consists of about 180,000 new workers who enter Canada each year + another 70,000+ who are already here. 


ABUSED


"This program is being widely abused by employers and should probably be reduced to nearly zero. In any recession (this past one and others), it is madness  for a country to be importing large numbers of immigrants as well as large numbers of Temporary Foreign Workers.
"In addition to a reduction of Canada’s immigration intake to 50,000 per year and a dramatic cut to Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker program, we also call for major reform to many of Canada’s other immigration policies." 

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH MINISTER STEPHANIE CADIEUX

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH 
MINISTER STEPHANIE CADIEUX

PORT MOODY, British Columbia -- Wheelchair-bound Cadieux is a Canadian politician, who was elected as a BC Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2009 provincial election, representing the riding of Surrey-Panorama. She is currently the Minister of Social Development, having previously served as Minister of Labour, Citizens’ Services and Open Government and Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development.
Cadieux currently chairs the Cabinet Committee on Open Government and Engagement and is a member of the Cabinet Priorities and Planning Committee. She is also a member of the Select Standing Committees on Health and on Children and Youth, and a former member of the Special Committee to Review the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.


PARAPLEGIC


Cadieux, formerly the director of marketing and development for the BC Paraplegic Association, has been a wheelchair user since a car accident at age 18. She is the second wheelchair user, following Doug Mowat, ever elected to the provincial legislature.
Before her life in public office, she served as the director of marketing and development for the BC Paraplegic Association and manager of accessibility for 2010 Legacies Now Society. Her leadership and resourcefulness led her to be voted one of Business in Vancouver’s Top 40 Under 40 for 2007.


VOLUNTEERISM


She has also long demonstrated her commitment to volunteerism and non-profit organizations, whether in her community or beyond. She has served as President of the Realwheels Society; Ambassador for the Rick Hansen Man in Motion Foundation; a researcher and member of the advisory panel for the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), a member of the Diversity Advisory Committee for Global BC and as a mentor with the YWCA.


DELEGATE


She has traveled extensively including Europe, Central America, Africa and North America, some of which has been as a delegate for international development work with people with disabilities in developing countries.

'Everyday Hero optometrist' meets Premier Clark

'Everyday Hero' doc 

meets Premier Clark

By Alex P. Vidal

Dr. Marina Roma-March talks to Pamela Martin

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- A multi-awarded Filipino-Canadian doctor known for providing "the gift of vision to those living in the third world," met B.C. Premier Christy Clark during the thanksgiving luncheon tendered for the top leader of the B.C. Liberals on February 3 at the Josephine's Restaurant on Main Street.

Dr. Marina Roma-March first had a brief conversation with Clark's chief of staff Pamela Martin before the ceremonies started where Clark was awarded with a plaque of appreciation for donating $25,000 to the International Red Cross for typhoon victims in the Philippines.

Roma-March was among those who congratulated Clark for her gesture and for honoring the invitation from leaders of the Filipino-Canadian Community to grace the occasion which was a first meeting between a Canadian Premier and leaders of the community.

Roma-March has been recognized by various organizations for her vision to fix the problem of hundreds of thousands of people around the world who suffer from impaired vision and cannot afford basic essentials such as eyeglasses--which is often the situation in many Third World countries.

CRUSADE

Her crusade began 18 years ago, when she was a second-year optometry student at the University of British Columbia. 

"At the time," Kevin Newman wrote in Global National's Everyday Hero, "she realized that a countless number Canadians purchase new prescription eyeglasses every year...and promptly dispose of their old frames. For some, it's a matter of increasing the prescription. For others, it's a matter of getting the latest styles in spectacle fashion.

"But for those less fortunate, having the ability to see--clearly--is the gift of a lifetime.

"So Roma-March and a handful of friends drove from Vancouver, B.C., to Baja, Mexico with a car-full of used eyeglasses they had collected, with the goal of distributing them to those in need.

NEED

"When she arrived, she quickly found that the need was much more than what she expected. In fact, as she began researching the issue, Roma-March came across countless individuals in nearly a dozen Third World countries who were in desperate need of corrective lenses. 

"It was then that Roma-March decided to use her influence in the optometry field -- and her abilities as a Canadian -- to address the situation: With just $100, she founded the Third World Eye Care Society (TWECS). 

"'As an immigrant, I feel very blessed to be living in Canada where there are so many opportunities,' said Roma-March. 'It’s the thought that hundreds of millions of people don’t have the same great fortune, and they live in repressed societies where finding food for the day is in itself an accomplishment.'

'The B.C.-based organization began knocking on doors and asking for donations of used eyeglasses, and within its first six months, the group had accumulated thousands of pairs.

'TWECS members, all volunteers, then spent hours in a warehouse sorting, measuring, cleaning, labeling and packaging the eyeglasses. Cash donations they collected were used to cover some of the costs of sterilizing the frames and lenses.

PATIENTS 

"'If you think about it, the patients that we see in the Third World and the glasses that we give them may be the last pair of their life,' said Roma-March. 'We want to give them a decent pair and something that's going to last.'

But the work didn't stop there.

"The volunteers then paid out of their own pockets for travel and expenses to Third World countries, establishing mobile eyeglass clinics in regions where corrective lenses would typically cost over a month’s wages and were simply not affordable.

"The majority of those who arrive at the clinics have needed eyeglasses their entire lives, but are only receiving their first pair through TWECS, and the sudden clarity in vision is life-changing.

"'That’s the sad thing,' says Roma-March. 'If they can’t see, they go to school where they are a burden to the school system, because someone has to read for them and someone has to write for them.'

"'So they just stay at home and they’re basically crippled,' she adds.

CLINICS

"So far, TWECS has held clinics in Peru, Bolivia, Cambodia, Kenya and the Philippines, where during a typical two-week trip, their mobile clinics help up to 3,000 people with their vision through eye exams, eyeglass fittings, and where the location and facilities permit, cataract surgeries.

"'We’ve given away over 35,000,' said Roma-March. 'But in the warehouse we have about 250,000.' 

"She says one of the most fulfilling experiences is 'when you see a mother who receives a pair of eyeglasses for the first time, and also for the first time, sees her boy’s face -- it’s incredible.'

'Roma-March has now recruited over 300 Canadians over the past decade to help with her mission. An upcoming trip to Zanzibar has been planned for Fall 2006; after that, a TWECS team will head to a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut.

'But wherever Roma-March and her volunteers go, and whoever they touch, young and old, the results are sure to be the same.

"'I guess that is what we all live for,' she says. 'To hope that when we do leave this world; that when we look back we can say that yes, we made a difference, whether that be through a pair of eyeglasses or an organ donation -- we made a difference.'"

CHRISTY CLARK HOBNOBS WITH FIL-CAN LEADERS

CHRISTY CLARK HOBNOBS 
WITH FIL-CAN LEADERS


'Being the first premier to talk to Filipino community is an honor'

By Alex P. Vidal


VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- B.C. Premier Christiana Joan "Christy" Clark considered as "an honor and privilege" the time she spent with leaders of the Filipino-Canadian community on February 3 even as she took pride in being the first premier to mingle with prominent characters in the third largest ethnic group in Canada at the Josephine's Restaurant on Main Street.
"We all feel equally Canadians and we care about a couple of things that matter," said Clark of B.C. Liberals.
Sworn in as premier on March 14, 2011 after she won the leadership of the BC Liberal Party in the 2011 leadership election on February 26, 2011, Clark, 46, was awarded with plaque of appreciation by organizers of Damayan concert led by Reyfort Media Group chairman Rey Fortaleza for donating $25,000 to victims of recent typhoons in the Philippines via International Red Cross.

CHARACTER


She exhorted Filipino community leaders to continue instilling good character to their children "so we can produce great citizens and build a great country."
"We depend on our uncles and aunts, our sisters and brothers and our parents in instilling characters and you all represent your family," said Clark, who served as minister of education, minister of children and family development and deputy premier prior to re-entering the legislature after winning by election on May 11, 2011 in Vancouver-Point Grey, the riding vacated by her predecessor as premier, Gordon Campbell.

Philippine Consul General Jose Ampeso led those invited to join the Premier in a three-hour program. Others were Edmonton Honorary Consul Emelinda Abbulos, Consul Anthony Mandap, Elena Agala (Waray Canada Association), Tomas Avendano (Multicultural Helping House Society), Carmelita Tapia (Asean Federation/Philippine Canada Trade Council), Narima Dela Cruz (Surrey Philippine Independence Day Society), Rene Bahena (Philippine Festival Association), Freddie Bagunu (Filipino Seniors Club of B.C.), Bobby Refol (Ati-Atihan Festival), Ferdinand Salangga (Philippine Veterans Association), Soccoro Laurel (FCCHS/MV-PACES), Romeo Mercado (Forever Young Seniors Group), Laarni Liwanag (Philippine Canada Trade Council), Alan Coo (Philippine Airlines), host Socorro "Babes" Newland, Jackie diy, and Debbie Arkoncel (Maxi-Pro Entertainment), Perla Peralta (Seniors Association).


SOCIETY


Also invited were Lita Nuguid (Richmond Society), Ray Songco (Palengkeng Pinoy Business Group), Haydee De Pedro (Circulo Ilonggo Association of B.C.), Elsie Edillor and Bert Parungao (Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants), Maria Javier (Godmother's Agency), Luisa Marshall (International Entertainer/TV producer), Alan Yong (Times Telecom/Philippine Canadian Inquirer), Alvin Relleve (FCCHS/MV-PACES), Dr. Marina Roma-March (Third World Eye Care Society), Joselito Palencia (FILCO-OP), Michael Cayetano (MHHS) and Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, among others.
Clark was first elected to the legislature in the 1996 election, representing the riding of Port Moody-Burnaby Mountain. During the next five years, she served as the Official Opposition critic for the environment, children and families and for the public service. She also served as the campaign co-chair for the BC Liberals during the 2001 election, in which the party won 77 of 79 seats in the legislature.

MAYOR BISTEK BAUTISTA SAYS 'THANK YOU'

MAYOR BISTEK BAUTISTA 
SAYS 'THANK YOU'

VANCOUVER, British Columbia --Two days after I made an exclusive interview with Quezon City Mayor Herbert "Bistek" Bautista, we met again during the luncheon in honor of B.C. Premier Christy Clark at the Josephine's on Main St., Vancouver, B.C. Bautista attended the Cities Summit 2012 on February 1-2. "Alex, thank you for your write-up. It was informative and I like it. Thank you for your warm welcome. My staff in the Philippines have informed me they read your story in the internet." Mayor Bistek was introduced to me by Philippine Consul General Jose Ampeso during a private dinner at the house of Sister City founder Annie Miles last January 31 on Prince Edward.