When I asked my children what they wanted for dinner one evening, they said, “We want Filipino food.” That gave me pause, because at their age, it never occurred to me to qualify what I eat. Everything I ate was Filipino food.

Schools across Surrey and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia have been struggling to find ways to solve overcrowding in classrooms. With overcrowded schools, are the students getting the help that they require?

Editor’s note: We are pleased to feature this essay by our newest contributor Carissa Duenas based in Toronto, Ontario. The essay was first published in The Globe and Mail on November 3, 2017. You can read more of Carissa’s work in her personal website www.carissaduenas.com.

I am an immigrant, but I’m careful to use the word “home” these days. In fact, sometimes I’d rather not use the word at all. It’s not because I feel like I don’t have one. On the contrary, it’s because I have two. By saying, “This place is home,” I worry that the other place that is just as close to my heart will be perceived to be of less significance.

Among Filipinos in Canada today, there are two distinct groups that will eventually become the face of Canadian Filipinos of the future: Filipinos who arrived young in Canada with their immigrant parents and grew up here (1.5 generation), and those who were born and raised in Canada to Filipino parents (second generation).