April 16, 2026–Vancouver Magazine annual list of 50 people powering the city in 2026 includes a Filipino for the first time – RJ Aquino, chair of FiipinoBC, for speaking out and up for the Filipino community in BC.
This year’s Power 50 theme is philanthropy and community building and features an impressive group of 50 Vancouverites put together, after countless weeks of polling experts around the city.
As always, the list of 50 influential people in BC includes the usual financial entrepreneurs and C-suite leaders (CEO, CFO. COO) among the 50 but in 2026, they are celebrated more for what they do beyond their financial reports and accomplishments.
These influencers are folks who put B.C. onto the global stage by developing world-class sustainability initiatives, creating jobs during a tough economic time or raising record-breaking amounts for charitable causes closest to home.
Alongside these thought leaders, this year’s list of Power 50 includes artists, athletes and activists who are doing their part to make life in Vancouver the best it can ever be. Whatever industry and community they’re coming from: the list shows people power at its finest.
RJ Aquino, community activist and organizer
When tragedy befell Vancouver’s Filipino community at the Lapu Lapu Festival last spring, RJ Aquino as chair of FilipinoBC and organizer of the annual Lapulapu Day Festival was on the front lines—not just to mourn with the rest of the community and city, but to demand action and government support for his community.
His leadership extends beyond crisis response: he has been be a vocal champion for the creation of a Filipino Community and Cultural Centre for years, conducting surveys and townhall meetings to find out what the community wants in its community centre.
Rooted in the values of kapwa (shared humanity) and bayanihan (mutual support), the centre is intended to be a permanent home where Filipino traditions are preserved and culture celebrated—while delivering programs that fill service gaps and care beyond the Filipino community to all Vancouverites.
https://www.canadianfilipino.net/news/filipino-bc-announces-partnership-with-hungerford-to-build-filipino-community-and-cultural-centre-in-south-vancouver
This year, the Filipino community‘s calls for a community centre they can call their own were finally answered, and a Filipino Community and Cultural Centre (FCCC) received federal funding commitment in Canada’s 2025 budget—placing it alongside the Chinese Canadian Museum and upcoming South Asian Museum as key cultural priorities.
FilipinoBC in partnership with Hungerford Properties has submitted a proposal to the federal government to build a Filipino Community and Cultural Center in South Vancouver where Philippine culture and traditions are preserved and programs of care are extended beyond the Filipino diaspora to the wider Vancouver community at large. ERL
Editor of Canadian Filipino Net
Eleanor R. Laquian has written four best-selling books, and co-authored four others with husband Prod Laquian. She has served in various capacities at the University of British Columbia’s Institute of Asian Research as manager of administration and programs; editor and chair, publications committee; and primary researcher of the Asian Immigration to Canada project. She has a degree in journalism from Maryknoll College in the Philippines, and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of the Philippines. She did postgraduate studies at the School of Public Communications, Boston University in the U.S.
She has been researching and writing about Filipino immigration to Canada since 1969. For her Master's degree in Public Administration at the university of the Philippines, she conducted in 1972 the first, and up to now, the only nationwide survey of Filipinos in Canada. It was done by mailed questionnaires with self addressed stamped envelopes for replies and followed up by personal in depth interviews of respondents who agreed to be interviewed, Interviews were done on a two-week drive from Ottawa to Vancouver in the summer of '72.
Her Master's thesis was published in 1973 in Ottawa by the United Council of Filipino Associations in Canada. It was titled A Study of Filipino Immigrants in Canada, 1962 - 1972. As the primary researcher of UBC Institute of Asian Research immigration Project, she edited in 1998 a book titled The Silent Debate: Asian Immigration and Racism in Canada published by UBC. In 2005 she co-authored with her husband a book to update her MA thesis and titled it Seeking a Better Life Abroad: A Study of Filipinos in Canada 1957 - 2007. It was published in 2008 by Anvil Publishing in Manila.In 2023 she edited Indomitable Canadian Filipinos, a book on the 70-year history of Filipinos in Canada, published by Friesen Press in Manitoba, Canada.
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