Commentary

Winnipeg, Canada Day 2024 (5-minute read): Filipino Heritage Month as a pan-Canadian event has become a natural prelude to Canada Day. Although not by design, it is a beautiful happenstance. 

April 16, 2024 -  Bill C-3 - The Canada Health Act of 1984 – known as Canada’s Medicare – turns 40 this month! Forty years ago in April 1984, Parliament adopted Bill C-3 to enhance accessibility to health care by explicitly prohibiting extra billing by physicians and user fees by health care facilities and by adding ‘accessibility’ as an additional criterion to the four principles enshrined in the Medical Care Act of 1966, the predecessor and first national health care insurance law in Canada.

January 16, 2024 (a 6-minute read) -  Five public health concerns have been raised recently about the new and dominant COVID-19 JN.1 subvariant.

December 16, 2023 — Elsewhere in this issue of CanadianFilipinoNet is the feature story by our Editor about the all-Filipino musical Ma-Buhay. Earlier last month in its November 16^th issue, the Winnipeg-based Pilipino Express newsmagazine headlined this all-Filipino musical as its cover story.One subject, two highlights.One complements the other. 

December 1, 2023: On May 5^th of this year – nearly three-and-a-half years after WHO issued the highest international public health alert in January 2020 – COVID-19 ended as a global public health emergency, thanks to mass vaccination (over 100 million vaccine doses safely administered in Canada and over 12 billion globally).Until then, the dreaded waves of illness and death appeared never-ending.

September 1, 2023 - On April 30, around 40 Filipinos and allies gathered for a panel discussion in honour of International Workers’ Day that drew links of solidarity between the Filipino diaspora and Canadian workers. 

[Editor’s Note:This commentary is from Dr. Pagtakhan’s column, Medisina at Politika, published in Pilipino Express based in Winnipeg.]

June 1, 2023 - Recently, a family friend invited us and our common close friends to a birthday dinner celebration in a restaurant, adding the statement “Thanks, COVID is now over.” 

[Editor’s Note: Dr. Pagtakhan, a retired lung specialist and professor of pediatrics and child health from the University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine and former MP and cabinet minister,

[ Editor’s Note: Dr. Rey Pagtakhan was one of the three Members of Parliament on the Canadian Parliamentary delegation that observed in Kiev the 1991-referendum-vote on Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union and was, subsequently, a preceptor (1992-1999) to successive Ukrainian parliamentary interns under the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program.

[Editor’s Note: Dr. Rey – a retired physician and professor and former Member of Parliament (MP) and cabinet minister – has publicly championed Canada’s Medicare since his first election as MP in 1988.

[Editor’s Note:Dr. Rey – a retired physician, professor and politician – shares his insights on this topic as the First Ministers – the Prime Minister and 10 Premiers – actively negotiate a new Health Accord.

Ed’s Note:This is Part 3 of Dr. Pagtakhan’s ongoing previewof the forthcoming book, Indomitable Canadian Filipinos.It focuses on its value and significance. Part 1 covers the scope and purpose and Part 2 the contents and themes.

Editor’s Note:This is Part 46 of Dr. Pagtakhan’s series on COVID-19 from his Pilipino Expresscolumn, Medisina at Politika.

[Editor’s Note: In February 2020, CFNet started publishing Dr. Rey Pagtakhan’s Commentary on COVID-19 from his Pilipino Express column, Medisina at Politika.

[Ed’s Note: This is Part 2 of Dr. Rey Pagtakhan’s ongoing preview of CFNet’s forthcoming book, Indomitable Canadian Filipinos, edited by Eleanor R. Laquian. Dr. Pagtakhan is a retired physician, professor and parliamentarian and the author of several articles and chapters in medical journals  and textbooks.]