Attention: Premier David Eby (BC NDP), Interim Leader Lorne Doerkson (Conservative Party of BC), Leader Emily Lowan (BC Green Party), Interim Leader Dallas Brodie (OneBC), Leader Elenore Sturko (CentreBC), All Registered Candidates for the British Columbia Legislative Assembly
Dear Leaders and Candidates,
Re: Equity, Health, and Charter Principles for Vancouver’s Envisioned FCCC
October 1, 2026 — On behalf of Canadian Filipino Net (CFNet)—a non-partisan, not-for-profit, and non-commercial community publication that has served our nationwide community for over a decade—we are writing to secure your firm commitment to an equitable, visionary future for British Columbia’s Canadian Filipino diaspora. As our province approaches the election, CFNet is fiercely looking out for our diaspora’s long-term interests, ensuring that the heavily anticipated Filipino Community and Cultural Centre (FCCC) project is built on solid ground rather than becoming permanently stuck in bureaucratic, political, or legal limbo. As outlined in our recent commentary, “The Wellness Wing: This Is Our Moment,” establishing a physical cultural hub with a dedicated Wellness Wing is an urgent necessity.
While municipal bodies handle local zoning, the ultimate realization of this Centre requires a provincial partner willing to back capital infrastructure and healthcare operational delivery. Therefore, we call on all provincial party leaders and local MLA candidates to commit to a neutral, merit-based site evaluation process that treats both the Mount Pleasant framework and the South Vancouver transit-hub proposal with equal, rigorous consideration.
To ensure this Centre successfully serves British Columbians for generations, its provincial blueprint must be based on two essential pillars:
1. A Wellness Wing Anchored in the WHO Definition of Health
The envisioned Centre must include a dedicated, fully integrated Wellness Wing. We urge the next provincial government to reject a narrow view of healthcare as merely clinic space. Instead, this wing must be structurally and operationally funded around the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of health: "A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
For our community—which includes a vast, vital population of frontline healthcare workers, long-term care aides, and aging seniors—this means a provincially backed space dedicated to culturally responsive mental health support, social connection, and community-led care navigation.
2. Provincial Alignment with Section 27 of the Canadian Charter
We remind all provincial candidates that cultural funding and infrastructure decisions do not exist in a vacuum. Your election platform's approach to this Centre must reflect Section 27 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which mandates that the laws of Canada be interpreted: "...in a manner consistent with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians."
Upholding Section 27 obliges the Province of British Columbia to recognize the Canadian Filipino community as an integral component of the province’s multicultural citizenry. This requires an equitable provincial site assessment that prioritizes maximum transit connectivity, financial transparency, and community equity.
Critical Provincial Assessment Criteria for Candidates to Champion
To safeguard the community’s future and trust, we demand that your party evaluate provincial support for the proposed sites using the following objective benchmarks:
- Address the Barrier of Hiya Through Architectural Privacy: In Filipino culture, hiya (a deep sense of shame or losing face) frequently prevents individuals from seeking vital mental health support or care. The provincially funded layout must be engineered for absolute privacy and discretion. It must feature private entrances and dignified, stigma-free pathways so community members can access wellness/psychological services without fear of judgment or hiya.
- Future-Proofing and Space for Growth: The selected site cannot be a static, cramped space. It must provide physical and operational room for growth, enabling the Wellness Wing to evolve alongside the changing demographic and healthcare needs of BC’s diaspora.
- A Hub for Educational and Applied Research Partnerships: The project must be large enough to allocate dedicated, permanent spaces to British Columbia's leading colleges and universities. By creating formal partnerships with post-secondary institutions, this wing will advance pioneering educational and applied research in the field of trauma-informed care—transforming British Columbia into a national hub of excellence for culturally specific healthcare innovation.
- Legal Stability, Site Readiness, and Funding Certainty: The selected property must possess a clear legal title, free from ownership disputes, litigation, or restrictive encumbrances that could trigger severe construction delays. Delayed timelines directly result in exponential cost escalation due to inflation. Senior government and philanthropic partners require legal certainty prior to releasing capital grants. The provincial government must commit to an objective risk assessment of both sites to safeguard public and community investments in a legally secure, shovel-ready property.
- Funder Attraction and Operational Sustainability: While initial capital grants build walls, provincial health frameworks dictate long-term operational sustainability. The chosen property must maximize eligibility for joint Provincial-Federal infrastructure streams and have the structural capacity to foster a self-sustaining ecosystem—blending community care with academic research grants, revenue-generating cultural events, and potential social enterprise spaces so it thrives financially for decades without reliance on ongoing or requiring emergency provincial bailouts.
Our Questions to Your Party:
An infrastructure and health project of this magnitude requires direct, proactive government engagement to ensure regulatory compliance and long-term sustainability. It cannot be left to well-meaning, volunteer-run community associations to navigate localized stalemates or complex legal deadlocks.
Therefore, Canadian Filipino Net formally requests your explicit commitments under two distinct governing scenarios:
I. When Your Party Forms the Next Government (Majority or Minority):
As Party Leader and Premier, will you commit, within your first 30 days in office, to appointing an Independent Commission of Inquiry—modeled after the Hinkson Inquiry—to deliver within six months a binding recommendation on the final site for the envisioned center that legally mandates the inclusion of a 15,000-square-foot Wellness Wing, and ensure the project is fully shovel-ready with provincial funding earmarked by December 31, 2027?
II. When Your Party Sits in the Legislature as an Opposition or Coalition Partner:
As Party Leader, will you formally pledge to lend your legislative voice, votes, and cross-party support to whoever forms the government to ensure this Independent Commission of Inquiry and its shovel-ready funding deadlines are passed unanimously without partisan delay?
This is our community’s moment. We look forward to publishing your responses to share with our readers across British Columbia.
Sincerely,
Dr. Rey Pagtakhan, P.C., O.M.
1-204-807-3135
