MOOSE JAW — For the first time in Moose Jaw’s history, a Filipino interest group has been nominated for a national award that recognizes the contributions that individuals and groups make to their communities.
Members of the Filipino community created the Filipino Health Care Workers in Moose Jaw (FHCWMJ) group in December 2023, and after only 18 months, its efforts have been recognized at the national level.
The third annual Global Bayanihan Gawad Parangal Canada Awards ceremony takes place on Saturday, July 19, in Saskatoon, and the Moose Jaw group has been nominated for a health-care award.
“The recipient of this award manifests extraordinary sacrifices and contributions to the profession, something that best exemplifies the essence of the Bayanihan spirit,” the awards ceremony website says.
In Tagalog, “bayanihan” means community spirit or unity through co-operation, while Gawad means award and Parangal means honours.
The FHCWMJ is a subgroup of the main organization that represents the Filipino community in Moose Jaw, but is a professional body for health-care workers, explained co-founder Aldrin Vasquez. Most members are immigrants from the Philippines while some were born in Canada, and some live in Regina while the rest live here.
Some Filipinos who work at Province Place started an online group in December 2018 to stay connected and organize activities, said Vasquez.
They later invited others employed at health-care venues around the community to join to foster new relationships, promote the culture in their workplaces, support new immigrants’ integration and provide further education and training.
On Dec. 19, 2023, the organization renamed itself as the Filipino Health Care Workers in Moose Jaw and now has more than 120 members.
Its mission is to promote the Philippine culture in the health care community, promote the values of compassion, altruism, resilience and empathy, and volunteer in the health-care industry and community.
Bayanihan Gawad Parangal Canada announced earlier this year that it was accepting nominations, so members of the group submitted an application — their first time doing so — and then promptly forgot about it, said Vasquez, 39. They only learned that they were in the running when the national organization contacted them in April.
It was “a shocker” and “really, really unexpected” to be nominated, especially since the Filipino Health Care Workers in Moose Jaw is a “noobie group” that is not yet two years old, he continued. Yet, it was also flattering that the national organization wanted to highlight the group’s teamwork.
“It’s nice to be recognized for that,” he added.
Teamwork is “a staple value” in the Filipino community and is something that parents and grandparents passed down through the generations, said Vasquez, who has lived here with his family since 2016. Decades ago, when families needed help moving their bamboo huts or with harvesting, people would gather to support their neighbours.
“Our ancestors did that really often, super often,” he stated. “That’s (been) passed onto us and (is) still being done. … It works.”
It would be an honour if the group won the award, but it would also reflect the support that the City of Moose Jaw provides the organization, even if most residents are not members, Vasquez said. The award would make the members feel more appreciated, while their other co-workers and managers would likely commend them as well.
Continuing, he said that winning would be significant since the health-care organization would be the first Filipino group in Moose Jaw to win any major award. Moreover, receiving the award would provide members with more motivation to contribute in other “little ways” to the industry.
“We do our best to be better in our field and to serve our patients better and provide quality health care in our workplaces,” said Vasquez. “We strive to do better.”
Vasquez will be one of six members attending the ceremony, while they will go up dressed in their cultural garb. With a chuckle, he added that it’s impossible to find any Filipino clothing in Moose Jaw and must purchase it elsewhere.
Visit www.fhcwmj.ca for more information.
