It has been an interesting end of the year for me as last week I successfully defended my capstone project. I don’t anticipate jumping into the job search right away, so I figured it would be a good time to type up a quick reading roundup.

Afro-Carribbeans, Indigneous, and Filipinos, Oh, My!

I’ll warn you all, though, that Thomas uses the word “Indian” in some places of her column to refer to the First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples of Canada (and the United States). At the same time, I respect the IndigiNews editors for allowing that word usage to stand. And I’ll also add that it’s interesting that the four things mentioned in this article apply to me as a U.S.-born Filipina.

Documenting Filipino-Canadian Nurses: Unsung Heroes of the Pandemic

It’s been 3 years since I moved to Canada near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Judging from the fact that my spouse and I were the only two people wearing face masks in the A/V room where my defense was being held, it is pretty easy to forget that in the early stages of the pandemic, nurses and other healthcare providers were losing their lives all over the world. However, I’m glad to read about the Bayani documentation project from Filipino BC in the Tyee, and I hope that more people will be willing to tell their stories; in turn, I hope that hearing these stories might inspire policymakers to shorten the wait time for visas and/or permanent resident applications from qualified nurses and doctors from the Philippines.

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“COVID-19: Philippines” by Asian Development Bank is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.