Thank you very much. I am honoured and privileged that I can share our story with you.
Mike Cayetano, the executive director and vice-president of the Multicultural Helping House Society, was supposed to be here, but late last night he sent me a message that his dad is undergoing surgery, so he cannot come. I will be winging my story with you. I might ramble a little, but I will try to share it succinctly.
The core value of the Multicultural Helping House Society is to help newcomers. We are a settlement service organization. We are located on Fraser Street and have been in operation about 20 years—20 years last year. The president and founder of this society is Mr. Avendaño. He turned 88 this year, and he's still very bright, energetic, and dynamic in dedicating his life to helping others.
Talking about our programs.... As you know, since 2014 Filipinos have been the number one source of immigrants. We have overtaken the Chinese and the people from India. We are growing in numbers all over Canada, and we're approaching a million soon. With the total population of Canada being 35 million, we're about 2.8% of the population.
Last year, the federal government, Immigration Canada, granted us some funds to start a pre-arrival program in the Philippines. At first, we tried an online program, enriching and preparing Filipino visa holders who are coming to Canada for what life in Canada is like, their opportunities, understanding employment readiness, and all that. Since we started, and up to the middle of this month, we have served about 6,480 visa holders coming to Canada. They are scattered all over the different provinces. We have 20% to 25% going to Ontario, about 20% going to Alberta, and about 15% to 18% going to Manitoba. Here, in Vancouver, it's about 10% to 12%, and Saskatchewan is a big number as well. What I'm trying to describe is that, with the effective pre-arrival program, we have a continuum of service in helping the new immigrants as they settle in Canada so that their integration is smooth and they can settle their family quickly.
We are a multicultural society, so we also help other immigrants, from different countries. We also help the refugees who come to our doors, because we have a respite unit. They can stay there temporarily until they find employment.
Over the years, the people who have come to our door and whom we have reached out to have had different stories. Our program is not only settlement, but also programs for the community: for the youth, the seniors, and the caregivers. I mention the caregivers, because it is a unique group of the population that I think we have overlooked. Over the last 10, 15, or 20 years, we have brought into Canada live-in caregivers...and the whole temporary foreign worker program.
But when we created that opportunity, it also brought with it problems. I say this because when they come in they are not allowed to bring their family with them, and that has created problems that you are now trying to fix. The people who are here first are mostly women separated from their families for five or six years. When they arrive, relationship problems surface. After five years they are able to sponsor their families, and when they come, the kids are already teenagers. The husband may or may not come. We see in this situation fractured families because of the trauma of separation.
We're looking at huge numbers of people in this situation, and right now we are seeing the effects of it. Caregivers have brought in their families. Most of those caregivers are successful, even though they have sacrificed their quality of life by working two or three jobs to bring their family. But the trauma of separation and fractured families still has to be addressed. I say this because of the need created by the mental health issues that are brought on by this situation, the economics, and the high drop-out rate of the youth from our schools. We are trying to catch up. The Multicultural Helping House Society is doing its best to do some preventive measures by enhancing our services in the Philippines and also in the settlement programs here.
Where I'm coming from is, in our society today there is a group of people who need a lot of help. Mental health issues have been brought up where counselling is a must. Areas of employment preparedness, education, and career preparedness are issues. Housing is an issue.
This is just a story that I am sharing. I'll tell the story of Edward. Edward had worked all his life as a nurse here in Vancouver. One night I got a phone call from St. Paul's Hospital and was introduced to Edward. Edward was in the hospital because he had a stroke. His family abandoned him, he had to go to a shelter, and he needed somebody to pick him up and take him to the shelter because mentally and physically he wasn't able to do that. The following day, early in the morning, I went to pick up Edward from St. Paul's Hospital and brought him to a men's shelter on Dunsmuir.
Edward then called me, and he was really upset. He said, “Marius, can you please pick me up? I cannot stay here”. I asked, “Why?” He said, “During the day, I cannot go to my room and at night I cannot sleep. There are four or six people in that room. I'm sleeping in a cot. I cannot sleep. I'm stressed. Can you please get me?”
I picked up Edward and took him to respite housing at the Multicultural Helping House Society. As soon as he got there, his whole countenance just changed and he felt at home. Edward stayed with us for about a month, and then he decided he would go to the Philippines so he could get proper care there. I'm sharing this story because what we do impacts a lot of lives in our community and across Canada.
I just came from Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, and Edmonton, seeking partnership and collaboration with the immigration service organizations and societies in Toronto and those areas, and I am very glad to say that we are now working well. I refer to them the clients we have who are going to Ontario and all these other places. This is the thing that I would like to see and would like to have our federal representatives look at, because it's a real problem that we need to address.
Thank you very much.