February 21, 2024
Mabuhay House Society
PRESS RELEASE
For more information, please contact Sammie Jo Rumbaua at [email protected]
BC Cabinet Minister Lana Popham declares Filipino Cultural Centre project a “Go!”
Vancouver – The Filipino-Canadian community’s decades-long journey for a provincial Filipino
Cultural Centre took another historic step forward recently when the Minister for Tourism, Arts,
Culture and Sport, the Honourable Lana Popham, proclaimed “It’s a go!” during a recent roundtable
she held with the Mabuhay House Society and leaders from other Filipino-Canadian
community groups.
“Grateful for the enriching meeting with leaders from B.C.’s Filipino Diaspora. The power &
diversity within the community is truly extraordinary.
I’m filled with hope as we all come together to transform a decades-long dream into reality—a
provincial Filipino Cultural Centre,” said Minister Popham in a recent social media post about
the meeting.
Last spring, the provincial government recognized the Mabuhay House Society as its partner in
this effort when it awarded the non-profit a $250,000 grant for capacity building towards the
work of a Filipino Cultural Centre. A final report for the grant was submitted earlier last
January.
“We’re absolutely elated to see our project for a Filipino Cultural Centre continuing to move
forward with support from the provincial government. This was a pivotal meeting and it was
great to see the mandate from them and from our community. We’re committed to ensuring that
we all remain focused on the important work ahead,” says Sammie Jo Rumbaua, Mabuhay
House Society Chair.
“A large part of our work was spent establishing relationships and trust amongst the many
community organizations that we have. So it is great to now see the fantastic cross-section of
our community supporting this work,” she said noting support from regional organizations from
Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao along with support from other sectoral groups representing
alumni associations, professional formations, sports and religious groups among others,” she
added.
Over the past several months, the Mabuhay House Society has been meeting regularly with the
Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport to ensure the steps they take forward are intentional
and measured. According to the Ministry, the next phase of the project is community
engagement and work on a website portal for the Filipino Cultural Centre is ongoing.
