Winnipeg and Toronto
Canada’s first woman of colour
to head a provincial party
By Ted Alcuitas
Flor Marcelino, leader of the Manitoba NDP party is one of two Filipinos in the 2017 RBC Top Immigrants in Canada.
Marcelino and Agnes P. Miranda of Toronto are among Top 25 Canadian immigrants in the annual search sponsored by the Royal Bank of Canada.
The 65-year old grandmother was first elected to the Manitoba Legislature in 2007, reelected in 2011 and 2016. She became interim leader of the Manitoba NDP and the official opposition to the governing Conservatives.
Maraming salamat po
In a Facebook post after learning of her selection, Marcelino said she is “… humbled and honoured to learn that I was selected,” adding that she “ would like to dedicate this award to migrants and first-generation immigrants in Canada who are facing the pressures and insecurity that come with moving to a new place.”
The world of finance
Agnes Miranda had dreamed of dreamed of coming to Canada one day when she was 10 studying at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Academy run by French-Canadian nuns.
After graduating from university in banking and finance, Miranda applied for immigration and landed in Toronto as a 20-year-old single woman in 1966.
She got a job as a junior accounting clerk the day after she arrived. This year marks the 20th anniversary of World Financial Group (WFG), which she co-founded.
“The most important qualities that helped me as an immigrant were courage, ambition and perseverance,” says Miranda.
http://philippi.mywhc.ca/canada/manitoba-ndp-picks-filipina-as-interim-leader/