Filipinos in Canada: Disturbing Invisibility

The Philippines became Canada’s largest source of short- and long-term migrants in 2010, surpassing China and India, both of which are more than ten times larger. The fourth-largest racialized minority group in the country, the Filipino community is frequently understood by such figures as the victimized nanny, the selfless nurse, and the gangster youth. On one hand, these narratives concentrate attention, in narrow and stereotypical ways, on critical issues.  On the other, they  render other problems facing Filipino communities invisible.

This landmark book, the first wide-ranging edited collection on Filipinos in Canada, explores gender, migration and labour, youth spaces and subjectivities, representation and community resistance to certain representations. Looking at these from the vantage points of anthropology, cultural studies, education, geography, history, information science, literature, political science, sociology, and women and gender studies, Filipinos in Canada provides a strong foundation for future work in this area.

Roland Sintos Coloma is a professor and chair in the Department of Teacher Education at Northern Kentucky University.


Bonnie McElhinny is Principal of New College, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Toronto, and former Director of the Women and Gender Studies Institute.

Ethel Tungohan is the Canada Research Chair in Canadian Migration Policy, Impacts, and Activism and an associate professor of politics at York University


John Paul C. Catungal is a PhD candidate in the Department of Geographyand Program in Planning at the University of Toronto.

Lisa M. Davidson is a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto.