Sixty years of Canada-Philippines diplomatic relations

	L-r: Judy Wasylycia-Leis, MP for Winnipeg North and Co-Chair of the newly formed Canada-Philippines Parliamentary Friendship Group with the Philippines Ambassador to Canada Jose S. Brillantes and visiting congresswomen from the Philippines, Reylina Nicolas and Mitos Magsaysay

The founding of the Canada-Philippines Parliamentary Friendship Group, reported in the Pilipino Express last month, coincides with the 60^th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Canada and the Philippines as well as the 50^th anniversary of the Filipino community in Winnipeg.

MP for Winnipeg North, Judy Wasylycia-Leis said in a press release, “In this year of historical milestones and significant anniversaries, it is only fitting that the Canada-Philippines Parliamentary Friendship Group has been firmly established and the ties that bind our two nations enormously strengthened.”

During the inaugural meeting of the parliamentary group on May 12, Philippines Ambassador to Canada, Jose Brillantes, said that relations between the Philippines and Canada started over a century ago with the establishment of a Sunlife of Canada branch in Manila in 1896, ripening into diplomatic relations in 1949, with the RP opening its Embassy in Ottawa in 1971 and Canada upgrading its consular operations in Manila to an embassy in 1972.