![](https://philcongencalgary.org/public/blogs/2024/01/pcg-calgary-ccis-to-jointly-promote-welfare-of-filipino-workers-and-immigrants20240129201640.jpg)
10 November
2020, Calgary – The Philippine Consulate General (PCG) in Calgary and the Calgary
Catholic Immigrant Society (CCIS) have agreed to work together to promote the
welfare of Filipino workers and immigrants in Alberta, Canada.
The
agreement was reached following the visit of Consul General Zaldy Patron to the
CCIS head office in Calgary on 30 October 2020 where he met with Mr. Fariborz
Birjandian, Chief Operating Officer, Ms. Gordana Radan, Director – Business,
Training and Employment Services, Ms. Jessica Juen, Program Manager Community Support
Services, and Mr. Magno Daria, Client Support Worker.
Founded in 1981, CCIS is a non-profit
organization providing settlement and integration services to all immigrants
and refugees in Southern Alberta.
With over 95 diverse programs and
services out of seven locations and 25 outreach locations, CCIS is the largest
immigrant-serving agency in Canada’s Prairie Provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan
and Manitoba), and the fourth largest in Canada. One of its programs is the Community Support Services
(CSS), which benefitted 226 Filipino TFWs between October 2019 and September
2020.
The PCG, on the other hand, opened its
office in Calgary in February 2016 to provide consular services to the
estimated 175,000 Filipinos in Alberta and another 34,000 in Saskatchewan, the
two Canadian provinces under its jurisdiction.
Under their partnership, the PCG and
CCIS will co-organize information sessions to educate the Filipinos in Alberta
on topics such as the PCG’s consular services and the services of the Social
Security System (SSS) and Pag-Ibig.
Likewise, the PCG will promote to the
Filipino community the information sessions of CCIS on certain subjects like Employment
Rights and Responsibilities (Employment Standards Codes); Income
Tax Clinics; and Culturally Positive Parenting in Canada.
“Through this partnership between the
PCG and CCIS, more Filipinos in Alberta will become more informed about the
consular and social services available to them while they are in the province as
temporary foreign workers or immigrants,” Consul General Patron remarked
following his meeting with the executives of CCIS.
In November 2019, the PCG also forged a partnership with the Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association (CIWA) to promote CIWA’s Filipino Community Development Program to the Filipino community in Alberta.