So, Vancouver: What’s your plan for the Filipino Community & Cultural Centre?(Letter to Mayoral and Council Candidates)
OCTOBER 7, 2026
Filipino BC has sent a letter to Vancouver’s mayoral and council candidates asking them to commit to three concrete actions to help move the Filipino Community & Cultural Centre forward.
A purpose-built centre needs the programs, partnerships, staffing and organizational infrastructure to bring it to life. Filipino BC has already spent three years building this foundation—largely without sustained public funding.
We’re asking the City to help build the institution, not just the building.
For the past three years, Filipino BC has:
LISTENED. Engaged more than 2,000 community members through two years of public engagement.
BUILT. Developed and delivered cultural, educational, social-service and community-building programs across the region.
PARTNERED. Built relationships with organizations including Hungerford Properties, South Vancouver Neighbourhood House & BARYO Collective.
GROWN. Achieved registered charity status and became Canada’s largest Filipino community and cultural registered charity.
The proposed Centre at 396 SW Marine Drive would bring together cultural, community, recreation, food, innovation and affordable housing components in South Vancouver.
The project has:
A proposed site
Community-backed research
Established partnerships
Development expertise
Federal and provincial support
A clear path toward implementation
With municipal support, the project can be ready to break ground as early as next year.
We’ve asked every mayoral and council candidate to provide a written response outlining whether they will support these commitments if elected.
We’ll be sharing candidates’ responses with our community—including when we don’t receive one—so voters can make an informed decision.
The Letter
For the past three years, Filipino BC has been actively working toward the creation of a permanent, purpose-built Filipino Community & Cultural Centre in Vancouver.
This vision has been shaped by two years of public engagement and more than 2,000 responses, culminating in Weaving Our Voices: What We Heard Report—the largest community engagement report of its kind focused on the Filipino community in British Columbia. The message from our community has been clear: Vancouver’s Filipino community needs and deserves a permanent place to gather, celebrate our culture, access essential services and build a stronger future together.
For the past three years, Filipino BC has also been developing and delivering cultural, educational, social-service and community-building programs across the region. The proposed Centre is therefore not simply a building or a future concept. It is a purpose-built home for programs and services that are already operating, growing and responding to clearly identified community needs.
On October 4, BARYO Collective opened, a 4,600-square-foot community hub that will house multiple non-profit organizations, social-impact entrepreneurs, artists and creatives. BARYO demonstrates both the demand for this kind of space and what our community can accomplish when given the opportunity. However, a project creating this level of community benefit should not have to advance without meaningful government support.
Filipino BC is now Canada’s largest Filipino community and cultural charity. Our growth demonstrates that we have the governance, financial oversight and regulatory compliance required to responsibly own and steward a significant community asset. It also reflects our proven ability to build the partnerships necessary to activate and program the Centre so that it remains financially sustainable, responsive to community needs and accessible to future generations.
The Province of British Columbia has previously announced its support for the creation of a Filipino cultural centre, and the federal government has identified the Filipino Community & Cultural Centre as a priority project under the Build Communities Strong Fund. We are now asking the City of Vancouver to join the federal and provincial governments as a committed partner.
Our proposed site at 396 SW Marine Drive is located in South Vancouver, home to one of Vancouver’s two largest Filipino communities, with direct access to major transit routes. The project would include cultural, community, recreation, food, innovation and affordable housing components designed to benefit both the Filipino community and the broader South Vancouver community.
We have partnered with South Vancouver Neighbourhood House to include a South Vancouver Food Hub within the development. This responds to a longstanding request from local advocacy groups while expanding the infrastructure available to a neighbourhood house that has been over capacity and underfunded for years.
At a time of significant financial uncertainty—particularly amid ongoing trade tensions with the United States—we have partnered with Hungerford Properties, an experienced, vertically integrated development company with an impeccable reputation for community-focused development. This partnership provides the expertise, financial stability and capacity needed to move the project forward responsibly, even within a challenging economic climate.
With municipal support, the project can be ready to break ground as early as next year.
As a candidate for Mayor, will you commit, if elected, to:
Supporting and advancing a motion to expedite the rezoning and municipal approvals necessary to permit residential and affordable housing on the proposed site;
Working alongside the federal and provincial governments as a municipal funding partner, including through a Community Amenity Contribution or another meaningful City contribution to the development of the Centre; and
Providing ongoing municipal funding to Filipino BC for program development and organizational operations throughout the planning and construction of the Centre—not only after the building is complete—so that the programs, partnerships and operational capacity required to activate the Centre can be developed and sustained in advance of its opening
A purpose-built centre cannot be created through capital investment alone. The programs, partnerships, staffing and organizational infrastructure that will bring the building to life must be developed long before construction is complete. Filipino BC has already spent three years building this work, largely without the sustained public funding that should accompany a project of this scale and significance.
We therefore require a commitment to ongoing program-development and operational funding during the years leading up to the Centre’s completion. This investment will allow Filipino BC to continue serving the community now while building the programs and institutional capacity necessary for the Centre to open as a fully functioning, accessible and sustainable community institution—not as an empty building whose programming must begin from scratch.
For decades, Vancouver’s Filipino community has contributed to the social, cultural and economic life of this city while lacking a permanent civic space of its own. This project is an opportunity for the City to honour its previous commitments and support a centre designed by and for the community—one that meets the Filipino community where it is while serving the whole of South Vancouver through strong and meaningful partnerships.
We respectfully ask you to provide a written response outlining whether you will support each of these commitments if elected. We intend to share candidates’ responses with our members and the broader community so voters can make an informed decision.
We would also welcome the opportunity to meet with you, provide a briefing on the project and arrange a visit to the proposed site.
