It was a chilly Thursday morning as Dhom Rosete unlocked the doors to his restaurant Ka Familia located in Barrhaven, Ottawa’s west-end neighbourhood. Greeted by a long, fully stocked bar, set tables and a twinkling Christmas tree in the corner, he begins prepping the kitchen for another day at work.

Ka Familia is one of a kind to Ottawa, as there are no other restaurants that specialize in Filipino cuisine, Rosete says. For this very reason, Rosete knew that there was a special place in the city for his business.

The inside of Ka Familia, located at 3570 Strandherd Dr. in Ottawa. 

According to an analysis of Statistics Canada’s immigration census tracts, Ottawa’s Filipino population has seen a 20 per cent increase between 2011 and 2016.

Since 2011, Barrhaven’s Filipino population has tripled and is one of the areas with the highest growth in the city.

The interactive map shows the Ottawa census tracts. The dark colours represent the areas with the highest number of Filipinos in 2016. Clicking inside the census tract boundaries produces a pop-up box with the populations for 2011 and 2016, along with the percent change.

Luisa Veronis a social geographer from the University of Ottawa says Canada’s Filipino population has been thriving since 2006. The data indicates that in Canada, the Filipino population has increased by 25 per cent between 2011 and 2016. Veronis adds that large metropolitan areas are “main gateways of entry-point” for immigrants and often reflect the increased migration.

She attributes the growth mostly to the Live-in Caregiver Program, which was offered by the federal government to foreign workers looking for employment as eldercare, childcare or special needs providers. The program closed in November 2014.

Veronis says since the termination, the Liberal government now encourages more economic migration through work permits as the main means of achieving permanent residency and citizenship in Canada.

Rosete was born in the Philippines and immigrated to Ottawa with his family in 2010 from London, England, where he spent over 20 years developing his passion for cooking. After several visits, Rosete says he quickly fell in love with the city and applied for a work permit so he could start his life in Ottawa.

“I was here for your worst weathers, but I love Ottawa. It is the best place I have ever lived in.” Rosete says.

Before opening Ka Familia, Rosete said he did some research and saw that Ottawa’s west-end overall, areas such as Kanata and Nepean, contained large populations of Filipino immigrants.

Barrhaven Coun. Jan Harder said in an email that her ward has seen some of the fastest growth in recent years. She adds, “Barrhaven has developed SO much in five years…The increase in amenities, housing, schooling, shopping are all reasons why people want to live in Barrhaven!”

Although Rosete says there is a thriving Filipino population in Ottawa, he says what lacks is a physical community like what “Preston St. is to Italians” for Filipinos.

He says he sees customers from a variety of backgrounds but adds, “This is the only Filipino restaurant we have, so we should be proud of what we have… But we need the Filipinos to support us.”

Angelle Rudio a Filipino immigrant who has been living in Ottawa for the past 10 years says, “You miss your culture, you miss your food, you miss your language… I want to connect with people so I go to a community where they can relate with me as a person.”

Even though the demand is there, Rosete says, “Over the past seven years, I have seen [Filipino] restaurants open and close. Hopefully I’m not one of them.”

Ottawa’s Filipino population has seen a 20 per cent increase between 2011 and 2016 according to an analysis of Statistics Canada census tracts data.

The statistic is reflective of the country’s overall Filipino population growth, which has increased by 25 per cent over the same period.

The map below shows the Ottawa census tracts. The dark colours represent the areas with the most Filipinos in 2016. Clicking inside the census tract boundaries produces a pop-up box with the populations for 2011 and 2016, along with the percent change.

Luisa Veronis a social geographer from the University of Ottawa says Canada’s Filipino population has been thriving since 2006, and that large metropolitan areas are “main gateways of entry-point” for immigrants and often reflect these trends.

She says, “Canada because of its immigration policy, specifically the Live-in Caregiver Program, has been a favoured destination in part because it used to provide a fairly secure path to permanent residence.”

The federal government offered the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) to foreign workers looking for employment as eldercare, childcare or special needs providers. The program closed in November 2014.

Veronis attributes the growth to LCP applicants but also to their extended family members. Caregivers become eligible to sponsor family members after working in Canada after some time.

Veronis says some caregivers experience long periods of separation from their families. She says, “Particularly women were separated from their families five to eight years, which is a tremendous amount of time considering they leave their own children behind to come here and take care of Canadian children.”

For Angelle Rudio, a single Filipino immigrant, her experience was a little different since she was not leaving much family behind when she first came to Canada in 2006. At 22, she was sponsored through the LCP by her cousin to care for her two young children in Ottawa. She says at the time of her arrival the LCP was booming.

After working for a year under her cousin, Rudio applied for her permanent residency because she knew she wanted to stay in Ottawa.

She says, “I chose Ottawa because it’s hard to come in this country and you don’t have family and you don’t know anybody. Especially if you’re an immigrant and you have to adjust to the language and adjust to culture.”

Rudio adds: “Here in Canada even if you start as a nanny, you have a chance to progress your life. It’s not like you’re gonna be a nanny forever…It’s just a stepping stone.”

Veronis says, “Filipinos are generally great workers and a lot of professionals are very well educated and their English tends to be stronger than other immigrant groups.” She adds their integration into Canadian society is often “pretty smooth”.

Rudio received a university-level education in communications back home, but found herself taking on lower-level jobs at Tim Horton’s and A&W in order to pay for a nursing degree.

Ten years later, Rudio now lives in Elmvale, Ottawa’s south-end neighbourhood in the Alta Vista ward. She lives with her cousin who also immigrated through the LCP and works with her as a personal support worker at the Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre, a nearby health care facility for seniors.

Rudio says she misses home and visits every few years, but says having family in Ottawa and being an active member in her church helped her feel comfortable living abroad.

She says, “You miss your culture, you miss your food, you miss your language… I want to connect with people so I go to a community where they can relate with me as a person.”

She adds, “I’m lucky to have found that close to my home.”

“In The Glebe, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada” by Hodnett Canoe is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Complaints about graffiti in Ottawa are on the decline according to an analysis of the city’s service requests data.

As of August 2017, the dataset shows complaints are down nearly 50 per cent from 2014, or by a total of 239 complaints.

According to the data, complaints reach a yearly spike between April and June, while colder months like January see as few as eight complaints compared to 73 seen in June last year.

The City of Ottawa defines graffiti on its website as the “etching, painting or placing of a mark on public or private property”. Whether on public or private property, graffiti is an act of vandalism under the city’s graffiti management bylaw and vandals can face fines of $615.

City Council enacted the Graffiti Management By-law 2008-1 which makes placement of graffiti a bylaw violation as opposed to dealing with vandals under the Criminal Code.

Charge for graffiti under the code is “mischief under or over $5,000”. Graffiti vandals may be subject to additional community service hours and or criminal charges that could result in a criminal record.

City bylaw manager Roger Chapman said in an email statement that the majority of graffiti-related complaints involve tagging, which is writing or painting an identifiable symbol or “tag”.

Chapman attributes the decline in complaints to the prompt removal efforts and prevention initiatives, such as the Mural Program, which he says has proven effective in discouraging graffiti vandalism.

He says prompt cover-up or removal of graffiti is the most effective method of combating the problem because vandals want their work to be seen, so if graffiti is removed quickly, future acts are discouraged. The sooner graffiti removal is attempted, the easier and more effective it is.

The Mural Program works to discourage unsolicited graffiti while promoting arts and culture within the city. As a part of the program, art professionals can apply to design mural projects, which are large-scale wall paintings on designated underpasses across the city.

The City of Ottawa also has three legal graffiti walls which are free spaces where graffiti is permitted and encouraged.

Albert Street Education Centre Retaining Wall located 422 Slater Street is one of the city’s legal graffiti walls.

Sandy Hill resident Hannah Kim says, “When I see graffiti, I see it as a form of art, not vandalism.”

Sandy Hill is part of Ottawa’s Rideau-Vanier ward, which also covers most of the ByWard Market, Lowertown and Vanier neighbourhoods and sees the highest amount of graffiti complaints across the city annually.

Kim says the graffiti doesn’t bother her as she feels it adds to the urban feel of the community.

“Coming from a city like Toronto, I really like the vibe and the vibrancy that the art pieces bring to my neighbourhood,” she adds.

Kim says the only time when she would make a complaint about graffiti would be if the vandalism propagated hate speech. “I don’t want to see that kind of stuff in my community because I feel like it just brings down the whole morale,” she adds.

Ottawa’s most recent case of hate-motivated graffiti happened during November last year, when a teen vandalized two synagogues, a mosque, a Jewish prayer house and church with racist slurs and symbols like swastikas with red paint.

Kim says incidents like this although rare would in fact deter her from living in such areas as a woman of colour.

Chapman says community members play a vital role in keeping their neighbourhoods graffiti free. When residents see graffiti, they are encouraged to report it by calling 3-1-1 or report the incidents online. Due to the sensitive nature of hate graffiti, the city urges residents report incidents by calling in immediately.

“Durham Region Police celebrating Pride 2014” by Stacie DaPonte is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Police-reported hate crimes against gays and lesbians in Canada dropped 13 per cent between 2014 and 2015, according to an analysis of Statistics Canada data released this summer.

Since 2012, the number of hate crimes against homosexuals has fallen nearly 30 per cent from 168 incidents in 2012 to 121 reported in 2015.

Still, those in the queer community remain amongst the top targeted groups over the past four years for crimes motivated by bias, prejudice, or hate as defined by StatsCan. In 2015, cases against blacks, Jews and Muslims were the highest for the year.

Canadian studies professor Marika Morris of Carleton University attributes the lower amount to what she calls “an enormous cultural shift” in views about sexual identity in the past thirty years.

She says the LGBTQ communities have been successful in outreach to the general public about inclusion. Morris adds that lower numbers of hate crimes based on sexual orientation could also be influenced by anti-bullying messages in schools, and health and sex education that teaches a variety of sexual orientations to students.

Carleton student Joanna Zebib, says she feels safe being seen with her partner in public, but adds, “there are a lot of moments where I feel like back in that space where I should be hiding.”

Morris says the decline in crime against gays and lesbians “may really reflect a diminishing number of crimes committed against those of a minority sexual identity.”

Zebib, who identifies as a queer Muslim woman, says, “for me, that kind of violence comes from every single direction.”

“It’s not that I’m being attacked as a Muslim, or attacked as a queer, I’m being attacked as a queer Muslim.”

Zebib says she feels the statistics do not always reflect this intersectionality, adding that her own identities are interconnected and cannot be analyzed separately from one another.

“My experiences are going to be a bit different from a white gay man,” she says.

StatsCan did not release data that addresses the groups that exist within sexual orientation, but Zebib says she feels white gays and lesbians tend to face less hate in public because it is now frowned upon to be homophobic.

“But if it’s a person of colour, it’s a different story,” she says.

StatsCan reported that 47 per cent of victims of violent hate crimes targeting sexual orientation listed the accused as an acquaintance or family member, compared to victims of violent crimes by race at 36 per cent and of a religion 26 per cent.

Zebib says when she came out, she faced alienation on social media when long time friends unfriended her on Facebook.

She says, “Those are very small, private, passive aggressive acts, but they tend to hurt a lot more then those like when I’m walking down the street with my partner and someone tries to harass us.”

“At least in that setting… I didn’t expect to be safe, as opposed to private situations where you folks called me your friend for years and yet I don’t feel safe enough to be myself around you.”

Zebib says she has been victim to hate crimes based on her queerness in the past, but declined to talk about her experiences. She did not report any incidents to police.

Zebib says, “It’s a great fact that the stats are going down, but you can’t overlook the ones that are happening.”

Morris says, “We all need to build on the good work of LGBTQ communities to continue to make our society more inclusive of everyone.”

She adds: “We all benefit when everyone can contribute to the best of their ability, without fear.”