VANCOUVER, 23 April 2026 – Deputy Consul General Paul Vincent Uy attended the ceremony to donate to the Vancouver Museum a portrait of Benson Flores, who is acknowledged as Canada’s first known Filipino immigrant. The turnover ceremony was organized by the Pinoy Festival Alliance headed by Mr. Paul Clemente on 10 April 2026 at the Museum of Vancouver. The portrait, a mixed media art created by Ms. Reva Diana, was turned over by Filipino journalist Ted Alcuitas to Mr. Ryan Hunt, CEO of Vancouver Museum. Burnaby Councillor Maita Santiago served as emcee of the ceremony.
In his message, Deputy Consul General Paul Vincent Uy described Flores as a pathfinder whose footsteps have now been followed by almost one million overseas Filipinos in Canada more than a century later. He noted that Flores must be proud of the approximately 180,000 Filipinos currently residing in the three provinces under the Consulate’s jurisdiction in British Columbia, Yukon, and Northwest Territories as they contribute to the progress of both Canada as their host country and the Philippines as their motherland. He recognized that around eleven million overseas Filipinos scattered across the globe are aptly called the modern-day heroes of the Philippines.
It may be recalled that the City of Vancouver declared 11 April 2024 as “Benson Flores Day.” Flores, an early settler of Bowen Island, BC, was buried in an unmarked grave until its recent discovery by Joseph Lopez, a Vancouver-based radio host and journalist. Lopez's investigative efforts shed light on Flores' journey, tracing his immigration to Canada in 1861, a decade before British Columbia became part of Canada. Through Irene Howard's book, "Bowen Island 1872 – 1972," Lopez discovered that Flores once owned a floating residence in Snug Cove on Bowen Island and started the island's first boat rental service.
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