Moving to a new country like Canada poses a lot of challenges, especially for those who have no family or friends to assist them during this transition. The uncertainty of a new life and the unfamiliarity of a new place can be a source of stress and emotional upheaval.
For this reason, a group of eight spirited Filipino-Canadians have come together to offer relief and reliable service to new immigrants to Toronto. I-migrate Settlement Inc. (http://www.i–migrate.com.) operates with the value of making someone "feel at home." Filipinos coming to Toronto who neither have family nor friends to welcome them will be picked up at the airport then. They get assistance to secure dwelling around the GTA. On their first business day in Toronto, new immigrants will be chaperoned to obtain some of the most important and urgently needed documents to get started, so to speak: OHIP card, SIN, and perhaps requirements to obtain a driver’s license. I-migrate Settlement Inc. will also acquaint new immigrants of existing recognized Filipino community centers and government funded organizations where additional assistance on various other matters may be available. New immigrants will also be given assistance in setting up a bank account. Figures from Statistics Canada indicated that between 1971 and 1992, Filipinos made up between four and six percent of annual immigration to Canada. Today, these newer Canadians constitute one of the fastest-growing immigrant communities in Canada. By 1996, there were 243,000 people of Filipino heritage living in Canada with half of those in Ontario, 50,000 in British Columbia and 25,000 in Alberta. For whatever reason, be it economic, political, or something else, Filipinos will continue to migrate. Toronto is one of the top choices to start a new life. But even with Toronto’s diversity of culture and the Filipino’s innate adaptability to change – starting in a new country, learning new rules, although not necessarily new language, settling-in still can be daunting. | 
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