Non-profit rejects Vancouver mayor’s proposal for Filipino cultural centre

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim announced a plan for the establishment of a Filipino cultural centre downtown Thursday, but some community members say they won’t support it.

Sim and other local leaders appeared at a public library to share details of a motion he intends to table in city council, titled ‘Promoting Cultural Inclusion and Economic Vitality: Advancing the Main Street Filipino Cultural Centre and Hotel Project.’

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Ahead of the announcement, Mabuhay House Society (MHS), a non-profit mandated in 2021 to develop a Filipino cultural centre with the provincial government, published an open letter, sharing its concerns.

“While the society commends and thanks Mayor Ken Sim, Councillor Lenny Zhou, and the City of Vancouver for their visible support of the Filipino community, Mabuhay House Society has concerns regarding duplication and fragmentation of efforts, lack of planning for governance and accountability, and red flags in the process and timing of the motion,” the letter said.

Vice Chair Rudy Antonio tells 1130 NewsRadio that the red flags begin with the chosen location.

“There are key concerns that we wanted answered, and to study the unresolved property encumbrances. The legal status of 1940 Main Street remains unclear,” said Antonio.

MHS claims Sim’s proposal “lacks a clear governance plan, defined ownership, and transparent management structures.”

Overall, Antonio says, the project has progressed prematurely without proper community consultation.

The society says that the motion for a city-led project undermines the timeline and framework it developed over years in partnership with the provincial government.

“It also excludes broad community representation from the 90 organizations that endorsed the provincial process.”

Antonio says MHS alerted the city and the proposed developer of its dissent on Wednesday, as well as the results of a community questionnaire earlier this month.

“The city has not responded. The developer has not responded. And these are questions that need to be answered. We are not just going to be blindly supporting a motion,” said Antonio.

He suspects that the project was accelerated in response to the Lapu-Lapu Day tragedy in April.

“We want this to happen — our heritage to be protected in the future. And [we want to] ensure that no initiative moves forward without full legal clarity and meaningful community engagement.”

The centre would be operated by the Filipino Legacy Society, which has contributed to some of the region’s more established organizations feeling left out.

But Mayor Ken Sim says the opportunity was too good to pass up.

“If someone or [another group] came up with another opportunity and it made sense, we would enthusiastically support it as well,” Sim said.

“The analogy I would draw is when you go to Chinatown, there is more than one benevolent society.”

Meanwhile, the society’s director, Warren Flandez, says the hotel is essential to breaking ground.

“The hotel will be contributing, in perpetuity, funds from their revenue to the operational costs of the cultural centre,” said Flandez.

Sim’s motion to prioritize a review of the new cultural centre is set to come before council later this month.

—With files from Kai Garcia