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, can quickly be proven right when , say that Filipinos have a very good image of Canada and Canadians. Those who have gone to Canada are impressed by the beauty of its forests, lakes, fauna and flora (oh, who will not fall in love with 9ictoria ,sland ), and the warmth and friendliness of its people.

The new Canadian ambassador, Neil Reeder, enhanced the favorable image of his country and people with his disarming charm and wit demonstrated during the 0anila Overseas Press Club and Canadian Chamber of Commerce night at the 0anila Golf and Country Club last week.

A source of pride for the Canadian community in 0anila was the visit here of their Prime 0inister Stephen Harper last November — the first visit of a Canadian leader to the Philippines in 15 years. He was also the first G8 leader to visit President Aquino.

Just a week after Ambassador Reeder and his wife ,rene arrived in the Philippines, Typhoon olanda struck. 4uick to come to the scene was Canada which donated 85 million for the victims. The Prime 0inister announced that his government would match that figure, meaning a total of 170 million in assistance. The funds will be used to assist in recovery and reconstruction, provide shelter and opportunities for farmers and fishermen and those in the service sectors.

“We were one of the first countries to arrive to help the Philippines, and one of the last to leave,” said Ambassador Reeder.

Canadian assistance did not come only after olanda. ,t provided nearly 800 million for development assistance since the restoration of democracy in l 86. This was marked for supporting decentrali]ation and strengthening of local governance, private sector development for those in the micro-economy, and in promoting gender equality. ,n fiscal year 2012-2013, the government provided over 16 million in official development assistance.

Why do Filipinos like to live in Canada They must have good answers. The Philippines is the largest source of immigrants to Canada for the past three years. Over 30,000 permanent resident visas have been given out at the embassy in 0anila, and a large number of temporary labor visas were issued for Filipinos to work in Canada last year. ,ndeed, immigration to Canada from the Philippines has tripled over the past ten years, leading to the creation of major Filipino communities, particularly in Toronto, 9ancouver, 0ontreal and Calgary.

0 F H maga] ine, said Reeder, his country’s national newsmaga]ine, reported that Filipinos comprise the largest foreign community working in Canada’s North in the ukon, Northwest Territories and the self-governing aboriginal territory of Nunavot. “No one has more courage than the Filipino welding a pipeline in the ukon, at minus 40 in January,” said Reeder.

Today, over 800,000 Canadians of Filipino origin, live and work in this foreign country, and Tagalog is the fastest growing language there.

Of great import is the North American country’s appreciation for the role of media in society. ,t has supported

training for reporting and photo ournalism skills for pro vincial media practitioners, for elections, human traf ficking human rights and other issues. It awarded ileen angubat, publisher and editor in chief of the D

with a arshall c uhan ellowship for espon sible Journalism.

reedom of Information is still a ticklish issue in this coun try, with politicians and government officials suspicious of the ournalists watchdog role. mbassador eeeder said, freedom of information is guaranteed by his nation s ill of ights. ore than years ago, he said, anada s ccess to Information ct was passed to allow citizens to re uest and demand records from federal government institutions. This law permits anadians to retrieve information from gov ernment files, establishes what kind of information should be accessed, and legislates timelines for government to re spond to a particular re uest.

The legislation, eeder said, “has made government workers and public servants thorough and transparent in all our dealings and activities, having in mind that what we spend are public funds, and thus we are ultimately ac countable to the anadian public.

Preserving the peace is a must. anada, said the am bassador at the OP night, “in its discreet and mod est way, played a key role in supporting the Philippine government in advancing the angsamoro Peace Process. e said andy eck, the oyal anadian ounted Po lice ssistant ommissioner from ritish olumbia chairs the Independent ommission on Policing indanao. This commission has presented its recommendations to the government and I panels on creating a new civilian police force responsible for maintaining law and order in angsamoro.

It will be a thrill to see oyal ounties trudging through the hills and vale and nooks to keep the peace in indanao. To that suggestion, the ambassador will smile, and I ll say, “Joking only. That we re able to swap okes shows that he is warm and friendly, indeed a good envoy of peace.

“The ne t frontier in education is the online arena. ome time back, the card catalog, the ewey decimal point sys tem, and the librarian were our best friends. ho, today, can say that they learn e clusively without the aid of the computer, without going online and accessing information from the web

These are uestions asked by ildred ominguez, one of my most computer literate contemporaries. ildred is co owner and president of rkipel oftware evelopment. he sleeps, thinks and eats to the tune of bytes and sounds and online learning. nd to think that in our college days, we were ust using typewriters and calculators, and sending messages by telegram and telepathy

ildred says, “ ince , the open source operat ing system that is currently the rockstar O of the server realm online access in the Philippines has been in creasing steadily. ccording to ielsen, appro i mately percent of the ilipino population today ac cesses the internet. That s up from a meager two percent back in .

any have abandoned the library and the home encyclo pedia to access information, this entrepreneur says. “The new is doing a search online. ow many times a day do I oogle it ountless times, I confess. ouTube, ikipe dia, oogle ooks are great resources for the dilettante. ut what about the serious student hether in the university or in an organization or company training course, online learning is an e tension of the student e perience.

“The value and benefit of an online lecture platform to academia is obvious. There are many more areas where this application will prove vastly useful. ildred assures us that through the ophia platform, rkipel can help any school, university, and organization install, customize, inte grate and maintain their own online courses by utilizing the power of OP d .

Online courses and training will soon be an integral addi tion to the learning e perience for most organizations in the Philippines. rkipel is spearheading this highly performant means by which ilipino schools, companies, and organiza tions can ump into the online learning arena today.

or more information regarding the ophia online learn ing platform, contact rkipel at PD D or call .