Pinoys on Parliament incorporates childhood experiences into their 2024 leadership conference

Photo from Pinoys on Parliament’s website

The Pinoys on Parliament (POP) national leadership conference is returning in 2024 for its sixth consecutive year of hosting workshops, seminars, and panel discussions that empower today’s Filipino-Canadian learners. Participants can anticipate three jam-packed days of collaborative growth that promise an enlightening and purposeful future for Fil-Canadian culture as a whole.

Youth-led Fil-Canadian organization Kabangka has been spearheading the Ontario-based conference for six years now. The event has provided over a hundred Fil-Canadians in Canada with opportunities to hone their passions, peer relationships, and career-oriented skills. POP’s workshops have also served as safe spaces for them to share their insights on growing up as immigrants.

Since 2019, the POP and Kabangka teams have strived to maximize themes that champion Fil-Canadian identities beyond inheritance and generational customs. Their “Balikbayan” conference last February tackled diverse perspectives on coming home and reconnecting with Filipino roots. Various Fil-Canadian pioneers lent their words of wisdom to the conference. These included Dr. Rey Pagtakhan, the first Filipino-Canadian elected into the Parliament, and Rechie Valdez, the Parliament’s first Filipina member.

Next year, POP takes a trip down memory lane with “Laro.” Their latest theme highlights Fil-Canadians’ collective immigrant experiences and the process of healing their inner child—uncovering their bravest, most authentic selves.

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POP 2024’s nostalgic and fun-filled theme comes with equally engaging activities and speakers to watch out for. Next year’s lineup of workshops and panels will explore how Fil-Canadians’ upbringing and can impact their educational and work-related fields.

If there’s anyone who knows how to balance work, play, and artistic expression at the same time, it’s the upcoming conference’s keynote speaker—drag queen, online personality, and mathematician to the masses, Kyne. After joining “Canada’s Drag Race” as the first Filipino-Canadian contestant, Kyne has used their social media platforms to promote education, Filipino culture, drag as an art form, and their favorite mathematical phenomena to younger audiences. They look forward to doing so at POP 2024, too, which caters to the same educational causes they’ve stood for.

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POP aims to continue advocating for community organization at their 2024 leadership conference. With speakers from all disciplines and walks of life, they look forward to helping attendees experience three days of transformative power and service for the common good.