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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Yellowknife, like many cities in Canada, has seen many Filipinos immigrate here since the 1970s.

Some are new but several come from families that are well-established in Yellowknife. Here are three families whose Yellowknife roots go back more than 30 years.

Ponchit Santos, left, Nene Santos and Grandma Engracia Santos at St. John Ambulance where Ponchit was presented with an award for his volunteer services in 2004. Engracia is the oldest Filipino resident in Yellowknife. She is 95-years-old. - photo courtesy of Lou Rankin

The Santos family

The Santos family came to Canada in July, 1978. Ponchit and Nene Santos left Manila, capital of the Philippines, and moved straight to Yellowknife with their daughter Lourdes (Lou) and son Anthony. The family celebrated its 30-year anniversary in Yellowknife this summer.

"My dad's uncle lived here in Yellowknife and he had been convincing my Dad to move to Yellowknife since 1971," said his daughter Lou Rankin.

"Dad came up and visited then but the move did not materialize until 1978."

Life was good in the Philippines but the family wanted to be closer together.

"My dad worked as the advertising manager for a major tobacco company in the Philippines," said Rankin.

"He did a lot of travelling and was not able to spend much time with us. It was mainly due to not spending much time with family that my parents entertained the idea of moving to Yellowknife."

The family almost didn't make it to Yellowknife.

"Meanwhile, my dad started up a recruiting company in Manila," said Rankin. "He was recruiting overseas workers to Saudi Arabia. In 1977, the options posed to us were a move to Yellowknife or Saudi Arabia. Yellowknife won out during a family vote."

Coming to Yellowknife from Manila proved to be quite a shock for Lou and her family. Leaving a city of millions for a community of only a few thousand left the family amazed. The view from the airplane as they flew through the North was far from similar to the landscape of the Philippines.

"I was flabbergasted. I remember thinking on the plane where on Earth are we going?" said Rankin.

"All I could see from the plane was a lot of rocks and small lakes. Then upon the approach to Yellowknife, I couldn't believe what I saw, pretty much a small town with only a handful of tall buildings, quite the contrast from the urban city we left behind."

Winters were also challenging, considering the family had spent their whole lives up to that point in a tropical country.

"We arrived in July," said Rankin.

"When we were planning when to come up, we thought it would be best to try to ease into winter and so we chose to come up in July. That way we were able to acclimatize ourselves as the seasons changed."

Ponchit changed careers when he arrived in Yellowknife. He started working for Harold Glick at Yellowknife Radio. The business was similar to Radio Shack. Immigration rules required immigrants to become self-supporting members of the community as soon as possible. Ponchit had met Harold Glick in 1971 so he was able to secure a job before he arrived.

Rankin's paternal grandparents moved here in 1987. Her grandfather died two years later.

Rankin and her husband Doug Rankin left Yellowknife in 1996. They spent eight years living in Gameti where Doug managed a store but returned to Yellowknife in 2004. They felt there were more opportunities for their children here.

"With two school-aged children it was time for us to leave the small community and provide the same opportunities for them that we grew up with ... extra-curricular activities such as hockey, soccer, swimming, bigger schools, etc. It would also give our children the opportunity to grow up near their grandparents," said Rankin.

Ponchit died in 2006.

Rankin's mother is in her second year of retirement. She was a secretary at Sir John Franklin high school.

Grandma Engracia is also retired. She is currently the oldest Filipino resident in Yellowknife at 95 years of age, according to Rankin.

Rankin works at Aurora College; her husband works for the Tlicho Investment Corporation. They have two children: Victoria, who is 11 and Mitchell who is nine.

In 2003, her brother Anthony moved out of Yellowknife. He currently lives in Vancouver. He recently acquired his journeyman/Red Seal certificate in cabinetmaking.

Top row left to right: Willie Rivera, Gemma Rivera and Ryan Thurston. Bottom row left to right, Tina Rivera, Mildred Thurston and Justin Rivera. The Riveras recently celebrated their daughter Mildred's wedding. They have lived in Yellowknife for over 30 years. - photo courtesy of Willie Rivera

The Rivera family

Willie Rivera moved to Canada in 1974. He came straight to Yellowknife from the Philippines. His sister came to Canada in 1969 and asked him if he wanted to come as well.

The opportunity was good so he came as soon as he could.

"I didn't finish my university, I just came right away," said Rivera.

He arrived in February unprepared for the temperatures that awaited him.

"I had no idea about the snow, I was just wearing a suit," said Rivera.

"There are two seasons (in the Philippines), just wet and dry,"

Tina Rivera came to Hay River in December 1976 to work as a nurse. She brought a parka so she was not as shocked by the weather as her husband was. Her aunt was there and sponsored her visa.

"By January I was walking to work in my little parka and I got used to weather," said Tina.

She said she was surprised when she first arrived in Hay River to discover there was only one TV channel and one radio station.

"I didn't understand hockey but I watched it," said Tina. "Eventually I learned to understand it. I watched Carol Burnett and the Andy Williams show. I went to school in Manila and I arrived in Hay River with only 1,000 people."

The Riveras met in Hay River. They got married in 1978.

"I was about to leave the North," said Tina. "I quit my job and he came along."

Tina left Hay River to go back to the Philippines with her aunt. She found Hay River boring. She was also the only single Filipino woman in the town. She returned in 1978.

"She came back to Hay River for me," said Willie.

Tina and Willie both have other family members in Yellowknife. Tina's parents and sister came to Yellowknife in 1983.

"It is the community that makes you stay. It's a friendly town. The people are so nice here," said Tina.

"There were about 45 Filipinos in Yellowknife in 1974." said Willie.

"We are a very close knit community," said Tina. "We moved here from Hay River in 1979. For a while here we lived in a rowhouse. We liked parties as a couple. Whenever a new Filipino came, we invited them to our house. The community grew and grew. We couldn't fit all of them in our house. Now we don't even know some of the Filipinos here.

"For a while we had visitors sitting on the stairs in our rowhouse. We couldn't keep up anymore."

Tina is a representative for a nanny caregiver program from Edmonton. The group sends nannies to nanny school so they can migrate to Canada.

"They actually teach the girls how to vacuum. We don't have carpets back home so people needed to learn. Not everybody has stoves. You know you have to learn about those," said Tina.

"There are a quite a few Filipinos here who took that program and now they have families," said Tina.

In the 1980s it was easier to get a nanny, she said.

"Then it only took one year to get a nanny in Canada. Now it takes forever. In the 1990s it was okay, after that it was difficult," said Tina.

Since 2003, Tina has been working with the Canada Volunteerism Initiative. She has also been involved with Relay for Life for the past few years.

The Riveras have three children. Jemma is 29-years-old and lives in Calgary. She is a social worker. Mildred is 27 years old and lives in Lethbridge. She was an account manager at a radio station in Lethbridge, Alberta but is currently on maternity leave. Justin is 21 years old and is studying business and marketing at Lethbridge College.

"We love Yellowknife and the North," said Tina. "I think the only thing that will take us out of the North is our grandchildren. Every one (of our children) who graduates from university doesn't come back. My middle daughter got married in Lethbridge so it's not too bad there and our first grandchild is there. We will probably end up somewhere around there when we retire."

Tina is the longest serving executive member of the Yellowknife Filipino Association.

Willie plans to retire from Northwestel this December. Tina is 55 and she plans to retire when she is 60.

The Masongsong family

Sylvia and Ramon Masongsong's journey to Yellowknife had a stop in Toronto in 1973 where the couple met before coming to Yellowknife.

The Masongsongs had to adjust to using appliances in Canada. In the Phillipines they had a maid.

"Its harder for us because back home you can afford to have a maid. Here you have to do all the things that a maid can do for you back home. I had to learn to wash my clothes here," said Ramon.

"We are not rich but back home we could afford these things. That is the way life was." said Ramon.

"The Philippines is more relaxed than the life here in North America. Poor people in the Philippines are still happy. They can manage without many things and still be happy," said Ramon.

"You have to do things for yourself or its not going to get done," said Sylvia.

Sylvia is a court officer and Ramon is an accountant with the NWT Worker's Compensation Commission.

They have three kids.

Angela is 27-years-old. She is studying nursing in Vancouver. Joseph is 24-years-old. He is a social worker in Vancouver. Rebecca is 22-years-old. She is studying sociology in Edmonton.

"We want to stress on them the importance of education. We won't stop working until they finish. Then we will retire," said Ramon.

The Masongsongs don't have any extended family here in Yellowknife.

"That is one thing we found lacking for us here," said Ramon.

There was less red tape in the 1970s for new immigrants to Canada, they say.

Getting sponsored in the country didn't take as long. Sylvia says it only took six months. Today applicants have a much longer wait.

"You have more chances to come to Canada faster if you try to get into these smaller places (like Yellowknife)," said Ramon.

The couple sponsored a caregiver from the Philippines for their children in 1985. They said it was more economical for them than paying money for daycare with three children. It also allowed both of them to work.

"It was more cost-effective for us," said Sylvia.

The Masongsongs are close to the Rivera family.

"Whenever we see new families here we try to invite them out," said Ramon.

"They (the Riveras) give good parties. If you are invited to Tina's house you can be sure you'll be full," said Sylvia.

The Masongsongs say they don't return to the Philippines often because they don't have much family there now.

"It's a culture shock for us to go back home," said Sylvia.