There are a lot of successful Filipino Canadians in Canada. We probably know some of them but are not aware of what they went through to get to where they are now. Their story would be interesting to know and would be helpful to those of you who are new to the Country. Fortunately, we know of one Filipina whose story of survival is quite interesting. Having left the Philippines already an accomplished professional, she came to Canada and started from zero. This is her story.
Her name is Maria Eleanor T. Rodriguez. She migrated to Canada in the year 2000 with her two children who were only 12 yrs. old and 3 years old at that time. Before she moved to Canada, she was already a practicing lawyer in the Philippines and had been working at the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) for 5 years. At that time, her position at the OSG was Solicitor 3 which has the same ranking as that of a Judge of the Regional Trial Court, which means she was already eligible to be appointed as a Judge. In fact, she was already being addressed as Judge at the OSG.
Apart from having a good law career, she owned her home and was living a comfortable life with family surrounding her. She had her grandmother who raised her, and her siblings. All of that luxury and comfort she gave up because she believed that her children would have a better future in Canada and to her, they are what matters the most.
She had no family in Canada, only her two children. The three of them lived in the basement of her ex-husband’s parent’s house. It is never easy living in someone else’s home, let alone your ex-husband’s family’s home. But she did as she had nowhere else to go. Fortunately for her, she already had an interview for a job as an Interviewer at Statistics Canada when she arrived in Toronto. This is not due to pure luck but due to her diligence and determination. She got the job and started working a month or so after she landed. So her very first job in Canada was a full time, permanent job with the Government, paying more than the minimum wage, and which she got not even 2 months after arriving in Canada. That is quite a good start and as we now know, was an indication of how her life was to be in the next succeeding years.
Maria Eleanor worked at Statistics Canada only for a few months because she had to go back to the Philippines to make the final arrangements for their move. She went back to the Office of the Solicitor General and continued working as a Solicitor for another 7 months. Then in December 2001 she came back to Canada permanently. That was when she felt what everyone else feels when migrating to a foreign country, alone and lonely. Having no family, no job and no money, she felt helpless. Even though the family they were living with were nice to her and her children, she still felt embarrassed that she could not contribute to them financially, not even for food. All her life, she had her grandmother to support her and take care of her. When she became a lawyer in the Philippines, she started earning her own money and supported her own family. Then all of a sudden, she found herself living at someone else’s house, not able to buy food for her and her children. She felt discouraged. Until one day, something happened that gave her the resolve to rise above the predicament she was in.
She and her two children were at Canada’s Wonderland with her friends. Her friends bought funnel cakes for their children, but she did not have enough money to do the same. When she saw the look in her children’s face, it broke her heart. They just sat there staring at the other children eating their funnel cakes with gusto. She can tell that they wanted to have a taste of it but they never asked her to buy some for them. They are good children and knew that their mother could not afford it. Her best friend also saw the look in her children’s faces so she gave them half the funnel cake she bought for her kids. That was one of the lowest points in her life, if not the lowest. But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because that was the day she found the resolve to change her fate. Because of that incident, she vowed to do everything in her power to give her children the good life they deserve. And after that, there was no stopping her.
She looked for a job every single day but with no luck. Then fate stepped in. For some reason, she contacted Tess Cusipag, owner of Balita and told her about her plight. Tess Cusipag told her that there was a meeting of Filipino lawyers happening in the next couple of weeks and that she should go and introduce herself. She followed her advice and attended the meeting. There she met Frank Luna, a Filipino lawyer who had a real estate practice in Toronto. He then introduced her to another Filipino real estate lawyer who was looking for a legal assistant. That became her second job in Canada, a legal assistant in a real estate law firm where she worked 5 days a week. But her income was not sufficient for her to move to her own apartment with her children. So she kept looking and found a second job as front desk staff at Madison Manor Boutique Hotel in downtown Toronto, and a third job as DJ at Aristokrat, a Filipino Karaoke Bar/Restaurant. She juggled these three jobs for a while. During the weekdays, she worked at the law firm from 9 am to 5 pm. From there she would go to her second job at the hotel where she worked from 6 pm to 10 pm, 2 nights a week, and a shift on Saturday from 6am to 12 noon. Her job as a DJ required her to work Friday and Saturday nights from 8 pm to 3 am. As if that is not tiring enough, she added another job selling “Rainbow”, a hydro cleaner. She did this during her free time. She would make appointments to go to the homes of people interested and show them the product. Four jobs she juggled just so she could save up enough money to allow her to move to her own apartment with her children. That was the only thing she could dream of at that time. She did not wish for fortune and riches, just a place of their own that they can call home. However, even with four jobs, it was not enough. She still kept on looking for a better job. After a few months of looking, she landed a job as a Criminal Courtroom Clerk at the Old City Hall in downtown Toronto. This proved to be the kind of job that would allow her to get closer to reaching her dream as it paid way more than all the jobs she had combined. She then quit her job at the law firm and the hotel but she continued working as a DJ on weekends and selling hydro cleaners. After a few months, she and her children finally moved into their very own basement apartment they called home.
As a clerk at the criminal courts, Maria Eleanor worked with Judges and lawyers every day. She learned the criminal justice system in Ontario and that’s when she knew what she really wanted to do. She always knew she wanted to be a lawyer in Canada but working as a court clerk made her realize that she wanted to be a lawyer for the Crown. With this new goal in mind, she started working on getting accredited. She had to pass 8 qualifying exams in order to get a Certificate of Qualification. The fee was $500 per exam which is a stiff price for a single mom like her. But she managed to save up enough to write one exam at a time. It took her awhile to finish all 8 exams because she was of limited means and saving $500 was not an easy task. She finally received her Certificate of Qualification that allowed her to enroll for the Bar Admission Course, where she had to pass 8 more exams. In 2005 she passed the Bar Admission Course and the next step was finding an articling job. That was a tough hurdle to overcome because there were so many students looking for an articling job but not enough law firms hiring articling students. On top of that, she was competing with students who received their law degrees in Canada, which already puts them at an advantage.
She also did not know how the system worked so she simply sent out resumes to every law firm looking for an articling student. The first year after passing the bar, she did not find an articling position so she went back to work as a courtroom clerk. Then she found out how and when to apply for an articling position. She followed the procedure and sent out her application to a few firms. She got calls for an interview from the Department of Justice, Crown Law Office-Criminal, Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee, Crown Attorney’s Office in Toronto and the Ministry of Environment. She went to all the interviews except the one with the Department of Justice because she was told that they give preference to Canadian Citizens and she was only a permanent resident at that time. To her surprise, she got, not one, but two (2) offers for an articling position, from the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee and the Crown Law Office-Criminal. She accepted the position at the Crown Law Office-Criminal as it is known to be the best place to article if you want to practice criminal law. It is said to be the training ground for Crown Attorneys and Judges. The function of the Crown Law Office-Criminal is similar to the function of the Office of the Solicitor General in the Philippines. Both are government law firms that handle criminal appeals, among other things.
Maria Eleanor articled for 10 months and at her exit interview she was told that she was the first articling student they hired who did not finish her law degree in Canada. In other words, she is the first foreign trained lawyer who articled for the Crown Law Office-Criminal. Truly another feather in her cap. She was called to the bar on June 18, 2007. Her first job as a lawyer was with the Durham Region Crown Attorney’s Office as Assistant Crown Attorney. A dream come true.
After her contract ended, she found a job with Legal Aid Ontario as Duty Counsel at the 2201 Finch Courthouse in Toronto. She then moved to the Burrows Professional Corporation “The Traffic Lawyers” in Oakville where she defended clients charged with drinking and driving offences. Finally in 2009 she moved to Niagara Falls as she got an offer for a job as acting agent for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada in the Niagara Region. She started in November 2009 and still continues to work as such per diem at the St. Catharines courthouse. She also has her own private practice in real estate law and assists her clients in preparing their Will. She is a Notary Public as well.
As you can see, hers is a success story but not without hard work and significant hurdles to overcome, her gender, her race, her accent. These are hurdles that continue to make her life a bit more complicated. Life in Canada is not as easy as life in the Philippines. Maria Eleanor knows that but she did not give up and never will. She believes that as long as you pray, believe in yourself, have faith, courage, determination and willingness to work hard, then anything is possible. She set her sights at becoming a lawyer for the Crown from the very beginning. At that time, it seemed to be an impossible dream. But she dared dream it, she believed it, she achieved it.
She wants to encourage us, her fellow Filipinos to open our eyes and recognize discrimination, at school and at the workplace. We Filipinos do not like confrontations and are very agreeable. We do not complain and will just keep quiet in the face of even the most obvious form of discrimination. But we need to know when to say enough is enough, especially when it affects our well-being and our source of livelihood.
We hope that her story will give inspiration and encouragement to those of you who are feeling helpless and alone in this country. We Filipinos are hardworking people, smart, friendly and resilient. We will rise above the struggles and hurdles that come our way as long as we believe. That is what Maria Eleanor wants to impart to all of you.
If you wish to learn more about the services her law firm offers or would like to reach out to her, you can visit her website MERLAW.CA. ****
MARIA ELEANOR RODRIGUEZ