| Dr. Rey D. Pagtakhan, M.P. Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Voice in the House of Commons for All Canadians Pride of the Filipino Race |
“It was not within my dream that I would be a Member of
Parliament of Canada,” said MP Dr. Rey D. Pagtakhan in his
characteristic humility as he addressed the Filipino Canadian
communities which recently held separate celebrations in the
Canadian cities of Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and
Edmonton to commemorate his 10th year in office. Little did he
know that a decade earlier he was about to create history.
On July 7, 1988, before a packed audience of well over a thousand
delegates at a Liberal Party Convention, Dr. Pagtakhan then a
practising lung specialist and a Full Professor of Pediatrics and
Child Health at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine
made the following pledge as he contested the nomination,
“When I speak in Parliament, I will not speak for the few of you.”
He made history when he captured the hearts and imaginations of
the voters in the November 21 federal election that same year,
unseating the 26-year-entrenched incumbent. Taking his seat in
the House of Commons in Ottawa that following December, he at
once earned his place in history as the first Canadian of Filipino
origin to be elected to Canada’s Parliament and the first Filipino to
be an elected member of a federal or national legislature in the
whole of North America and the world.
Parliament of Canada,” said MP Dr. Rey D. Pagtakhan in his
characteristic humility as he addressed the Filipino Canadian
communities which recently held separate celebrations in the
Canadian cities of Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and
Edmonton to commemorate his 10th year in office. Little did he
know that a decade earlier he was about to create history.
On July 7, 1988, before a packed audience of well over a thousand
delegates at a Liberal Party Convention, Dr. Pagtakhan then a
practising lung specialist and a Full Professor of Pediatrics and
Child Health at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine
made the following pledge as he contested the nomination,
“When I speak in Parliament, I will not speak for the few of you.”
He made history when he captured the hearts and imaginations of
the voters in the November 21 federal election that same year,
unseating the 26-year-entrenched incumbent. Taking his seat in
the House of Commons in Ottawa that following December, he at
once earned his place in history as the first Canadian of Filipino
origin to be elected to Canada’s Parliament and the first Filipino to
be an elected member of a federal or national legislature in the
whole of North America and the world.
Eleven years later, Dr. Rey — as he has now been fondly called by constituents — has seen three consecutive
successful elections, including his reelection in June 1997 to represent the rezoned riding of Winnipeg North-
St. Paul. He had held many parliamentary assignments, including chairmanships of the Standing Committee
on Citizenship and Immigration. Until recently, he served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister of
Canada. He now chairs the Northern and Western Federal Liberal Parliamentary Caucus.
During his term in the Official Opposition, he served as his party’s Critic for Health and was the Vice-Chair of
the Standing Committee on Health and Welfare, Seniors, and the Status of Women. He has pushed forward
regulation ranging from the manufacturing of childproof locks on disposable cigarette lighters to the clear
labeling of expiry dates on packaged food products. His private motion to stop the spread of hate on the
Internet was unanimously passed.
Long before his career a s a doctor, Dr. Rey had grown up with an innate sense of duty to incite change
where change was necessary for a better quality of life. Born in the town of Bacoor in the province of Cavite,
Dr. Rey is one of 11 children. Growing up in a large family with a relatively small income presented certain
obstacles for the young Dr. Rey who, even in his early years, had been described by teachers as having a
“brilliant mind”.
Dr. Rey’s first considerations were to be either a journalist or lawyer, but his father enrolled him in pre-
medicine at the University of the Philippines. As a medical student in the College of Medicine at the University
of the Philippines, he served as a Research Associate in Pediatrics at the UP Philippine General Hospital
Centre. His work earned him (along with his professor) the Manila Medical Society Basic Research First Prize
Award. Two years later, he took up residency in Pediatrics at the St. Louis Heart Associations. In January
1968, Dr. Rey and his wife, Gloria Visarra, a dietitian, moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba where he accepted a Post-
doctoral Fellowship in Pediatric Respirology at the Children’s Hospital of Winnipeg of the University of
Manitoba Faculty of Medicine and pursued his Master of Science studies in Prenatal Physiology. His intention
had been to return to the Philippines to build an academic and clinical practice. He had planned to join his
alma mater - the UP College of Medicine - and help advance the frontiers of knowledge in lung diseases of
children through research. It was not to be in the Philippines, for upon visiting the country with his family in
1972, he was not prepared to stay on and accept the unpredictability of a martial law government. He returned
to Canada, resolute and determined to build a future for his family and career.
Dr. Rey resumed his work at the Children’s Hospital and the University of Manitoba. He served as Director of
the Memorial Cystic Fibrosis Centre and as President of the Manitoba Pediatric Society in addition to being
full-time on the Faculty of Medicine. He has published some 50 scientific articles and chapters for medical
journals and textbooks and presented 22 research papers and over 100 invited lectureships at national and
international conferences and medical schools. From 1972 to 1984, he rose in the faculty rank from Lecturer
to Assistant Professor to Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine. Since 1985,
he has been a Full Professor at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine (on political leave since 1988).
He was also a Visiting Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Arizona College of Medicine from 1982 to
1983 where he spent his year of sabbatical leave. During his sabbatical leave he immersed himself in the
reading of the 64 Great Books and political autobiographies. The autobiography of Abba Eban, former Israeli
Ambassador to the United nations, inspired in him the idea of the social value of education. So much that
upon his return to Winnipeg, Dr. Rey was ready to accept an assignment as citizen member of the Winnipeg
Police Commission (1983 to 1986) and to win a three-year term as a School Trustee (1986 to 1989) in a
public school division. His School Trusteeship was abbreviated when he decided in 1988, with the blessing
of his family, to take on the challenges of national politics.
Those who have known Dr. Rey since he first arrived in Winnipeg in 1968 will tell you that, indeed, he
immersed himself in the community affairs immediately upon his arrival. He started the official newsletter,
Kayumanggi, of the Kayumanggi Club that same year and was its first Editor-in-Chief. He was the Founding
President of the Philippine Association of Manitoba (PAM) which united the then-existing three Filipino
Canadian associations in the province. The energy he projected into the growing Filipino Canadian
newspapers and expanded his community involvement to his parish council and the city-at-large. He helped
revive the United Council of Filipino Canadian Associations in Canada (UCFAC) (now called the National
Council of Canadian Filipino Associations) in 1982, giving it national prominence by increasing its
membership nationwide and through its own membership in the Canadian Ethnocultural Council (CEC), a
coalition of 37 national ethnocultural organizations in Canada. As National President of UCFAC, Dr. Rey was
elected as the first Chair of the CEC Board of Presidents constituted in 1984. He officially joined the
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Program Planning Mission to the Philippines in 1986 on
invitation by the Canadian government. He received Canada’s Governor-General Queen Elizabeth Silver
Jubilee Medal for his professionalism and community achievements.
Married in 1964, he and Gloria (who holds a Master of Science in Dietetics degree from St. Louis University of
Missouri) have four sons : Reis, a lawyer in Winnipeg; Advin, researcher at the International Monetary Fund in
Washington, D.C..; Sherwin, a student of Mass Communications at Carlton University in Ottawa; and the
youngest, C.J., a student of Financial Management at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. Their family
has recently been blessed with the addition of a daughter-in-law, Joy Pascual, married to Reis. #
successful elections, including his reelection in June 1997 to represent the rezoned riding of Winnipeg North-
St. Paul. He had held many parliamentary assignments, including chairmanships of the Standing Committee
on Citizenship and Immigration. Until recently, he served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister of
Canada. He now chairs the Northern and Western Federal Liberal Parliamentary Caucus.
During his term in the Official Opposition, he served as his party’s Critic for Health and was the Vice-Chair of
the Standing Committee on Health and Welfare, Seniors, and the Status of Women. He has pushed forward
regulation ranging from the manufacturing of childproof locks on disposable cigarette lighters to the clear
labeling of expiry dates on packaged food products. His private motion to stop the spread of hate on the
Internet was unanimously passed.
Long before his career a s a doctor, Dr. Rey had grown up with an innate sense of duty to incite change
where change was necessary for a better quality of life. Born in the town of Bacoor in the province of Cavite,
Dr. Rey is one of 11 children. Growing up in a large family with a relatively small income presented certain
obstacles for the young Dr. Rey who, even in his early years, had been described by teachers as having a
“brilliant mind”.
Dr. Rey’s first considerations were to be either a journalist or lawyer, but his father enrolled him in pre-
medicine at the University of the Philippines. As a medical student in the College of Medicine at the University
of the Philippines, he served as a Research Associate in Pediatrics at the UP Philippine General Hospital
Centre. His work earned him (along with his professor) the Manila Medical Society Basic Research First Prize
Award. Two years later, he took up residency in Pediatrics at the St. Louis Heart Associations. In January
1968, Dr. Rey and his wife, Gloria Visarra, a dietitian, moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba where he accepted a Post-
doctoral Fellowship in Pediatric Respirology at the Children’s Hospital of Winnipeg of the University of
Manitoba Faculty of Medicine and pursued his Master of Science studies in Prenatal Physiology. His intention
had been to return to the Philippines to build an academic and clinical practice. He had planned to join his
alma mater - the UP College of Medicine - and help advance the frontiers of knowledge in lung diseases of
children through research. It was not to be in the Philippines, for upon visiting the country with his family in
1972, he was not prepared to stay on and accept the unpredictability of a martial law government. He returned
to Canada, resolute and determined to build a future for his family and career.
Dr. Rey resumed his work at the Children’s Hospital and the University of Manitoba. He served as Director of
the Memorial Cystic Fibrosis Centre and as President of the Manitoba Pediatric Society in addition to being
full-time on the Faculty of Medicine. He has published some 50 scientific articles and chapters for medical
journals and textbooks and presented 22 research papers and over 100 invited lectureships at national and
international conferences and medical schools. From 1972 to 1984, he rose in the faculty rank from Lecturer
to Assistant Professor to Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine. Since 1985,
he has been a Full Professor at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine (on political leave since 1988).
He was also a Visiting Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Arizona College of Medicine from 1982 to
1983 where he spent his year of sabbatical leave. During his sabbatical leave he immersed himself in the
reading of the 64 Great Books and political autobiographies. The autobiography of Abba Eban, former Israeli
Ambassador to the United nations, inspired in him the idea of the social value of education. So much that
upon his return to Winnipeg, Dr. Rey was ready to accept an assignment as citizen member of the Winnipeg
Police Commission (1983 to 1986) and to win a three-year term as a School Trustee (1986 to 1989) in a
public school division. His School Trusteeship was abbreviated when he decided in 1988, with the blessing
of his family, to take on the challenges of national politics.
Those who have known Dr. Rey since he first arrived in Winnipeg in 1968 will tell you that, indeed, he
immersed himself in the community affairs immediately upon his arrival. He started the official newsletter,
Kayumanggi, of the Kayumanggi Club that same year and was its first Editor-in-Chief. He was the Founding
President of the Philippine Association of Manitoba (PAM) which united the then-existing three Filipino
Canadian associations in the province. The energy he projected into the growing Filipino Canadian
newspapers and expanded his community involvement to his parish council and the city-at-large. He helped
revive the United Council of Filipino Canadian Associations in Canada (UCFAC) (now called the National
Council of Canadian Filipino Associations) in 1982, giving it national prominence by increasing its
membership nationwide and through its own membership in the Canadian Ethnocultural Council (CEC), a
coalition of 37 national ethnocultural organizations in Canada. As National President of UCFAC, Dr. Rey was
elected as the first Chair of the CEC Board of Presidents constituted in 1984. He officially joined the
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Program Planning Mission to the Philippines in 1986 on
invitation by the Canadian government. He received Canada’s Governor-General Queen Elizabeth Silver
Jubilee Medal for his professionalism and community achievements.
Married in 1964, he and Gloria (who holds a Master of Science in Dietetics degree from St. Louis University of
Missouri) have four sons : Reis, a lawyer in Winnipeg; Advin, researcher at the International Monetary Fund in
Washington, D.C..; Sherwin, a student of Mass Communications at Carlton University in Ottawa; and the
youngest, C.J., a student of Financial Management at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. Their family
has recently been blessed with the addition of a daughter-in-law, Joy Pascual, married to Reis. #
Washington D.C. Since 1987
Washington D.C. Since 1987
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