“She Can Move Mountains”: Tessie Oliva’s Impact on the Nursing Sector in Edmonton

Giselle General

After moving to Edmonton in 1969, Teresita “Tessie” Pajarillo Oliva began working as a nurse. Over the next several decades, while advancing her career in nursing, she simultaneously became more involved in the city’s Filipino community and broader and immigrant advocacy at the provincial level. Founder of the Filipino Nurses Association in Alberta, Oliva’s tireless efforts to recruit Filipino healthcare workers and support immigrant nurses had profound impacts on the province’s healthcare system that are still felt today. In Giselle General’s ECAMP article for our labour history series, she describes how a 2020 visit to the Royal Alberta Museum and its exhibit on Tessie Oliva’s career deeply resonated with her on a personal level, spurring her to research Oliva for this article. Building off her experience at the exhibit, General speaks with Oliva’s good friend, Letitia Tria, and learns more about Oliva’s efforts to advocate Filipino nurses and other immigrant healthcare workers in Edmonton and beyond.