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  • Tessie Oliva, a young Filipina woman, pictured in a nursing school graduation photo wearing a 1960s white nursing uniform.

    “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.

  • The Dutch Immigrants’ Church

    Harma-Mae Smit

    If you drive through Edmonton neighbourhoods, you’ll see many churches with names that reflect the cultural background of the immigrants…

  • Filipino Pioneers of Edmonton

    Ida Beltran Lucila

    The 1952 Immigration Act introduced a points system that brought about the entry of professionals to fill labour gaps in Canada.

  • Connecting Through Dance

    Soni Dasmohapatra

    Soni Dasmohapatra shares her collaboration with Sissy Thiessen Kootenayoo and Felipe Canavera. — amiskwaciywâskahikan is “Beaver Hills House” It is…

  • Colours of the Vaisakhi Nagar Kirtan Sikh Parade

    Gagan Kaur Hoonjan

    If you come to Mill Woods on the Sunday of Victoria Day long weekend, you’ll join thousands of people coming…

  • Cariwest: The Caribbean Community’s Gift to Edmonton

    Donna Coombs-Montrose

    CARIWEST – Caribbean Arts Festival was introduced to Edmonton in 1984. It was created by Western Carnival Development Association (WCDA)…

  • Once a Teacher, Always a Teacher

    Jeannette Austin-Odina

    My journey towards becoming an educator started in my childhood with time spent under a mango tree at my home…

  • Edmonton’s Caribbean Journey

    Donna Coombs-Montrose

    The flights touched down at a Canadian International Airport bringing scores of eager Caribbean nationals, their suitcases packed with their…

  • Vivacious Caribbean Teachers

    Etty Shaw-Cameron

    During the 1960s, school jurisdictions in Alberta advertised for teachers in leading newspapers and at teacher training colleges in the…

  • The Last Best West: Hattie’s Place, Part 3

    Dr. Russell Cobb

    Disclaimer: Please note that this piece references anti-Black violence, brutality, and white supremacy. A reference to a specific act of…

  • The Tamale & Pupusa – A Culinary Journey To Canada

    Amrita Gill

    I remember the first time I met Elba, mother of my close friend Yazmin (or Yaz as friends and family…

  • Committed to Community: Hilwie Hamdon and The Muslim Ladies’ Association of Edmonton

    Dr. Nadia Kurd

    Edmontonian Hilwie Hamdon (née Taha Johma, 1905-1988) was a community leader and founding member of the historic Al Rashid Mosque, the…