Filipino community wins appeal, parade OK'd

They say everyone loves a parade, but the City of Winnipeg didn't make it easy for the Filipino community to hold one.

Organizers of the annual Manitoba Filipino Street Festival have been running a parade on McPhillips Street for years, but the city's public works department changed its mind this year, worried that closing such a main thoroughfare could make it difficult for emergency services to access Seven Oaks Hospital.

On Tuesday, the festival organizers appealed the decision to the public works committee, saying there has never been an incident in running the parade on McPhillips in the past four years.

However, city traffic manager Luis Escobar told the committee there was, in fact, an incident last year where an emergency vehicle had trouble driving around the event.

Coun. Janice Lukes, chair of the public works committee, asked parade organizers if it was possible to move to another street but organizers said McPhillips was best because it is wide enough to turn floats around.

Ron Cantiveros, publisher of the Filipino Journal, told the committee that McPhillips is the Filipino community's main street and should remain as the route.

In the end, the committee sided with the community, voting 3-1 to allow the parade.

Lukes was the only member who voted in opposition, saying she respected the concerns of the city`s emergency staff.

The parade runs in August and draws the Filipino community from all points of Manitoba and outside the province.

Images from the 2014 Manitoba Filipino Street Festival