cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/9840174
When Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. arrives in Vancouver on July 1, his four-day visit will be the first by a Philippine head of state to Canada in 11 years. More than a bilateral milestone, it will be the clearest indication yet that Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Indo-Pacific diplomacy is beginning to come home.
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Nearly one million Canadians of Filipino descent continue to form the backbone of the relationship, while expanding economic and defence partnerships are giving it greater strategic weight.
The partnership is also rooted in a shared desire for greater agency and choice in an increasingly dangerous world. Although the Philippines remains a U.S. treaty ally, it is seeking a wider range of economic, defence and security partners.
Canada remains deeply integrated with the United States, but it, too, is trying to reduce concentrated dependencies and build stronger relationships elsewhere.
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[Security] co-operation also carries wider significance. The Philippines faces persistent Chinese coercion in the South China Sea, and Mr. Marcos’s visit comes just before the 10th anniversary of the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling that rejected the legal basis for Beijing’s expansive maritime claims.
Canada has consistently supported the Philippines in upholding its claims per the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and has a direct interest in freedom of navigation and the stability of the sea lanes on which global commerce depends. Strengthening Philippine capacity is therefore not an act of distant solidarity; it is an investment in the regional order that underpins Canadian prosperity.
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Security co-operation may have advanced fastest, but economics will ultimately determine whether the broader partnership becomes durable. Bilateral merchandise trade reached $3.4-billion in 2025, while Canadian direct investment in the Philippines rose by more than 40 per cent. Those figures demonstrate momentum, but they remain modest relative to the size of the opportunity.
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Yet the resilience of the relationship will depend not only on defence, energy and infrastructure, but also on the people who connect the two countries. [Nearly one million Canadians of Filipino descent continue to form the backbone of the relationship, while expanding economic and defence partnerships are giving it greater strategic weight.]
The Filipino Canadian community provides a foundation of trust, knowledge and commercial connectivity that Canada should treat as a strategic advantage.
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[Edit to add ‘Opinion’ to the headline.]