On July 23rd, 2026, UBC Connects at Robson Square welcomed community members to a first cut screening of Kuwentong Pamamahay: Stories of Home, a film that explored the intersections of belonging, storytelling, and community advocacy.
Kuwentong Pamamahay and Pauwi Team
Following the film screening was a panel discussion with the filmmaker and members of Kuwentong Pamamahay, a collaborative storytelling project involving Sliced Mango Collective, Heritage Vancouver Society, and UBC’s Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies (ACAM) program and the Centre for Asian Canadian Research and Engagement (ACRE). Panelists discussed how the film and larger project expand our understanding of physical and social spaces for the Filipino/x Canadian community, as well as the role of community organizing in shaping these spaces.
The film grapples with questions about how community relates to urban landscapes and what it means to belong in space, offering generative discussion about the intricate intersections between identity, belonging, and placemaking. By surfacing key questions relating to how community connects with space, the film explores a disconnect between city planning and community growth––where urban development does not always align with community needs. This critical disconnect threatens the displacement of significant Filipino/x community spaces in the Joyce-Collingwood neighbourhood.
The film is part of Kuwentong Pamamahay, a collaborative storytelling project that emerged from ongoing community conversations and advocacy efforts against gentrification and displacement of small Filipino/x run businesses. While at the present moment, an appointed cultural space for Filipino/x Canadians has yet to be built in Vancouver, the stories and resources created through Kuwentong Pamamahay demonstrate how informal, quotidian placemaking practices are already transforming everyday sites into spaces of community significance. As the community storytellers point out, these often unremarkable everyday sites––restaurants, churches, convenience stores, and parks–––serve as important spaces for community gathering, connection building, and memory making.
Kuwentong Pamamahay’s collection of community stories work in tandem with Sliced Mango Collective’s #SliceofSupport campaign which united Filipino/x community and allies to voice concerns about the J+S Architect’s redevelopment application of 5163-5187 Joyce Street. The rezoning application was part of the city’s transit-oriented development approach which aims to concentrate city development near busy transit hubs to promote sustainability by facilitating neighbourhood density, mixed land uses and the use of accessible public transportation. While the businesses on Joyce Street play a vital role to the community, many community members were unaware of the redevelopment application that threatened these businesses. The Slice of Support campaign aimed to bring attention to the rezoning application, strengthen community action, and make resources of support accessible to a larger audience.
Current approaches to urban development do not inherently require community consultation during rezoning application processes; rather, these approaches place the burden on communities to identify concerns and collectively challenge proposed rezoning developments. To address the need to advocate for the protection of vital community spaces, founding member of Sliced Mango Collective, Kathleen Zaragosa (pictured below) asks “what [tools and information are] accessible to people? How can we get our community to care but in a way that they can actually make action of it?” These questions provide a critical framework for organizing community-led projects and advocacy to intervene in urban development. As Bill Yuen (pictured below) from Heritage Vancouver Society explains, “all the planners and developers have so much power in shaping the official, what is considered authoritative narrative, of what ought to be Joyce-Collingwood and then you compare these modest, but very important stories [from Kuwentong Pamamahay], it becomes so precious because that’s the accounts that…you want factored in.” Yuen articulates how city planning should account for how communities connect with urban spaces, while prioritizing development that supports the needs and growth of local communities.
Kathleen Zaragosa
L-R: Christian Zane Klado; Bill Yuen; Sydney Lines
UBC professor, JP Catungal explains, “storytelling is how we intervene in the world” and for this project, storytelling is how community intervenes in the gaps between city planning and community growth. Kuwentong Pamamahay’s record provides lasting change by exploring stories that focus on the often unseen and embodied heritage.
Dr. JP Catungal
During the panel discussion, members emphasized that this project’s scope may have initially sought to advocate for Filipino/x community spaces in Joyce-Collingwood, but the sentiments, tools, and root issues in city planning extend beyond the spatial and temporal parameters of the Joyce-Collingwood neighbourhood. As JP Catungal points out, this project can offer a framework to “activate this work [by asking] people to tell even more stories, to share with each other what their stories are, the places that are significant to them, whether its Joyce-Collingwood or other spaces.”
The processes to advocate for racialized and marginalized community spaces require sustained organization, collective action, and accessible tools. One of the key takeaways from the event was how the discussions produced a framework that left attendees with feelings of pride and passion regarding how they view their roles within urban development. Farrah Gutierrez, an attendee, Pauwi walking tour participant, and community member working at Collingwood Neighbourhood House, noted that “there are more voices like mine that need to be shared. I am relatively new [to the Joyce-Collingwood neighbourhood] and there are others in other communities whose stories should be shared.” Gutierrez’s reflections emphasize the diversity within communities and how every story offers an insight into different experiences in shared spaces and identities. Another attendee found that the event left them “with a new sense of appreciation for my neighbourhood and realizing that I don’t need a background in social justice or any professional city development training to have an impact on my community––sharing my stories and how they matter can make change.”
The film and discussion recognized sites of gathering, care, and support that do not exist by chance––they are created and sustained through the dedication of community members. By emphasizing the need to continue establishing sites of care and collaboration for Filipino/x Canadians, the event offered generative approaches to draw attention to local spaces of importance and offer tools to protect community gathering spaces. Development should be more than the construction of infrastructure; it should prioritize communities by preserving and growing the spaces where relationships, heritage, and support flourish––spaces that feel like home.
Article by Melissa Lee / Photos courtesy of Devon Meadows
