Trudeau promotes Filipino culture at Toronto food fest

MANILA, Philippines – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday morning (Manila time) joined the members of Filipino community in a food festival in Toronto to celebrate cultural diversity.

Wearing a barong Tagalog, Trudeau celebrated Philippine culture at the Filipino-Canadian food festival, where he was also seen cooking barbecue at one of the booths. He said cultural diversity is a source of Canada's strength as a nation.

"We all understand that our differences are a source of strength, not a source of weakness. When we learn from our neighbors, when we get to know different cultures and different stories and different backgrounds, our communities get richer, our communities get stronger, and the future that we build for our kids gets better and better," Trudeau told Filipino-Americans in a video carried by the Canadian press.

The prime minister, tagged by Filipino netizens as one of APEC hotties, wore a Philippine barong Tagalog created by designer Paul Cabral. He also wore the same hand-embroidered shirt during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit’s welcome dinner in November last year.

READ: IN PHOTOS: 20 world leaders in barong Tagalog | Mexico vs Canada: Who's your 'APEC hottie?'

Netizens lauded Trudeau for wearing traditional Filipino attire in the food festival.

According to the 2011 National Household Survey, there are almost 700,000 Filipinos in Canada. Of that number, 454,340 are immigrants while 292,505 have already been granted Canadian citizenship. —Rosette Adel