Congratulations to Public Policy Co-op student Alfonso Ralph Mendoza Manalo for being the 2021 recipient for the Golden Balangay Award for Educational Excellence (Post-Secondary). The award is given to a post-secondary student who has made a historic contribution to the Filipino Canadian community and Canada at large. It is a nationwide competition that aims to recognize the work of outstanding Filipino Canadians. Alfonso won the award due to his involvement in the collection of race-based data and his work in creating modules regarding anti-Asian discrimination and advocating for its inclusion in the curriculum of the RCMP's Anti-Racism course, and circulating his anti-Asian racism research across universities and NGO's in Canada.
Alfonso is currently working as an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Policy Advisor at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for his co-op placement. He previously worked there as an Information Management Research Assistant. Discussing Alfonso’s placement he stated, “day to day work really varies but that’s what makes it exciting, on some days I’ll be writing short policy briefs, conducting qualitative and quantitative research such as doing political scans and gathering demographic data, but usually I provide policy advising and critique HR policies, programs and services particularly those related to race relations and sexual minorities and create reports or official responses”. Some of the reports he’s drafted and/or supported include the drafting of a Treasury Board Submission, the RCMP’s submission for the Annual Operation on the Multiculturalism Act, Employment Equity Report, and responses to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness’s recommendations.
Alfonso is also the principal representative of his unit in the creation of the RCMP’s first mandatory anti-racism course which will be taken by approx. 30,000 employees across the RCMP and be made available to other agencies under Public Safety Canada. Within this project he advocated for the inclusion of anti-Asian racism and religious discrimination, and authored the former. He continues to identify gaps in the course and provide solutions and information regarding equity-seeking groups to ensure that the course is truly representative of Canada’s multicultural population.
Congratulations Alfonso, on winning this national award! For more information about the award, please visit: https://goldenbalangayawards.com/awards/