Rechie Valdez makes history with cabinet position: 'People aren't used to someone who looks like me'

Many of us who watched Prime Minister Mark Carney's swearing-in ceremony on the morning of May 13 most likely noticed that when Rechie Valdez took the oath as Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Small Business (WAGE), she was overcome with emotion.
'It was a profound moment for me,' Valdez tells Yahoo! via Zoom from her office in Ottawa. Valdez became the first Filipino-Canadian woman elected to Parliament and cabinet minister.
'My husband and children were in the room, but more than that, my parents were watching from Mississauga,' she says. 'They had uprooted their lives twice: from the Philippines to Zambia, and then later from Zambia to Canada. They made incredible sacrifices to give my brother and me a better life — so during the swearing-in, all of the memories of that sacrifice just came rushing back.'
The Prime Minister personally approached Valdez to take on the responsibility. 'When he contacted me and asked me if I would take on the role, I was profoundly taken aback and in tears. I was also jumping for joy,' she says, throwing her arms in the air to demonstrate her internal reaction at the time. 'But I calmly said, 'Thank you for the opportunity, Prime Minister,'' she adds, laughing.
The department of WAGE was previously aligned with Youth under Marci Ien, until she resigned on March 7. Then, after Carney was sworn in on March 14 (after former Justin Trudeau stepped down), the department was downgraded under the ministry of Canadian Heritage helmed by Stephen Guilbeaut. Many women's right activists, including former minister Marci Ien herself, were taken aback at the Carney government's initial decision to cut the ministry and called the move a significant setback for women.
Weeks before the April 28 election, there was a lot of lobbying and back channel movement going on behind the scenes to bring the ministry back if the Liberals won the election — something Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre likely wouldn't have done had he won.
But all of that is in the past, and Valdez is focused on the future. This time, instead of being aligned with Youth, Small Business has been added to the file — something that fits Valdez, previously the minister of Small Business — really well.
'I think this alignment of WAGE to Small Business is a profound opportunity because, while it's a very social portfolio in that it advocates for women and gender-diverse people, it also creates empowerment for these people through our economy,' she says.
Valdez, who says she faced many challenges in her own experience as a visible minority woman entering the workforce as a corporate banker, and later, as an entrepreneur. 'The journey was difficult and I know what it feels like,' she says.
With the new ministry, Valdez wants to make it her mandate to help women and gender-diverse people see their power and true potential. That's why the economic slant is especially vital in our times, she says.
'What we're seeing down south with the rollback of DEI [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion], it's very scary and worrisome to us,' Valdez emphasizes. 'Women are afraid, and 2SLGBTQ+ people are afraid because we've made so much progress in our country. You simply cannot be the strongest economy in the G7 without the inclusion of women and gender-diverse people,' she says, adding dryly: 'We only make up half the population.'
Being the former Minister of Small Business also gives her a unique perspective.
'I think our women entrepreneurship strategy, for example, is truly an investment,' she says. 'It can actually even prevent gender-based violence because it's empowering. Meeting with many women entrepreneurs across the country, and seeing the impact they have within their community will have a ripple effect.'
Valdez is excited about working across the different provincial and territorial governments, and bringing inclusivity to rural and remote communities. 'As we roll these programs out, it does go down to that individual woman and gender-diverse person; that entrepreneur on the ground. That's my number one job as the communicator of the things we're doing at the federal level.'
Valdez, was at one time, that entrepreneur on the ground herself. Long before the 45-year-old got into politics, she worked for the financial sector. 'I had never had dreams nor had ever envisioned myself as a politician,' she says.
What changed for Valdez was when her daughter, Cassidy, turned a year old. 'That's when I made her first birthday cake,' she remembers. 'I'll never forget it because I felt like I had found a creative passion.' She turned the passion into a small business. 'It was an incredible journey building my business from the ground up for the world to see,' she says. 'It was a way to find my voice.'
What Valdez learned at that time is something she brings with her in her role as minister of WAGE. 'The thing about being a sole proprietor entrepreneur is that if you work on an island, you're setting yourself up to fail.' She realized there was strength in collaboration and reached out via social media, creating events and opportunities for other entrepreneurs. 'I saw the value of bringing community together.'
She sees her new role as an extension of that. 'It allows me to advocate for the larger community and be the voice for the voiceless,' she says.
What makes Valdez a unique voice is that there hasn't been a Filipino voice in federal politics for 17 years. 'Being the only Filipino out of almost a million Filipinos in the country, and being that voice to stand up for the things that matter to me is so important to me,' she says.
As someone who has experienced both racism and sexism on a daily basis at times, Valdez feels she is in the best position to understand the plight of those afflicted by the same.
'It's not something that happens just once in a while,' she says. 'I definitely experienced both, especially online. Whether it's hate, misogyny, being a person of colour, and even just being a person on the hill every day, it can be a challenge because people aren't used to someone who looks like me,' she explains. 'I would be stopped and ID'd on a regular basis even though I'm a federal minister — that's pretty telling.'
That's why representation is so important, she says. 'It's about facing those challenges head on.'
When it comes to women and gender equality, Valdez believes we have come a long way, but that we also have a long way to go.
'I was recently at a conference that had to do with trades,' she says. 'I was pleasantly surprised when one of the members of the trade groups came up to me and said he was excited about WAGE. He said he's seen the impact women are making in trades and the support they're getting from the Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), like the Canada Child Benefit, and others. They've seen the impact for women who choose trades as a future career. These are the opportunities in a place I would never expect, and that's the impact of WAGE.'
Valdez's main priorities for the department will be gender-based violence and advancing economic justice for women and gender-diverse people. 'We can't just stop at crisis response — we really need that structural change,' she asserts. 'We also want to ensure that Canada leads in this space. Gender equality isn't just a social issue, it's imperative to our economy and to the sustainability of our country. Marci Ien handed me a beautiful baton, but there is still much more work to do.'

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