Lory Toledo has lived in Prince Albert for 6 months and is looking forward to her first Thanksgiving in Canada. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

A new thanksgiving

New to Canada and thankful, P.A. resident looks forward to first Thanksgiving

Oct 13, 2025 | 8:00 AM

Despite having never experienced Thanksgiving as a holiday before, newcomer Lory Toledo said she is thankful to be in Prince Albert, reunited with her husband after a year apart.

Toledo is from the Philippines and has been here for six months. She doesn’t need the holiday to make her thankful, but is still curious about what Monday, and the looming winter, will look like.

“I landed as a [permanent resident] here in Canada, and I really thank God for that,” she said. “When I came here, it was summer already, so it’s very nice weather. The cold weather is nice, everything is nice for me.”

Cold and nice are both relative in this case, as Toledo has never seen snow before.

“I like the weather because the Philippines is so hot, very hot right now,” she said.

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There is no equivalent holiday in the Philippines, Toledo explained. Christmas and New Year’s, birthdays and a cultural festival are big. On Monday, Toledo plans to try her hand at roasting a turkey. Turkeys are farmed in the Philippines, so the notion of having one as a meal is not new, but she has not cooked one before.

“Me and my husband, we will celebrate together with my friends. Of course, we will cook dinner. I’ll cook dinner and then we’ll eat together with my friends.”

While she is planning a variety of dishes, she plans to rely on the internet to give her guidance on how to make the turkey a success.

Toledo is a little leery about the potential size of a Canadian turkey, as the birds they sell at home are bit smaller.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com