November 26, 2015

On the eve of the National Day of Remembrance and Action Ending Violence Against Women, commemorating the 14 women who passed away at the École Polytechnique Massacre in 1989, a public forum to highlight the work from grassroots women’s organizations across Canada to tackle violence against women will take place on December 5th in Toronto. Aiming to tackle broader, systemic violence that continues to be facilitated by federal policies implemented by Canada, Charie Siddayao, a community organizer with the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario (PWC-ON), and Andrea Bobadilla from University of Western Ontario (PhD Candidate) will bring out the critical perspective of globalization’s impact on women specifically within the transnational working class Filipino community. More directly, they will look at how challenging Canada’s Caregiver Program points to the necessity of ending a globalized system of violence affecting women across countries. This event will be held at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) Room 5260 (5th floor)

This forum will challenge participants to see Canada’s Caregiver Program, a federally implemented program, as one of the government’s anti-woman, racist, and classist policies that have systemically denied the genuine development of women. Andrea Bobadilla and Charie Siddayao will provide an overview of the policy processes, both internationally and locally agreed on, that make women vulnerable to the whims of private agencies and Canadian employers. The continuing migration of Filipino women to work in the private homes of the middle and upper class speaks to the deeper issue of the devaluing of women’s labour and the stripping of their basic rights.

Amidst globalization, the vital work of caring for homes, children and the elderly in Canada has taken the form of labour programs such as the Caregiver Program. Yet solutions to these important social questions of care and social reproduction which, at the core, affect women’s labour and their basic rights, have failed to be addressed time and time again. As panel speakers tackle what it means to end violence against women, a broader look at the deliberate implementation between countries to devalue women’s work, status and development is integral in exposing the systemic violence against all women in Canada and around the world.

The Philippine Women Centre of Ontario will be joined by representatives from Asian Women Coalition and the Indigenous Women Against the Sex Industry in this collective effort to raise awareness and solidarity against all forms of violence against women faced across communities in Canada. Join us as we dig deeper into the systemic oppression and exploitation of women and assert the presence of women’s resistance and leadership towards genuine equality and liberation!

RSVP here: http://bit.ly/1RYfxcK
Refreshments and snacks to be served at 12:30PM
Presentations starting at 1PM

 

“Taking the Revolutionary Road: Ending Violence Against Women”
Public Forum
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
252 Bloor St W, Toronto
Room 5260 (5th floor)

For more information, contact:
Philippine Women Centre
416-519-255
pwcontario@yahoo.ca