The two and a half day conference was organized by the various progressive Filipino Canadian organizations of the Kapit Bisig Centre in Montreal, Magkaisa Centre in Toronto, and Kalayaan Centre in Vancouver as an educational event to deepen understanding of the history and current situation of Filipino Canadians; to understand the nature of the Canadian state and society and their role in helping shape the Filipino Canadian community’s reality; and to develop action plans for just and genuine settlement and integration in order to achieve full participation and entitlement. The conference was also a continuation of a pioneering project launched three years ago: Filipino Community and Beyond: Towards Full Participation in a Multicultural Society.

As host organization, Kapit Bisig Centre of Montreal opened the conference on the evening of April 30th with reception and arts exhibit and closed the evening with three short films that were produced, directed and performed by Filipino Canadian youth and their organizations in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. All three films expressed the youth’s vibrancy and continued inspiration to educate, organize and mobilize the Filipino Canadian community in the midst of various challenges such as family separation, racism, poverty, deskilling and violence.

On the following day, the conference held panel discussions, fielded questions and shared experiences to deepen understanding of genuine settlement and integration for Filipinos who seek Canada as their final destination in their journey of migration. The morning session shared a brief history of Canada as a “white settler colonial state” whose current political economy continues to be guided by the dynamics of its capital accumulation within the larger context of a neo-liberal global economic system amidst a growing crisis in natural and human environments. It showed a timeline of the organizing work of progressive Filipinos in Canada and their organizations – from their inception and subsequent growth – within the framework of the history of Filipino migration after Canada removed the discriminatory racial provision from its immigration program in 1962. It acknowledged the importance of the three community centres in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal in bringing forward the struggle of Filipino Canadians to settle and integrate in order to achieve full participation and entitlement in Canadian society.

Today, Filipinos have become Canada’s third largest source of immigrants. At the same time, they are also part of that huge transnational Filipino community that seeks permanent home and settlement in their receiving countries even as they continue to maintain certain attachment to the Philippines.

Subsequent panels presented on the Canadian political structure – from federal to provincial and municipal – and how this political structure develops laws and policies such as multiculturalism and immigration that help shape our reality in Canada. Another panel presented a brief about social services in Canada, the challenge of accessing these services and how these are used as “social stabilizers” to maintain the existing political economy and social system under neo-liberal capitalism.

The panel in the afternoon gave an in-depth presentation on “Filipino transnationals” who have grown to around 10% of the Philippine working population. Many of these transnationals are in continuous “circular migration” from one country to another and seek permanent residences outside the Philippines. It looked at migration as life-altering and a journey that may have been “propelled by the need to earn money but the hope is to find life’s completion somewhere in that journey; a home, a community, a society that will value one’s work, a nation where one can make a difference and history,” not necessarily in the country of origin. Thus, the struggle for genuine settlement and integration becomes a primary call for these Filipino transnationals who may go back to the Philippines but for a brief visit or sentimental journey. The panel then tackled the challenge of community organizing based on participatory learning through the process of action, reflection and analysis of action and then, back to action for community and social transformation.

Subsequent panels looked into the issue of doing alliances and united front work with individuals and groups both inside and outside the Filipino community. They shared how the three community centres in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto developed and built linkages over the years that sustained and supported their various efforts at political education and mobilization. The last panel presented on arts and culture as tools for community organizing and mobilization. It emphasized that new art and cultural forms would have to be developed with their content reflecting current reality and challenges facing the community for them to be effective and have lasting impact.

The day’s conference was capped by an enjoyable solidarity evening where participants from various cities, including those from the United States, contributed their talents and skills through different cultural presentations. It was also graced by groups and individuals from other communities who contributed music and spoken words as strong gestures of support for and solidarity with the conference.

On the last day, the conference held an assessment and sharing session. Those who spoke praised the weekend event and accepted the challenge to create and nurture a new path of genuine settlement and integration – a path that would lead to full participation and entitlement in a multi-ethnic and multicultural society within a world that is facing the crisis of neo-liberal globalization and the crisis of environmental degradation and climate change. They decided to bring to their particular territories and organizations the conference declaration with its action plans for deepening and implementation.

The conference announced the formation of the Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians (CPFC) as the national centre of various progressive organizations that would lead in the struggle for genuine settlement and integration of Filipino Canadians along the process of supporting the socialist movement in Canada and the global anti-imperialist solidarity movement.

Thus, the conference and the CPFC signify a landmark and a beginning of a new paradigm in our educating, organizing and mobilizing work.

Issued by the Conference Secretariat
May 15, 2010
Montreal, Canada

In deepening our understanding of the Filipino Canadian community as part of a transnational community, internationally acclaimed writer and long-time women’s rights and human rights advocate Ninotchka Rosca will be part of this historic conference as a guest speaker. Rosca will help set the framework of our struggle as a transnational community in North America. She states that “migration is a life-altering process. Completion is as much a part of the migrant’s journey – completion of their lives, homes, families, communities and their value to society…and to treat it like a job application is really to insult and injure the migrant’s humanity.”

Unmasking and challenging the one-dimensional view that migrants and immigrants leave their country simply to “earn a living” regardless of the nature of work, Rosca will present the important role of progressive transnational Filipinos and their organizations to cultivate and nurture the path for genuine settlement and integration. Rosca states that “it is time to turn the word transnational into a noun – to signify those of us who are with more than one language, more than one culture, more than one history and certainly, more than one socio-political affiliation.”

Rosca will join progressive Filipino Canadians in supporting their assertion for full participation and entitlement in Canada and helping redefine the progressive movement and the role of the Filipino transnational community in social transformation.

A groundbreaking event in the history of Filipino Canadian organizing, “Counterspin” will show that Filipino Canadians are part of the dynamic transnational Filipino community in North America. “Counterspin” will define the role of progressive Filipino Canadians in shaping and mapping our community’s future within the context of neo-liberal globalization and imperialism. “Counterspin” will signify the beginning of the new era in the educating, organizing and mobilizing of the Filipino Canadian community towards advancement and development.

“Counterspin” will be held on April 30, May 1 & 2, 2010 at the Jewish General Hospital Amphitheatre Institute of Community and Family Psychiatry (4333 Cote Sainte Catherine, Montreal.

For more information or to register, visit the Kapit Bisig website at www.kapitbisigcentre.org.
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Montreal, QC – Excitement and anticipation builds as progressive Filipino Canadians prepare for “Counterspin towards a just and genuine settlement and integration” – a national conference that signifies the continuing struggle of the Filipino Canadian community for full participation and entitlement in Canadian society.

To be held on April 30, May 1 & 2, 2010 at the Jewish General Hospital Amphitheatre Institute of Community and Family Psychiatry (4333 Cote Sainte Catherine, Montreal), this landmark conference will be a monumental event in the history of the Filipino Canadian community, as we pave the way to cultivate and nurture the new path for genuine settlement and integration.

Building on the years of educating, organizing and mobilizing work of the Kapit Bisig Centre in Montreal, the Magkaisa Centre in Toronto and the Kalayaan Centre in Vancouver, progressive Filipino Canadians embrace this new era in our struggle with an affirmation to strengthen its unity towards the Filipino Canadian community’s advancement and development.

As we march forward in reclaiming our rightful place in a multicultural and multi-ethnic Canada, we call on all progressive Filipino Canadians to link arms and raise fists with progressive members of the community at this historic event. “Counterspin” conference aims to deepen understanding of our history and current situation as Filipino Canadians; to deepen understanding of the Canadian state and society and their role in helping shape our community’s reality; and to develop action plans toward just and genuine settlement and integration and to achieve full participation and entitlement.

To register or for more information about the conference, visit www.kapitbisigcentre.org or contact the conference secretariat.

In Montreal:
Kapit Bisig Centre
pwcofquebec@gmail.com; 514-678-3901
In Toronto:
Magkaisa Centre
pwcontario@yahoo.ca; 416-519-2553
In Vancouver:
Kalayaan Centre
pwc@kalayaancentre.net; 604-215-1103

April 30, May 1-2, 2010 will mark the days that progressive Filipino Canadians will, once again, galvanize their unity in a national conference called “Counterspin towards a just and genuine settlement and integration.” This landmark conference is the product of the strengthening unity amongst the progressive national organizations of Filipino Canadians including workers, women and youth and signifies the new phase in our educating, organizing and mobilizing work in the Filipino Canadian community.

For over 50 years, Filipino Canadians have struggled to settle and integrate in order to achieve full participation and entitlement in Canadian society. Three community centres working together, namely Kapit Bisig (“link arms”) in Montreal, Magkaisa (“unite”) in Toronto and Kalayaan (“freedom”) in Vancouver, have been in the forefront of these struggles. And once more, they continue to “ link arms and unite in freedom” to make this coming Counterspin conference possible.

To be held at 3755 Chemin de la Cote Sainte Catherine, Montreal, this national conference will bring forward our struggle for a just and genuine settlement and integration and declare our ongoing commitment to continue our legacy of resistance as progressive Filipino Canadians. This is also an offshoot of the 3-day national conference “Making the Filipino Community Count in Canada” held at the University of Toronto in November 2008.

Counterspin conference aims to achieve the following objectives:

• To deepen our understanding of our history and current situation as Filipino Canadians

• To deepen our understanding of the Canadian state and society and their role in helping shape our community’s reality

• To develop action plans toward just and genuine settlement and integration and to achieve full participation and entitlement.

As we forge unity towards our community’s advancement and development, Counterspin national conference is another milestone in reclaiming our rightful place in a multicultural and multi-ethnic Canada. Your participation and involvement during this conference will be a testament that we, as a community, are committed in overcoming economic marginalization, combating systemic racism and social exclusion, enhancing women’s equality and human rights and making the youth count.

Registration fee is $25.00. Register >>HERE<< For more information about the Counterspin conference, please contact the conference secretariat:

In Montreal:
Kapit BIsig Centre
pwcofquebec@gmail.com; 514-678-3901

In Toronto:
Magkaisa Centre
pwcontario@yahoo.ca; 416-519-2553

In Vancouver:
Kalayaan Centre
pwc@kalayaancentre.net; 604-215-1103

Toronto, ON – March 24, 2010 – On the evening of March 20, 2010, over 180 Filipino women, workers, youth and allies linked arms in welcoming the arrival of the much-anticipated Maleta (Suitcase) Project in Toronto. Entitled “End the Exploitation, March for Liberation: The Maleta Project Launch,” the multi-media arts exhibit and cultural show unpacked the Filipino-Canadian community’s maletas before the public, exposing their rich history of migration. With a particular focus on enhancing women’s equality, human rights and genuine development, the launch was a milestone event for the Magkaisa Centre’s organizing work with the community.

The exhibit featured art produced by the member organizations of the Magkaisa Centre: the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario; SIKLAB-Ontario (a Filipino-Canadian workers organization); and Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance-Ontario (UKPC/FCYA-ON). Drawing an overcapacity crowd of community members, academics, artists, trade unionists and members of other progressive organizations, the launch was a celebration of a unique form of creativity expressed with strong social content, setting the spotlight on a community that strives to define and produce a dynamic culture that is truly empowering and transformative.

The night opened with a song performed by Sinag Bayan Ontario entitled “Bangon Maria,” a call to women’s uprising and liberation. Joy Sioson, Chairperson of the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario (PWC-ON) welcomed everyone as she announced the arrival of the Maleta Project in Toronto, ushering in another phase in Filipino women’s organizing towards full participation and entitlement in Canadian society. She also marked the day as the beginning of the celebration of PWC’s 10 years of organizing work in Ontario.

Messages of solidarity were read from the Kalayaan Centre in British Columbia and the Kapit Bisig Centre in Quebec, followed by a keynote speech from Cecilia Diocson, Executive Director of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC). Diocson shared the journey of her maleta when she migrated in the 1970’s. “I only had one suitcase. Being a landed immigrant and a nurse, I knew what I had in my maleta – a dozen of nursing uniforms and nursing caps. I was ready for work,” she narrates, illustrating how the migration of the Filipino community in Canada has always been in response to the economy’s labour demands. For her, the maleta represented both the community’s history and its future as the 4th largest community in Canada. She encouraged the audience to unpack more maletas through documenting our women’s oral histories to further reveal the community’s inspiring stories of struggle and resistance.

Artist/Educator Marissa Largo shared her experiences and valuable insights as a community artist who works with women and youth in Toronto and in Montreal. She emphasized that the use of Participatory Action Research methodology in the art-making process is rooted in genuine community participation and driven by the passion for social change. “Everyone was involved in every stage, from the conceptualization to the art-making,” comments Mark Serrano, a member of UKPC/FCYA-ON. “As participants of the project, working and integrating with others allowed me to connect my personal experiences to our community’s common struggles.” He discovered that the true contents of the maletas were these actual narratives. “Otherwise, art without social relevance is hollow, like an empty suitcase,” he further states.

The closing remarks were delivered by Alleben Purugganan, member of the PWC-ON. Posing the question, “What do art and women’s liberation have in common?” She challenged dominant notions of freedom in a world where systemic barriers continually hinder Filipino women from achieving genuine equality. As both an artist and a community organizer, she described Maleta as a larger project of redefining culture – one that is for the people and raises a collective consciousness. “Art for the people is for liberation,” she emphasizes. The volunteers and participants of the project then returned on stage to perform a song called “Wavin Flag” expressing the community’s strength and their continuing struggle for freedom.

“Interweaved through years of educating, organizing and mobilizing, the Maleta Project not only makes our task of community building more fun and engaging but, more importantly, reclaims the central role of women as producers of history and innovators of creative expression,” explains Stephanie Sanchez, a UKPC/FCYA-ON and PWC-ON member. “We may not be what the mainstream perceives as artists, but the collective process allowed us to creatively harness our particular struggles and resistance. We were able to make art that our community can really relate to” she adds.

Many were impressed by the ingenuity and beauty of the art pieces, noting the clear conveyance of the issues that they shed light on. Topics ranged from the Live-in Caregiver Program, traumas of migration, family separation, racism and access to healthcare. The fact that people could relate to the Maleta Project is a testament to the effectiveness of the collective process through which the project was conceived. “It was so fun getting involved with something like this for the first time, especially when I hear people say how good and well-organized the exhibit is,” says Meryll Aguila, who is currently in high school and is one of the project’s participants. She continues, “ang gaan gaan sa pakiramdam pagkatapos ng pagod at hirap [It feels good after all that hard work]”

A groundbreaking and historic evening for the Filipino community, the night marked the beginning of the Magkaisa Centre’s seven-month long art and culture initiative. “The launching just gave us all a glimpse of the bigger and better things that will come out of the Maleta Project,” said Sanchez. The Magkaisa Centre knows Filipinos will continue to arrive with their maletas: there will be more stories to be told, and more battles to be fought. Sanchez states, “The Maleta is the story of our lives. It is the tangible manifestation of our assertion of making the Filipino community count in Canada.”

Members of the Magkaisa Centre are getting ready for another round of workshops, research projects and community mobilizations – together envisioning Filipinos as empowered members of this society. Members of the Magkaisa Centre concluded the night with the statement that ‘the Maleta project siginifies the beginning of a new paradigm for our community.’

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For more information:
contact Qara Clemente
416-519-2553
pwc-on@magkaisacentre.org
www.magkaisacentre.org

For over two decades, we, Filipino-Canadian women of NAPWC, have been steadfast and firm in our call to struggle for the struggle of women from the South, whose lives and future continue to be battered by the violent impacts of neo-liberal agenda of globalization. We, Filipino-Canadian women of NAPWC, remain strong and clear in stating that the liberation of all women from the South, such as the Philippines, is integral and central to the overall liberation of women.

As progressive women, we will not accept that the future reserved for us is that of continuous exploitation and oppression as women of colour and as workers. We strongly refuse to be denied our right and full entitlement to call on all women to seriously look at women’s concerns from the perspective of class struggle, racial discrimination, gender oppression and the struggle of women from the South for national and social liberation.

While the imposition of neo-liberal agenda hammers the nation, as evident in the desperate moves of the current Conservative government, under Prime Minister Harper, to overhaul immigration and labour policies, to name a few, the intensity of its impacts is targeted and hammered directly onto marginalized women of colour in Canada, particularly on Filipino women.

The implementation of one of the neo-liberal agenda of Canada is evident in the rapid expansion of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP) and the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP). Preying on the desperation of Filipino women who are forced to leave the Philippines, Canada, through Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) perfected the LCP, its predecessor the Foreign Domestic Movement (FDM), and carries on sculpting the TFWP, in order to have a reserve pool of cheap labour to be utilized and disposed off when not needed anymore.

Touted by Canada as a “model” labour and immigration program all over the world, the LCP is a federal program that brings in thousands of women from the South, over 90% of whom are from the Philippines, to provide childcare and eldercare to upper-class and middle-class Canadian families. The LCP is Canada’s de facto national childcare and eldercare program.

As such, the LCP is a ploy of the current Canadian government and the previous governments, to distort and co-opt the concept of women’s equality and liberation. The LCP thrives on the blood, sweat and tears of Filipino women in Canada. Indeed, the “liberation and equality” of one group of women flourish from the exploitation and oppression of our women.

The LCP also serves as a fundamental pillar in the ongoing effort of the current Conservative government to reinforce and galvanize the privatization of healthcare and eldercare in Canada. It also serves to facilitate and perpetuate the modern-day slavery of Filipino women. It is an anti-woman and racist program that is fundamentally flawed and therefore, cannot be reformed, but rather, must be scrapped. To call for and accept any reforms to the LCP is not only a disservice to all women in Canada, but is to accept the role of being agents and brokers of the neo-liberal agenda of imperialism.

We have long been the prime targets of violence against women. With over 65% of our women forced to migrate due to poverty and joblessness in the Philippines, we are hit with the hardest and the most vicious blows and attacks of neo-liberal policies. It leaves us toiling in Canada. Everyday, we have to contend with the reality that as women workers, we are Canada’s top source of cheap labour. The most dirty, difficult, dangerous and low-paying jobs are reserved and have always been reserved for women from the South. The growing Filipino-Canadian community is a testament of that need for cheap, yet skilled labour. However, as we fill in the jobs that no other Canadians will take, the presence of Filipino women in Canada is marked by de-skilling and underdevelopment.

While we come to Canada carrying high-levels of educational attainment and professional achievement, our development is deliberately stripped away from us. We are systemically relegated to a lifetime of housework and domestic work. The transfer, of these ‘traditional’ roles of women to women from the South, not only undermines the overall women’s struggle for genuine development, but more importantly, perpetuates and condones the re-feudalization of Filipino women which further contributes to their underdevelopment as women, in a country that prides itself as a developed, industrialized nation.

Despite the celebration and achievements of IWD, we must not forget and should not ignore the plight of millions of women from the South. Hence, we, at the NAPWC, advance our call for genuine women’s solidarity where the centre of the struggle is according to the reality of the women from the South.

Thus, in celebration of IWD, members of NAPWC, marched on the streets of Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal with linked arms and raised fists to advance the struggle for genuine women’s liberation. We also challenge all progressive women in Canada to forge genuine unity and solidarity with the struggle of our women.

As we strengthen our resolve to end the exploitation and march for liberation, the struggles of the oppressed, marginalized and working-class women must always be at the forefront of the struggle of the women’s movement.

Scrap the anti-woman and racist LCP!
Expose and oppose neo-liberal policies!
Down with imperialism!
Long live international solidarity!
End the exploitation, march for genuine women’s liberation!

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Organizations under the NAPWC:
Philippine Women Centre of B.C.
Philippine Women Centre of Ontario
Philippine Women Centre of Quebec
Philippine Women Centre of Manitoba

Toronto, ON—March 10, 2010—Excitement builds up as the Maleta (Suitcase) Project draws closer to its launching date. Far from your average art exhibit, “End the Exploitation, March for Liberation: The Maleta Launch” will highlight art depicting the Filipino-Canadian community’s rich story of migration and resistance. Speakers and unique art works by progressive Filipino women, workers and youth will draw inspiration from the struggles and resistance of Filipino women to depict the theme of “enhancing Filipino women’s equality, human rights and genuine development.” While embodying an artistic flair without compromising a political punch, the night’s speakers, cultural presentations and art exhibit will show the creative capacities of the Magkaisa Centre in producing art that aims to be genuinely transformative.

An uplifting and inspiring debut performance by Sinag Bayan Ontario, the cultural arm of the Magkaisa Centre, will set the tone for the rest of the night’s program. Speakers from the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario (PWC—ON) will highlight the role of women as makers and innovators of their own history. In commemoration of the 10th year anniversary PWC—ON, Joy C. Sioson, chairperson of the organization, will share the history of Filipino women’s organizing in Ontario. A keynote address by Cecilia Diocson, executive director of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC), will set the context of the need for the just and genuine settlement and integration of the Filipino community on the national level. As well, artists and PWC—ON members Alleben Purugganan and Marissa Largo will speak about role of art in achieving genuine women’s equality and liberation. Emcees Aila Comilang and Danielle Bisnar, also PWC—ON members, are expected to keep the crowd’s energy high through entertainment and education. Members of UKPC/FCYA—ON (Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance—Ontario) and SIKLAB Ontario (Advance and Uphold the Struggles of Filipino Workers) will also grace the night’s program of art and culture for the people.

Through the use of multi-media techniques, the art pieces in the launching exhibit weaves the stories of Filipino migration together into a unified assertion of the need for the community’s just and genuine settlement and integration. As the art pieces hope to convey, the wholesale empowerment of Filipino women is an integral aspect of the empowerment of the community as a whole. “Decades of Filipino women’s organizing have enabled the creation of these art pieces,” states Alleben Purugganan, member of the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario and Maleta Project coordinator. “Women have not only inspired the creation of these art pieces, but it is their struggles and resistance that embody their very essence.”

The Maleta launch will mark the first of a slew of activities for the 10th year anniversary of PWC—ON. “The time is now for us to reclaim the role of art and culture in building our collective history as a people,” says Joyce Bondoc, PWC—ON member. “With the launch of the Maleta project, it’s certainly an exciting moment in the history of Filipino women’s organizing in Canada,” she continues. Participants and attendees are sure to walk away with a heightened awareness of the community’s struggles and legacy of empowerment.

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“End the Exploitation: March for Liberation: The Maleta Launch”

When:
Saturday, March 20, 2010
5:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Doors open at 5:00 PM, show starts at 5:30

Where:
International Student Centre
University of Toronto St. George Campus
33 St. George Street

To confirm your attendance, please contact:
Qara Clemente
(416) 519-2553
pwc-on@magkaisacentre.org

Or leave us your information:

National Statement

January 20, 2010

January 20, 2010 – The mass and democratic organizations of Filipino
Canadian workers, women and youth of Kapit-Bisig Centre, Magkaisa
Centre and Kalayaan Centre extend our warmest feelings of solidarity
and support to the Haitian people and their families who have been
affected by the recent earthquake that devastated the entire nation
last January 12, 2010.

The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that killed more than 100,000 Haitians,
thousands injured and homeless, have left the entire nation grappling
with the loss of their loved ones and in picking up the pieces in the
process of rebuilding a nation. While we witness the tremendous
damages and impacts unravel as a result of this calamity, we also
witness the long-term impacts of the devastation brought upon to a
nation that has been battered by years of U.S. imperialist domination.
The ongoing implementation of the anti-people neo-liberal economic
policies perpetuated by the United States continues to batter Haiti,
leaving it to be “poorest country in the western hemisphere.”

As a community that shares similar struggles with the Haiti people
against imperialism, the forced migration of Filipinos is also a
result of the intensifying U.S. intervention in the socio-political
and economic affairs of the Philippines. As such, progressive
Filipino-Canadians heighten its fight to expose and oppose imperialism
in all its forms and its attacks on Third World peoples and nations.

Thus, while international aid pours into Haiti for relief, recovery
and rehabilitation, we also forge genuine international solidarity
with the Haitian people in their struggle for democratization as a
step towards the rebuilding of Haiti as a nation and as a people. We
oppose and are critical of the immediate deployment of over 10,000
U.S. military troops as part of the U.S. “relief efforts.” Such is
a clear attempt of the U.S. to further expand military intervention
and control towards the re-colonization of Haiti.

As we continue to learn about the ongoing struggles that Haitians
face, we also learn of the long history of resistance of its people
against slavery, colonialism and imperialism. In the spirit of
international solidarity, we extend our unconditional support to the
people of Haiti, particularly to the Haitian community in Canada. We
support their efforts to reunite with members of their family in
Canada and vow to continue to raise the Canadian people’s awareness
about the root causes of people’s common struggles all over the
world.

Long live international solidarity! Victory to the people of Haiti!

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For information, contact:

Cecilia Diocson, 514-678-3901

——————————

Progressive Filipino women, workers and youth representing the aggrieved Filipino community maintain that the changes made on the federal government’s live-in caregiver program (LCP) announced by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Minister Jason Kenney are yet another tactic to justify the continuation and expansion of modern-day slavery program, such as the LCP, in Canada.

The National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC), SIKLAB Canada (Filipino workers organization) and Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance (UKPC/FCYA) criticize these changes, which are purely technical, and strongly contend that the changes was made to make the racist and anti-woman LCP more palatable to Canadians in order to cover-up the systemic weaknesses inherent in immigration policies and to defend the ongoing overhaul of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), such as the passing of Bill C50 and Bill C45.

The changes which were announced last December 12, 2009 in Toronto and Vancouver include extension of the period of being able to complete the live-in requirement from three years to four years; being able to apply for permanent residency after fulfilling 3,900 hours of work; elimination of the second medical examination when applying for permanent residency; employers covering the live-in caregiver’s travel and medical costs and providing signed contracts that clearly outline work hours, overtime, sick leave and vacation, and that live-in caregivers will be able to obtain emergency work permits within three weeks if they are abused.

“All these changes are only band-aid solutions. The announcement made by Minister Kenney unravels the hypocrisy deeply embedded in CIC. They do not genuinely address the exploitation and oppression of Filipino women under the LCP and will only make life more miserable to this group of already vulnerable temporary workers,” stated Cecilia Diocson, Executive Director of the NAPWC.

Since the implementation of the LCP in 1992 and its predecessor program the Foreign Domestic Movement (FDM), Canada has maintained and continues to uphold the stringent requirements of mandatory live-in requirement for 24 months within 3 years, temporary status and employer-specific contracts – the very fundamental pillars that set the context for the exploitative and oppressive conditions that these women are in.

For over twenty years now, Filipino-Canadians have been steadfast in calling for the scrapping of the LCP. However, for over twenty years, the Canadian government through CIC, has been adamant in its efforts to continue dehumanizing workers because of their status and in maintaining the modern-day slavery of women.

Amidst the slew of changes on the LCP, the NAPWC, SIKLAB and UKPC/FCYA contend that these reforms further expose the chronic crisis in Canadian immigration strategies and policies and the government’s failure to answer the much needed social services of its citizens, such as universal childcare and eldercare programs. The LCP is the de facto national childcare program and it is also being used to pave the way for the increasing privatization of healthcare.

“Minister Kenney is no Santa Claus to thousands of Filipino live-in caregivers,” Diocson continued. “These reforms are an insult to all Canadians because we have a government that fails to stop the violation of human rights of these workers and instead perpetuate violence against women,” she added.

Although many see this program as a way for Filipinos to enter Canada, the realities of the impacts of this program far outweigh the benefits of citizenship. Offering the prize of citizenship has been a classic tactic for CIC, as they dangle a “carrot on a stick” in order to attract and retain temporary workers to fulfill the dirtiest, most difficult and dangerous jobs that no other Canadians would take.

While the federal government was quick to recognize that many live-in caregivers work overtime hours and that under these new changes, they now have the option of racking up their hours towards permanent residency, the provision of being able to apply for permanent residency after completing 3,900 hours is a misnomer and a ploy to deceive live-in caregivers that their time under the LCP is shorter. 3,900 hours still amounts to two years of full-time, regular work.

“The 3,900 hours is no different from working 24 months. This is, in fact, another way of exploiting the cheap labour of these people that will only benefit the employers,” stated Roderick Carreon, National Chairperson of SIKLAB Canada. The mandatory live-in requirement places caregivers under the beck and call of their employers for 24 hours a day. Employers can easily deny the number of hours the women have worked and although they are deemed to be protected under federal and provincial labour laws, there is no way knowing what exactly transpires within the private sphere of the employer’s home.

Many women under the LCP work overtime hours for little or no pay, even after formalizing a set of rules about overtime hours on an employment contract, if at all. Despite the myth that caregivers are “members of the family,” the live-in requirement makes it more favourable to the employers to enjoy the cheap labour of these women.

Furthermore, extending the three-year deadline for completing the work requirement to four years will only lengthen the exploitation of live-in caregivers and lengthen the separation from their families. While CIC poses that this extension widens the window of opportunity for caregivers to apply for permanent residency and accounts for disruptions such as illness, pregnancy or job loss, this extension is a conscious effort on the part of CIC to have these women remain under the LCP even longer.

Presently, live-in caregivers wait 8-12 months to obtain their open work permit. This forces them to stay with their employers for the duration of the wait due to CIC’s processing delays and bureaucratic hurdles. In addition, the extension does not account for delays in paperwork, wherein employers withhold documents necessary for permanent residency applications, such as the record of employment, T4 slips, pay stubs, etc.

In addition, the elimination of the requirement to obtain a second medical examination when applying for permanent residency does not address the fact that majority of live-in caregivers’ ability to access healthcare is tied to their work permits. Many live-in caregivers, who are in between jobs and without valid work permits, are denied access to medicare, forcing them to pay their own health insurance and medical costs.

Carreon stated, “CIC must stop playing games with the lives of thousands of Filipino live-in caregivers. The reforms made on the LCP are a testament of the lack of political will in seriously addressing the demands of temporary workers to abolish the mandatory live-in requirement, to grant them permanent residency upon arrival, and the accreditation of their professional backgrounds. It is clear that the LCP is an employer-driven program and therefore will always be at the best interest of the employers and not the live-in caregivers.”

“A program that is inherently flawed and violent can not, will not and should not be reformed,” asserted Carlo Sayo, National Chairperson of UKPC/FCYA. “As workers, we should not allow Minister Kenney to pit us against each other,” he further stated. The reforms introduced by Minister Kenney is a measure to quell the escalating revelation of tremendous human rights and women’s rights violations that are legalized, authorized and stamped by CIC. Filipino women, workers and youth will remain vigilant in their struggle to end the exploitation and violence of these live-in caregivers as women and as workers.
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Contact information:
In Toronto: Magkaisa Centre, 416-519-2553; pwcontario@yahoo.ca
In Montreal: Kapit-Bisig Centre, 514-678-3901; pwcofquebec@gmail.com
In Vancouver: Kalayaan Centre, 604-682-3901; pwc@kalayaancentre.net

On this year’s International Women’s Day, the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada continues to call for the scrapping of the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) and sends warm and militant greetings of solidarity to all working women around the globe who are struggling for equality, justice and genuine development.

We remember and pay homage to the 20,000 immigrant women garment workers in the United States, who took to the streets in 1908 to struggle for better working conditions. Their struggles inspired socialist women to call for the first International Women’s Day. We also honor the struggles of women around the world who have devoted and offered their lives to the struggle for national and social liberation and for genuine equality for women and against all forms of exploitation and oppression.

As the global economic crisis worsens, women around the world and in Canada are the hardest hit. In Canada with already 100,000 people recently joining the ranks of the unemployed, the ever-dwindling social safety net through cutbacks to government spending on housing, welfare, education and welfare have long been impacting women. The government’s neo-liberal policies of liberalization, deregulation and privatization over the last decade have pushed women into low-paying flexible, part-time or casual jobs in order to make ends meet.

Because of imperialist globalization and the chronic economic crisis in the Philippines, many Filipino women make the heart-breaking choice to leave their families behind and migrate abroad for their family’s survival to work in the most dirty, difficult and dangerous jobs around the world. Since the early 1980′s, nearly 100,000 Filipino women have come to Canada to work as live-in caregivers under Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s Live-in Caregiver Program and its predecessor the Foreign Domestic Movement.

After 17 years of the LCP, our women and community have faced the negative short-term and long-term impacts of this racist and anti-woman program. Their labour liberates one class of women from domestic work leaving working class women with little to no childcare options. Filipino women under the LCP from all forms of abuse under slave-like conditions, and are sentenced to a lifetime of de-skilling. Even after the LCP, many families continue to feel the impacts of the program through continued economic, social and political marginalization in Canadian society.

As the “ilaw ng tahanan” many Filipino women in Canada are expected to meet the impossible demands of being the main or sole-breadwinners in the family while carrying the responsibility for domestic and reproductive labour. The trauma of family separation, migration and reunification often results in family breakdown for which women are often blamed or stigmatized.

After two decades of organizing Filipino women and the community and calling for the scrapping the LCP, some groups in the Filipino community have begun to call for mere reforms to the program arguing that scrapping the program will mean women can no longer migrate to Canada. This is a backward call in which women who are suffering at the forefront of attacks are being offered mere band-aid solutions. Filipino women should have the same rights as other immigrants to migrate to Canada with their families with permanent residency and the right to choose their employment. They should not come to Canada as modern-day slaves.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has recently announced plans to hold a “consultation” about the LCP. While we welcome dialogue about the program, we forewarn the Minister that similar previous “consultations” did not result in any significant changes to the program and to the lives of Filipino women.

Rather the situation of Filipino women in Canada, particularly live-in caregivers is worsening. Our provincial chapters are receiving reports of more and more Filipino women being trafficked into Canada by unregulated agencies and then deported “airport-to-airport.” Canadian Border Service Agents at the airports are checking the women’s work permits upon arrival and calling their employers and agencies to investigate the legitimacy of their employment. After paying thousands of dollars to unscrupulous agencies, those with employment deemed questionable are put on airplanes back to the Philippines or their country of origin without ever leaving the airport of being allowed to make a phone call.

More and more women are falling out of status, unable to complete the strict requirements of the LCP. As unemployment and the global economic crisis worsens, we can expect more women to not complete the LCP and either run the risk of joining the ranks of the undocumented or be deported back to the Philippines.

Unreasonable bureaucratic and other hurdles are resulting in delayed permanent residency and family reunification for some women. One woman who was the victim of violence has been in Canada ten years now on a temporary permit and is still waiting to reunite with her family. A single mother, she is still relegated to cleaning and domestic work as she has been unable to ugrade or accredit her skills.

Last December, the Philippines was declared the top source country to Canada for temporary migrant workers and immigrants combined, surpassing China. We are now the top source for migrant and immigrants filling Canada’s cheap labour needs as immigrant communities before us.

And while Canada continues to tout itself as a model for human rights internationally, immigrant communities alongside the historic resistance of the indigenous people of Canada are gaining support for their condemnation of Canada’s rosy human rights record.

We fear the worsening crisis will also heighten racism and sexism. As Filipino women we must combat the fear mongering of the right-wing amongst the people against immigrants and migrants and people of colour. International Women’s Day is an opportunity for women to unite in their calls to end exploitative labour programs such as the LCP.  The economic crisis should be an opportunity to pit ourselves against each other but to understand and connect our common struggles against the system that exploits and oppresses us.

Like the women workers before us, now more than ever women must become more politicized to understand their situations! Now more than ever women must get out of their houses, look beyond the welfare of their individual families, take to the streets and fight for our collective rights and welfare and for our genuine emancipation!

Scrap the racist and anti-woman Live-in Caregiver Program!
Heighten our unity and strengthen our resistance as women!
Long live international solidarity!

Philippine Women Centre of Ontario (PWC-ON) Member of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) Telephone: 416-878-8772

Filipinos welcome U.N.’s critique of Canada’s human rights record, cite human rights violations of live-in caregivers

For immediate release: February 6, 2009

A national advocacy group of Filipinos in Canada welcomed the recent recommendations of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) urging Canada to ratify a treaty to protect the rights of migrant workers. The UPR took place in Geneva, Switzerland on Feb. 3, 2009.

Members of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) a national advocacy group of Filipinos in Canada say the Canadian government should listen to the U.N. body’s recommendations and the voices of Filipino migrant workers in Canada and other NGO’s who have been urging the government to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICRMW) and investigate abuses under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP).

Chapter members of the NAPWC participated in consultations in Vancouver and Toronto last month organized along with other NGOs and Indigenous peoples organizations with officials of Canadian Heritage leading up to the UPR. The NAPWC also submitted a nine-page brief to the Canadian government detailing the numerous human rights violations and lack of promotion and protection of human rights of Filipino live-in caregivers in Canada.

The brief reads, “we remain deeply concerned that there is no transparent and effective national mechanism in Canada that serves to raise human rights issues from the perspective of marginalized communities like our own. More significantly, there is no national mechanism to hold Canada We cite as examples previous treaty body recommendations that called on Canada to (1) ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICRMW) and (2) investigate abuses under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP).”

The group slammed Canada’s report to the UPR for stating, “temporary foreign workers enjoy the same labour-related rights, human rights and social protections that Canadians possess. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies to all individuals on Canadian soil and fosters an environment of social inclusion.”

They say over 20 years of documented community-based research into the abuses of the LCP and the negative short-term and long-term impacts on the women and their families exposes Canada’s UPR report as “lies.” They say these findings have also been supported by numerous academic and media reports.

After the national consultations, a joint brief representing the NGOs and Indigenous peoples organizations was presented by members of groups such as Centre for Equality Rights and Accommodation, Social Rights Advocacy Centre, Native Women’s Association of Canada and Amnesty International to member states of the UPR in Geneva. Among the brief’s recommendations are:

“The live-in caregiver program should be discontinued and the immigration applications of caregivers should instead be processed through the regular immigration process. At a minimum the live-in requirement of the program should be abolished. More widely, the Canadian government should conduct a wide review of the various ways by which foreign nationals are employed in Canada, including individuals who have no immigration status in the country, with an eye to enacting reforms needed to ensure full protection of their human rights, including all labour rights.”

Since the early 1980’s nearly 100,000 Filipino women have come to Canada under the LCP and its predecessor the Foreign Domestic Movement.

The group has likened the program to “modern-day slavery” and calls it “racist” and “anti-woman.” They say the program does not solve the childcare crisis in Canada and promotes further privatization of the Canadian health care system. They have been advocating for its elimination for over 20 years.

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Copies of the NAPWC brief to Canada’s UPR are available by request.

To arrange an interview of for more information, please contact:

Vancouver
Kalayaan Centre
451 Powell Street Vancouver ,
BC V6A 1G7
Website: www.kalayaancentre.net
E-mail: pwc@kalayaancentre.net

Phone: Leah Diana, Executive Director, Philippine Women Centre of BC at ph: (604) 215-1103

Toronto
Magkaisa Centre
1093 Davenport Road
Toronto , ON M6G 2C3
Website: www.magkaisacentre.org
E-mail: pwc-on@magkaisacentre.org
Phone: Joy Sioson, Chairperson Philippine Women Centre of Ontario at ph: (415) 519-2553

Montreal
Kapit Bisig Centre
4900 Rue Fulton
Montreal, Quebec H3W 1V4

E-mail: pwcofquebec@gmail.com
Phone: Cecilia Diocson, Executive Director, NAPWC at ph: (514) 678-3901

More than 120 participants came together from British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario to attend “Filipino Community and Beyond: Towards Full Participation in a Multicultural and Multi-ethnic Canada.”  The community-based and community-led national research conference was held from November 6-9 at the University of Toronto. As part of a three-year project of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) in partnership with Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism, the conference showcased the work being done by the Filipino community toward addressing its concerns and developing capacities and initiatives that will lead to the community’s empowerment and full civic participation.

The conference opened on the evening of November 6, 2008 with a reception and art exhibit at University of Toronto‘s Wilson Hall Lounge.  Art exhibits included murals depicting narratives of migration painted by youth members of Kabataang Montreal, an art piece on the lack of access to health care for live-in caregivers by SIKLAB Ontario, a video on young women’s issues by UKPC/FCYA Ontario, the “Maleta” family – a family of suitcases depicting the impacts of migration and garments from a fashion show about violence against women by organizations from the Kalayaan Centre in Vancouver.

Photo set 1

The second day of the conference opened with a General Report on the three-year project by Cecilia Diocson, Executive Director of NAPWC.  Diocson outlined the project’s four themes, based on issues facing the Filipino community in the course of their settlement and integration in Canada: 1) Overcoming economic marginalization; 2) Enhancing Filipino women’s equality, human rights and genuine development; 3) Making the Filipino youth count in Canada’s future; and 4) Combating systemic racism and social exclusion.  Diocson also highlighted the community development activities undertaken during the project by NAPWC and its network organizations.  Activities included: community-based research and education; public policy engagement; skills and capacity building; community economic development projects; community organizing; and collaborative work with academics, research agencies and other community organizations.

The first panel, “Overcoming Economic Marginalization,” featured presentations by community organizers and academics.  Ning Imperial gave an overview of the socio-economic context of Filipinos in Canada, highlighting the fact that Filipino migrants and immigrants are among the most highly educated but lowest paid in the Canadian labour force.  Professor Habiba Zaman, of Simon Fraser University, shared the research she carried out in collaboration with the Philippine Women Centre of BC (PWC-BC) on economic security issues facing Filipino immigrants.  Zaman discussed the impacts of changes to BC’s employment standards on marginalized workers and described the practices of job-hopping (quitting jobs due to poor working conditions rather than raising concerns with employers) and working multiple low-paying jobs because full-time work is unavailable.  Leah Diana and Dinah Estigoy of the Filipino Nurses Support Group of BC (FNSG) described the systemic barriers to accreditation imposed by the state and regulatory bodies on Filipino nurses seeking to practice their profession in Canada.  They also shared the work of FNSG in advocating for nurses and policy engagement with nursing unions and regulatory bodies.  Roderick Carreon, Chairperson of SIKLAB National, highlighted the poor working conditions and workplace health and safety issues facing Filipinos working in the industrial and manufacturing sector in Quebec.  He described how the Filipino community is concentrated in the Montreal neighbourhood of Côte-des-Neiges, where 60% of Filipinos in Quebec reside.  He also described the racialized nature of workplaces requiring workers to do dangerous and poorly paid work.  He also described how many young workers drop out of school and feel forced to accept poor working conditions because of their economic marginalization and the need to contribute to their family’s survival.

Photo set 2

The second panel of the day focused on “Enhancing Filipino Women’s Equality, Genuine Development and Human Rights.”  Professor Bonnie McElhinny, of the University of Toronto, presented her research on how public health policy was used as a tool of US imperialism in the Philippines and how it both obscured pre-colonial understandings of public health and constructed Filipino women as colonial subjects with a defined role in nursing, caregiving and mothering.  Marilou Carillo, of the PWC-BC, shared her Ph.D. research on transnational women’s activism in the Philippines, the Netherlands and Canada.  She described how the process of organizing is also a process of social transformation whereby women change the conditions of their oppression.  Susan Rodriguez and Reyna de Mesa, of the PWC-Manitoba, shared their work, including some of the challenges of organizing the community.  They also described the emerging impact of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program, which brings increasing numbers of Filipinos to Manitoba each year.  Joanne Vasquez, of PWC-Quebec, described the reproduction in Montreal of economic practices from the Philippines due to the community’s economic marginalization.  In particular, women are turning to loan sharks and street vending as strategies of survival.  Vasquez also shared the accomplishments of PWC-Quebec and the Kapit Bisig Centre in educating, organizing and mobilizing the Filipino community in the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood of Montreal. Joy Sioson shared the work of PWC-Ontario and described the emerging issue of “airport to airport” deportations faced by live-in caregivers.  This phenomenon involves Canadian immigration officials demanding to meet a live-in caregiver’s prospective employer before issuing a work permit and allowing the woman to leave the airport upon her arrival in Canada.  Many women pay high fees to employment agencies only to discover upon their arrival that no employer actually exists.  They are then deported back to the airport of their departure.  In her presentation, Monica Urrutia showcased PWC-BC’s 20 years of work on the issue of violence against women.  She highlighted a recent example of “Scrap!  A Political Fashion Show to Stop Violence Against Filipino Women.”  This fashion show dramatized the silencing and process of participants’ empowerment through sharing their stories.

Following the panel, the audience watched an excerpt of “Scrap! A Political Fashion Show.”  Conference delegates heard the stories of three women’s experiences of violence, accompanied by models wearing garments representing aspects of the women’s victimization and empowerment.

Delegates then participated in workshops on “Young Women’s Issues,” “Accreditation of Foreign-educated Professionals,” and “Violence against Women.”  In these workshops, participants had an opportunity to share their personal experiences and discuss local victories and challenges of community organizing on these issues.

Photo set 3

The third day of the conference opened with the first panel of the day focusing on “Making the Filipino Youth Count in Canada’s Future.”  Professor Geraldine Pratt, of the University of British Columbia, spoke about her long research collaboration with PWC-BC, SIKLAB-BC and UKPC/FCYA-BC.  She highlighted the issue of family separation and its impacts, including the significant high-school drop-out rate of Filipino youth.  Camille Cendaña shared about the work and growth of UKPC/FCYA-Ontario, which has expanded from 3 to 40 active members since 2007.  She also discussed the implementation of recommendations from “Palakasin! Ang Tunay na Ugnayan/Strengthen our Youth, Unite for Freedom,” an Ontario-wide youth consultation held by UKPC/FCYA-Ontario in 2007.  Niki Silva shared the advocacy work of UKPC/FCYA-BC, particularly in the areas of youth education and employment.  She discussed various ways in which youth are falling through the cracks of the education system.  Josie Caro, of Kabataang Montreal, shared the challenges to settlement and integration created by the structure of French language “Welcoming Classes” for immigrants.  She also shared some of Kabataang Montreal’s successes, including mobilizing youth to fight for the reinstallation of the Shaad basketball courts, a central site for many Filipino youth in Côte-des-Neiges.

The second panel focused on “Combating Systemic Racism.”  Carlo Sayo, of UKPC/FCYA-BC opened with an overview of the context of systemic racism in Canada and the history of the Filipino community’s anti-racism work.  Cezar Dalde, of the Kalayaan Centre, shared his testimonial of his family’s mistreatment by the RCMP in the context of his son Charle Dalde’s murder in April 2008. The Dalde family was handcuffed while their home was searched without warrant or explanation.   They were then prevented from seeing Charle’s body for two weeks after his death due to the ongoing RCMP investigation.  Mr. Dalde shared his family’s continued challenges and struggle for justice and a public apology from the RCMP.  May Farrales presented the Kalayaan Centre’s support and advocacy for the Dalde family as part of its ongoing anti-racism work on issues including racial profiling.  Neil Castro, of Kabataang Montreal, discussed the case of Luc Cagadoc, a 7-year-old who was reprimanded by his teachers and principal for eating with a fork and spoon, as an example of systemic racism.  Castro discussed the challenges faced by Kabataang Montreal in raising this issue with the Filipino and wider communities in Quebec.  He also shared the growth of the organization’s work through rallies, media campaigns and community forums.  Kim Abis and Bryan Taguba shared the case of Jeffrey Reodica, the 17 year-old Filipino youth who was shot three times in the back and killed by Toronto police officers in May 2004.

The theme of the day’s third panel was “Making the Filipino Community Count.”  Professor Shauna Butterwick, of the University of British Columbia, presented her external evaluation of the three-year project.  She highlighted the project’s successes and stated “essential skills have been developed [from this project] that directly contributed to your capacity-building and sustainability, most particularly in the area of research such as Participatory Action Research but also in relation to leadership…This project should be included as an exemplary case of how to build, within economically and socially marginalized immigrant communities, the capacity for self-determination and democratic participation.”  Emmanuel Sayo, of the Kalayaan Resource and Training Centre, discussed the history of community-based research work in the Filipino community since 1984. He recognized the leadership of women in community organizing and framed community-based participatory action research as an important form of knowledge production for empowering communities.

Photo set 4

The Kapit Bisig Centre then presented their premiere performance of “Pinoyville,” a play based on the experiences of their members that dramatized issues of forced migration, family separation, high-school dropouts, drugs, and the role of community organizing.

Delegates then participated in workshops on “Systemic Racism, Discrimination and Social Exclusion,” “Family Reunification and Migration,” and “Youth Drop-outs, Education and Employment.”

Dinner and an evening of cultural performances followed, where conference delegates performed songs, spoken word and hip-hop pieces that engaged many of the issues raised at the conference.

The final day of the conference opened with a synthesis of the conference activities by Denise Valdecantos.  Hetty Alcuitas, from PWC-BC then gave a presentation on “Moving Forward Together: Opportunities and Challenges.”  This was followed by a demonstration of policy engagement in the form of a mock Parliamentary Hearing. Denise Valdecantos and Dinah Estigoy presented a brief on the Live-in Caregiver Program, originally delivered by NAPWC to the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, to three mock parliamentarians.  After the presenters fielded a few questions from the politicians, audience members were invited to step in to answer questions from the mock parliamentarians in order to experience answering critical questions about NAPWC’s position to scrap the Live-in Caregiver Program.

The conference closed with an assessment, during which delegates shared their experiences of the conference.  Jean Marc Daga, a conference delegate and a member of the Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance, stated “I am proud to see the capacity and the organizing of the Filipino community on a national level.  It was great to experience the strength of our community and the unity amongst Filipino youth, women and migrant workers.  The conference reinforced my conviction for organizing as a proud and strong Filipino.”

“Filipino Community and Beyond: Toward Full Participation in a Multicultural and Multi-ethnic Canada” represents an important step toward the civic engagement of the Filipino community in Canada. Delegates shared many victories and challenges faced in conducting community-based research, capacity building and organizing work on issues facing Filipino migrants and immigrants in the course of their settlement and integration in Canada.  The conference highlighted the crucial role of grassroots, community-based initiatives to document and analyze the community?s experiences, identify emerging issues and produce knowledge about Filipinos in Canada in the process of our empowerment toward full participation in Canadian society.

Photo set 5

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Toronto, Ontario- On June 6, 2008 a Thornhill family arrived home to find their Filipino nanny dead. According to media reports, the 39-year-old Filipina was found face down in the deep end of the backyard pool.

Members of SIKLAB- Ontario, the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario and Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada-Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance (UKPC-FCYA) are in full sympathy and support in this trying period with the family of this woman.

“This unfortunate death is another addition to the growing tragedy in the export and commodification of Filipinos under the labour export policy (LEP) of the Philippine government. We hope that this Filipina nanny’s death will not just become another anonymous statistic of unexplained death,” said Yolyn Valenzuela, national vice-chairperson of SIKLAB- Canada.

According to Ian Nillas, member of UKPC-FCYA, “in less than a year, we mourned Jocelyn Dulnuan and Arcelie Loagan, both temporary workers under the LCP. This is another senseless and tragic death of women who left their homes in order to seek a better future abroad. Now another Filipina nanny has been found dead in the home of her employers.”

“These deaths are extreme examples of the violence regularly faced by Filipino women under Canada’s LCP. Live-in caregivers commonly face isolation, chronic overwork, unsafe working conditions and various forms of emotional, physical and sexual abuse,” stated Nillas.

The LCP requires domestic workers to live in their employers’ homes for a period of 24 months within 36 months in order to be eligible to apply for permanent resident status. The program also mandates employer-specific work permits under temporary worker status.

“This program silences our women and forces them to withstand long hours of work, unsafe working conditions, unpaid overtime, violence, neglect and exploitation. This latest incident serves to further highlight the violent nature of the racist and anti-woman LCP” Valenzuela added.

“As temporary workers, we must be vigilant against abuses and exploitation and report any violations against our human rights. We must understand that we have rights and that we need to continue our struggle to uphold our fundamental human rights and dignity,” stated Kelly Botengan, a member of SIKLAB Ontario.

The groups are calling for the scrapping of the LCP and for the Philippine government, under Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, to stop its neglect of Filipino overseas workers and to end the country’s labour export policy.

May 29th will mark the one year anniversary of the Canadian Union of Labour Employees’ (CULE) Solidarity Campaign with the Philippines.

In partnership with the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC), CULE joined the Filipino community and its supporters across the country last May 2007 to demonstrate solidarity with women and workers in the Philippines.

“We have learned that the Philippines is the second most dangerous country for trade unionists,” explains CULE President Lisa Garnier. “We needed to act on the situation in solidarity with the Filipino people, especially amongst some of its hardest hit – urban poor women,” Garnier added.

Members of CULE and NAPWC have contributed to and sent ten balikbayan boxes to date filled with basic medical supplies and school supplies for children through SAMAKANA in the Philippines.

SAMAKANA, (United Urban Poor Women), is a nationwide federation of women from urban poor communities struggling against the adverse consequences of national economic policies on women, focusing on poverty, inflation, homelessness, unemployment and the lack of social services for urban poor communities.

“The Filipino community commends CULE for its support and continued commitment to its Solidarity with the Philippines campaign,” lauds Cecilia Diocson, Executive Director of NAPWC. “We encourage more trade unions in Canada to learn about the current situation in the Philippines and to stand in solidarity with the Filipino people.”

CULE represents staff employed in the regional offices of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and employees of the Nunavut Employees Union, a Component of the PSAC. NAPWC has member organizations in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.

For more information please contact solidarity@cule.ca for CULE and pwc@kalayaancentre.net for NAPWC.

Discussants from community organizations and the academia will follow to highlight the various organizing work and research being done on these topics. All events run from 7-9 pm, Wilson Hall Boardroom, Wilson Hall (40 Willcocks Street), New College, University of Toronto.

This film series is also co-sponsored by: the Southeast Asia Studies Group at the Asia Institute, the Chu Community Network at the Asia Institute, The Department for Sociology and Equity Studies in Education at OISE, and the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies.

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Feb. 7. Domestic Work and the Filipino People’s Experience

Paper Dolls (Documentary film by Tomar Heymann). Israel, 2006. In Hebrew, English and Tagalog with English subtitles. 2006. Strand Releasing. 80 minutes.

On Filipino/as working as caregivers in Israel, and as a drag queen ensemble. Explores the role of immigrant workers in Western culture. A multiple-prize winner at the most recent Berlin Film Festival.

When Strangers Reunite ( by Marie Boti and Florchita Bautista). Canada, Multi-Monde/NFB.

An exploration of how Filipino families, separated by the international labour market and by the Canadian Live-in Caregiver program, struggle to rebuild their lives together.

Discussants: Conely de Leon (Sociology and Equity Studies, Collaborative Program in Women and Gender studies, and Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada / Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance (UKPC/FCYA)) and Ian Nillas (Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada / Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance (UKPC/FCYA)); Bonnie McElhinny (Anthropology/Women & Gender Studies Institute, University of Toronto)

Feb. 28: U.S. Militarization and Sex Trafficking in the Philippines

Sin City Diary (1992)(Rachel Rivera, United States, subtitled, 29 min.)
Explores the lives of women who worked as prostitutes around the US Navy base at Subic Bay in the Philippines.

Pussycat III. (1990) (28 min)

Exploitation of young Filipina women who are attracted to Olongapo, Philippines to work as “hospitality women” who cater to American servicemen at the US Subic Naval base.

Discussants: Jerrylyn Guevarra and Danielle Bisnar (Philippine Women Centre of Ontario)

March 20: Poverty and Land Reform in the Philippine/Women and Globalization

Holding Our Ground (1989)(International Film Bureau, 51 mins.)

On Filipino women who have organized to pressure the government for land reform, shelters for street children, and their own money lending system.

Women and Globalization (Centre for Women’s Resources).

Discussants: Kelly Botengan and Yolyn Valenzuela (members of SIKLAB Ontario, a Filipino migrant workers’ organization that advances the rights and welfare of overseas Filipinos); Ethel Tungohan (Ph.D. candidate in Political Science and Collaborative Program in Women and Gender studies); Teodosia Villarino (Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology)

April 10: Filipino Women’s Organizing in Canada and the Philippines

Gabriela: A Film (1988)(Trix Betlam, Holland/Philippines, subtitled, 67 min.)

On Gabriela, a mass organization of diverse women’s groups in the Philippines. On the contemporary role and history of women in the Philippines as well as strategies for global feminism.

Kababaihan : Filipina Portraits, 1989 (Marie Boti, Malcom Guy, 40 min.) Distribution : Diffusion Multi-Monde, The Cinema Guild

Profiles of women activists in the Philippines, from grassroots community organizers to the heads of the national women’s association, Gabriela.

Discussants: Cecilia Diocson (National Association of Philippine Women’s Centres) and Camille Cendana (Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada / Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance (UKPC/FCYA)

For more information, contact Philippine Women Centre of Ontario at 416-878-8772 or email pwcontario@yahoo.ca