‘Roots, Rhymes and Resistance’ concert will amplify calls to End Violence Against Women
Toronto, Ontario--The celebration draws closer as Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance of Ontario (UKPC/FCYA-ON) organizes its fifth Roots, Rhymes, & Resistance in Toronto. Titled "Celebrating Filipino Women's Resistance", this event will highlight the contributions of both the Philippine Women Centre of British Columbia (PWC-BC) and the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario (PWC-ON) in educating, organizing, and mobilizing Filipino Canadian women within the community as both respectively reach their 25th and 15th anniversaries. Historically, Roots, Rhymes & Resistance has always celebrated the Filipino Canadian community's culture of resistance. It has been a venue for young local Filipino Canadian artists to express the concerns of the community in Canadian society through music, performances and other artistic expressions. It first started eighteen years ago with the Kalayaan Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia with the organization's anti-war campaigns. Subsequent concerts followed with different themes that tackled the social issues affecting women, workers, and youth in the community and beyond. This year's theme focuses on celebrating Filipino women's resistance highlighting past achievements and ongoing campaigns organized by PWC such [...]
Carrying on the Legacy of Filipino Women’s Resistance
Toronto, ON --On September 26th, 2015, witness the Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance of Ontario bring to the fore the legacy of Filipino women’s resistance in Canada through ‘Roots, Rhymes and Resistance (RRR)’, an annual concert featuring the talents of progressive Filipino Canadian women, youth, artists and allies. The event is part of the 15th and 25th respective anniversaries of the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario and Philippine Women Centres of British Columbia’s educating, organizing and mobilizing work in Canada. This show will take place at the United Steelworkers Hall on Saturday, September 23rd, 2015 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Building off momentum from its recent educational workshops called “Where Have All the Women Gone? : Filipino Women’s Studies Series 2015”, key performances will put into creative expressions knowledge gained from the workshops. With a critical look and sharp analysis on issues such as childcare needs vis-à-vis Canada’s Caregiver Program, trafficking and prostitution, the Mail-Order Bride system and reproductive justice to just name a few, be prepared to be moved into action as key performers captures not only [...]
Art exhibit portrays Filipino Canadians’ plight in building a home in Canada as part of Nuit Blanche 2015
The Magkaisa Centre August 4, 2015 Toronto, Ontario—The Magkaisa Centre is proud to announce its' participation in the internationally renowned arts festival, Nuit Blanche, 2015. “Our Voices: A Portrait Series” project is once again making the Filipino Canadian community’s voices heard in this year’s festival to be held on October 3 at Beit Zatoun. As part of the Magkaisa Centre’s annual arts & cultural program and continuation of the Maleta [Suitcase] Project (also featured in Nuit Blanche, 2011), "Our Voices" is spearheaded by the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario (PWC-ON), in collaboration with the Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance of Ontario (FCYA-ON) and SIKLAB Ontario, and was first launched in an exhibit that ran from May 31st to June 1st, 2014 also held at Beit Zatoun. Through a series of educational workshops on the Filipino Canadian community's history of migration and capacity-building tutorials on art production, the culminating art exhibit was collectively produced by members of the community with the aim of showing the intimate yet social realities of Filipino Canadian youth, women and workers in Toronto. The second [...]
Roots Rhymes & Resistance is back for its fifth year to celebrate Filipino Women’s Resistance
Toronto, ON—Roots Rhymes and Resistance an annual concert fundraiser organized by Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance (UKPC/FCYA) is back for its fifth year in Toronto. This year’s concert is entitled “Celebrating Filipino Women’s Resistance” to celebrate the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario’s (PWC-ON) 15th and the Philippine Women Centre of British Columbia’s (PWC-BC) 25th year anniversaries of educating, organizing and mobilizing the Filipino Canadian community. Roots Rhymes and Resistance will take place this fall on September 26, and will be held at the United Steelworkers Hall at 25 Cecil St, Toronto. This event is dedicated to the ongoing contributions Filipino-Canadian women have made towards advancing women’s liberation within Canadian society, and the continuing dedication of PWC to take the revolutionary path in the struggle against patriarchy, gender oppression, racial discrimination and class exploitation. This event will also provide an outlet for the collective voices and amazing talents of progressive artists and musicians ready to express their resistance and their work toward genuine social transformation. Performances highlights include Jewstice League Klezmer Ensemble, and the [...]
Join the Philippine Women Centre for a concert fundraiser with Jewstice League!
Join us for a night of music and dancing, hosted by the Jewstice League Klezmer Ensemble in support of the Philippine Women Centre! Come celebrate PWC's 25th anniversary! PWC is a grassroots community organization advancing women's rights, equality, human rights and development towards genuine liberation. For more information, visit: https://magkaisacentre.org/ ENTRANCE: $10 (suggested donation) - all proceeds go to the Philippine Women Centre Ontario (PWC). LOCATION: Polish Combatants Hall, 206 Beverly Street (Toronto) -- http://www.beverleyhalls.com/ DETAILS: this venue is licensed! Cash bar (cheap drinks)! Snacks will also be available. Jewstice League is a Toronto-based Klezmer ensemble dedicated to Eastern European Jewish music and social justice. @jewsticeleague andjewsticeleague@gmail.com for more info! PS - Thursday night is Dinner Night at the Polish Combatants Hall. If you want "old-fashioned homemade Eastern European cuisine", come early and stay for the show!
We say no to the “4 in 4 out” revolving door policy!
Statement prepared by SIKLAB National (Advance and Uphold the Struggles of Filipino Canadian Workers) April 22, 2015 Toronto, ON--- The enactment of the "4 in 4 out" rule this past April 1st, affecting tens of thousands of workers under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), is a telling message exposing the Canadian Government's intensifying attacks on transnational workers and undocumented people and their families. SIKLAB National and its sister organizations, the Philippine Women Centre National and the Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance National denounce the unjust treatment of the most vulnerable, oppressed and exploited sectors of our communities whom are mercilessly illegalized and criminalized by the newly enacted rule. Though using the threat of detention and deportation as a scare-tactic to keep temporary foreign workers complacent and fearful is nothing new, the four-year deadline makes the immigration system a more efficient tool in implementing neoliberal policies to drive down domestic wages, cut benefits and further deteriorate the overall labour, employment and living standards for all workers in Canada. As an organization of progressive workers critical of the impacts of [...]
We reject fear! Junk Bill C-51
April 11, 2015 Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians (CPFC) National Statement Toronto – Insulted and angry – these are the feelings that many Canadians have following expeditious attempts of the Conservative majority to pass Bill C-51 through parliament without any opposition or serious criticism. Dubbed the “Anti-Terrorism” Bill, Harper and his cabinet have made the case that the threat of the Islamic State and other Terrorist organizations is so great that it requires the passing of Bill C-51 to allow 17 government organizations to monitor and share information gathered from Canadians and to turn the Canadian Secret Intelligence Service (CSIS) into an armed police force who are only accountable to themselves in order to maintain national security. We, the Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians, reject Bill C-51 and condemn this push for state terrorism. We denounce these proposals as outright attacks on the rights and freedoms of the Canadian people that seek to further disintegrate the principles of fundamental justice, the rule of law, and democracy. We reject the ongoing Islamophobia and racism against the Muslim community in [...]
Celebrating our gains: paving our future for genuine women’s liberation
NAPWC Statement March 8, 2015 The National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) celebrates International Women’s Day in honour of all working class women around the world who fought and continue to fight for women’s equality, genuine development, and human rights. This legacy of resistance embodies women’s heightened militancy and strong resolve in building a society that places women’s struggles for genuine liberation and emancipation at the forefront. As the Philippine Women Centre of B.C. and Ontario celebrate its 25th and 15th year of organizing Filipino Canadian women this year, it is, once again, time for us to continue building on what we have learned from the past and share the wealth of knowledge that we have gained and acquired throughout the years. We are realizing a strong sense of our history as a people, and the unwavering resistance of our women. We mark this year’s IWD in celebration of the countless contributions of women who have given us the inspiration to take the revolutionary road and intensify our struggle against the escalating attacks perpetuated against us [...]
Progressive Filipino Canadian students stand in solidarity with CUPE 3902 & 3903 as strikes continue
March 11, 2015 For immediate release Toronto,ON--The Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance/Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada – Ontario (FCYA/UKPC-ON) stand in solidarity with the teaching assistants, contractual and part-time instructors of University of Toronto (U of T) and York University currently on legal strike. After bargaining for wage increase, job security, and workers’ benefits, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 3902 and 3093 have rejected the tentative deals proposed by U of T and York. As progressive Filipino Canadian youth and students, we are enraged with the university administrations’ failure to address the demands and needs of their workers. The decreasing allocation of funds and increasing privatization and commercialization of post-secondary education are clear manifestations of the intensifying and worsening conditions under the neoliberal agenda. Underpaid,part-time, and casual academic staff teach 60% of the classes in U of T and York. However, only 3.5-8% of the budget is allocated for teaching assistants and contract faculty. In fact, the wage gap between full time faculty and sessional faculty emphasizes the wage inequality. Full time teaching staff can earn [...]
Regressive rebranding of the Live-in Caregiver Program consolidates the neoliberal agenda for temporary, cheap, vulnerable, and disposable labour
National Alliance of Philippine Women Canada National Statement December 4, 2014 Toronto, ON—With the Federal Government's announcement of the recent changes to the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP), the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) continue to challenge the inherently violent and abusive mechanisms of the program that, at the very core, has remained to regulate the temporariness, vulnerability, exploitation and oppression of the workers under it. In full effect since November 30, 2014, the changes have sent community members, the media and the general public into mixed and disarrayed conceptions of what the changes mean for workers, specifically Filipino women under the program, our community, and for working class families at large. Amidst a range of reactions, criticisms and opinions on the changes, the NAPWC stand firm that the program, and the so-called "improvements" therein, have always been a neoliberal tool to facilitate and profit from the gleaned fear and desperation of workers in the program. The Filipino Canadian community cannot accept these as "improvements" as announcements of cosmetic changes are being branded as such. The [...]
Call to end systemic racism and police brutality! Stop the criminalization of Black and racialized youth
Statement from Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance December 3, 2014 Toronto, ON--Progressive Filipino Canadian youth condemn the Ferguson grand jury's decision of Michael Brown's case against Darren Wilson. Three months after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, the grand jury announced that police officer Darren Wilson will not face any criminal liability. We firmly condemn this injustice and stand in solidarity with the family, friends, and supporters of Michael Brown. The shooting and death of Michael Brown is not an isolated case and is another example of the increasing militarization of state police, criminalization of racialized people, and the upholding of white supremacy in North America. While some may argue that we have come a long way from the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and Jim Crow Segregation policies, the case of Michael Brown and the US penal system shows us that systemic racism has evolved to specifically disenfranchise and murder black youth. Under the Obama administration, young Black men, Latinos and Indigenous peoples continue to die at the hands of police officers in disproportionately greater numbers [...]