End the systemic and countless disappearances in Mexico: The face of state terrorism and corruption
Solidarity Statement for the 43 Ayotzinapa students and the Mexican People December 2, 2014 Toronto, ON – The Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance of Ontario stands in solidarity with the missing 43 Ayotzinapa students and the mass protesters condemning the murderous repression, corruption and state violence inflicted on the Mexican people by government officials and their criminal lackeys. We denounce a system where dealings between government officials and criminal groups lead to the routine silencing, intimidation, harassment, abduction and murders of citizens speaking out and fighting against deplorable injustices. As students and youth, we salute the young people of Mexico for sparking nation-wide demonstrations that challenge the atrocious and vicious culture of state tyranny and showing the world the necessity of struggling for genuine freedom, democracy, and justice towards an enduring culture of resistance. The Ayotzinapa students were protesting for the rights and entitlements of rural teachers and against tuition hikes and government education reforms in the city of Iguala, Guerrero Region—protests that interfered with Mayor Jose Luis Abarca’s political campaigns, who allegedly ordered the attack on the students. [...]
Kaisa Ka: How many Jennifers and Nicoles More?
Press Statement by Kaisa Ka October 15, 2014 Contact: Proleta Gomez# 09323827014 On the 426 approved joint military activities How many Jennifers and Nicoles More? The gruesome death of Jennifer Laude in the hands of alleged murderer Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton of the US Marine Corps coincided with the meeting of the US-RP Mutual Defence Board (MDB). The murder came right after the most recent Philippines-US amphibious landing exercise, Phiblex. Pfc. Pemberton is one of the 3,500 US marines who participated in the 12-day Phiblex 15. It was already Phiblex 15 that just concluded and it is terrifying [...]
Registration Now Open: National Consultative Forum on LGBTQ
Event Announcement September 14, 2014 The Philippine Women Centre of B.C. (PWC-BC) will be hosting a two-day LGBTQ national consultative forum on October 24th, and 25th, 2014 at the Simon Fraser University’s Harbour Centre in Vancouver. A first in the Filipino Canadian community, the forum aims to bring out and openly discuss the ongoing issues and struggles that LGBTQs face within and outside the community. These issues include, but are not limited to, homophobia, transphobia, racism and discrimination. All are invited to register; spaces are limited. You can register through the following link: http://bit.ly/1s2yQcs Find more information about the national consultation here: http://bit.ly/1t0OdAi Date: October 24th and 25th Venue: SFU Harbour Centre, Vancouver, B.C Registration Fee: $20.00 Organized by the Philippine Women Centre of BC Sponsored by: Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies, Simon Fraser University For more information, contact: The Philippine Women Centre (416) 519-2553 pwcontario@yahoo.ca Twitter: @PWC_Ontario
Progressive Filipino Canadians to hold two sessions at upcoming People’s Social Forum
Announcement August 19, 2014 The Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians and member organizations will be holding two workshop sessions at the upcoming People's Social Forum being held in Ottawa, Ontario from August 21-24. Details are listed below. The full program schedule and map can be found here. Community-based arts & culture: A tool for social change Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance/ Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada (FCYA/UKPC). English. Date: August 22 Time: 2:45PM Location: TBT 070 In the process of building a movement for radical social changes, progressive Filipino Canadians incorporate community-based arts and culture in their programs that help transform individual and collective subjectivities. THey look critically at their history and experiences in Canada and translate them into art and cultural forms that empower and hopefully, push more people in community and social activism. Organizing transnational communities for social transformation Emmanuel Sayo - Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians |Joy C. Sioson - Philippine Women Centre of Ontario | Reuben Saramugam, Ken Santos - Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance English. Simultaneous Translation. Date: August 23, 2014 Time: 9:00am Location: MRT 256 Neoliberal [...]
Event Announcement: National Consultative Forum on LGBTQ
Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians August 14, 2014 In May 2010, progressive Filipino Canadians came together to pave the new path for genuine settlement and integration of Filipinos across Canada at a national conference called “Counterspin: Creating and Nurturing a New Path for a Progressive Filipino Canadian Community.” This conference forged the historic formation of the Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians (CPFC) that, now, serves as the national centre of progressive organizations, such as the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada, SIKLAB Canada, and the Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance/Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada. These organizations have been at the forefront in educating, mobilizing and organizing progressive Filipino Canadians and our communities to struggle for genuine settlement and integration in Canada. An important outcome of this conference was the commitment of CPFC and its member organizations to address and deepen our understanding of the various issues that affect the Filipino Canadian community, other transnational communities and the broader Canadian society. One of the 15 major concerns included in the CPFC declaration is the “rights of LGBT against [...]
Canada’s live-in caregiver program continues to be a nightmare for Filipinos
National Statement August 8, 2014 Toronto, Ontario - A recent Toronto Star article written on July 22nd titled ‘Filipino Canadians fear end of immigrant dreams for nannies’ outlined the Conservative government’s possible changes to the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) given Jason Kenney’s racist and anti-immigrant remarks that the program is being used and ‘abused’ as it has ‘mutated’ into a program of family reunification for Filipinos in Canada. As such, some organizations within the Filipino Canadian community expressed their fears and outrage that possible changes to the LCP, which recruits 90% of its participants from the Philippines, means the end of the LCP as a pathway to permanent residency for foreign nannies. The National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) condemns Kenney’s allegations that criminalize live-in caregivers and the community at large. We challenge all community members to go beyond casting themselves as figures of victimization amidst these possible changes. Let us uphold our dignity as a people by objectively examining the LCP and the Conservative government’s rhetoric in light of its continuing neoliberal assault on working [...]
Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians supports the struggle of the Palestinian people for liberation against Israeli zionist terrorism
National Statement August 6, 2014 The Congress of Progressive Filipinos in Canada (CPFC) and its member organizations fully support the resistance and struggle of the Palestinian people for liberation. We condemn the atrocities perpetrated by the Israel Zionists upon them as well as the blatant hypocrisy of Western powers, particularly Canada under the Harper Government, that continue to support the terrorist Zionist regime in Israel against the Palestinian people. These last couple of weeks, people of the world become witnesses, once more, to the harrowing suffering and death of the Palestinian people inflicted by intense and indiscriminate bombing and strafing by Israeli military forces to supposedly avenge the death of three Israelis in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian land. In the latest series of attacks under the Israel military’s so-called, “Operation Protective Edge (OPE),” over 1,400 Palestinians, mainly civilians, have been killed. The Israeli attacks under OPE designed to claim more Palestinian territory, have hit hospitals, clinics and schools in Gaza, and the only electrical power plant which will leave many Palestinians without power and clean water; thus, increasing the [...]
The “Maleta” (Suitcase) journey continues
Our Voices Exhibit!, a set on Flickr June 10, 2014 For immediate release Toronto-ON – The continuing journey of the Maleta (Suitcase) Project made another landmark in the recently concluded “Our Voices: A Portrait Series” art exhibit. Organized by the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario (PWC-ON), in collaboration with the Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance/Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada (FCYA/UKPC) and SIKLAB Ontario, with the support of Toronto Arts Council, “Our Voices” follows the successful Maleta (Suitcase) Project as it continues to unpack the day-to-day lived experiences and realities of the Filipino Canadian community. The exhibit was hosted at Beit Zatoun House in downtown Toronto from May 31st to June 1st and was attended by over 70 participants and guests. The evening began with a welcome address by PWC-ON and moving performances by “No Class Today,” the cultural arm of the Magkaisa Centre. PWC-ON welcomed participants and guests, and formally opened the exhibit with an overview of the photovoice project and the importance of arts and cultural work in their history of educating, organizing and mobilizing [...]
Philippine Women Centres in BC and Ontario continue to create and nurture the community’s new path of genuine settlement and integration
Fourth announcement May 21, 2014 Toronto, ON —The Philippine Women Centre of Ontario (PWC-ON) extends its warm and militant greetings of solidarity to its sister organization, the Philippine Women Centre of British Columbia (PWC-BC) for its upcoming one-day conference titled “History, Rupture and Continuity: Creating and Nurturing Our New Path,” to be held on May 31st in Vancouver. Starting the same day, PWC-ON will hold its two-day art exhibit, “Our Voices: A Portrait Series,” in Toronto. Both events mark the ongoing commitment and active leadership role of progressive Filipino Canadian women in advancing the Filipino Canadian community’s struggle for genuine settlement and integration in Canada. In 1991, PWC-BC was formed to address and bring to the fore the intensifying oppression, marginalization and underdevelopment of women of Philippine ancestry in Canada. Built from a foundation rooted in anti-racist, feminist and working class politics, PWC-BC pioneered its work through various community-based initiatives, policy engagements and research projects such as “Canada: the New Frontier for Filipino Mail-Order Brides”, “Filipino Nurses Doing Domestic Work in Canada: A Stalled Development” as well [...]
“Our Voices: A Portrait Series” draws closer
Toronto, ON – As the struggle for genuine settlement and integration intensifies, so do the voices of the Filipino Canadian community. “Our Voices: A Portrait Series Project” exhibit, to be held at Beit Zatoun House on May 31st to June 1st, features the shared experiences, stories, and narratives of the Filipino Canadian community. From stories of migration to current ongoing struggles, the art exhibit gives the women, youth and workers in the community a voice to express its concerns. “We are continuing to unpack our Maleta [Suitcase] by sharing our stories of migration, as well as challenges the community faces,” said Kyle Veyra, UKPC/FCYA-York member. The community faces issues such as systemic barriers to education and employment, economic marginalization and exploitative work under Canada’s Live-in-Caregiver Program and the Temporary Foreign Workers’ Program. “Stories of deskilling, relegation to low-wage work, and non-accreditation of previous education are the common experiences of our community members. Through “Our Voices,” we are able to highlight these stories and bring out the culture of resistance of the Filipino Canadian community” adds Veyra. The exhibit [...]
Gearing up for “Our Voices: A Portrait Series”, a Filipino Canadian Art Exhibit
Toronto, Ontario – Let the voices of a community united in resistance be heard as the Maleta (Suitcase) Project continues its journey through a community-based art exhibit titled, ‘Our Voices: A Portrait Series’. This exhibit serves as a medium to express the progressive Filipino Canadian community’s collective will to help advance the working class struggle for social change. The exhibit will be held at Beit Zatoun on May 31st and June 1st. ‘Our Voices: A Portrait Series’ features previous art pieces from the Maleta Project, particularly, the Maleta [Suitcase] Family , the Kapit Bisig Maletas [Link-Arm-Suitcases] and four new pieces that speak to the challenges and barriers the community face in Canada, as well as its aspirations for a better future. “Our future as a racialised and working class community is put at risk given the current age of austerity where workers’ rights and livelihoods are continually assaulted by the neoliberal agenda.” states Lydia Vamvouras, a member of PWC-ON. The art pieces capture the realities of the Filipino Canadian community in these times where cutbacks to public services, the [...]