Honouring the legacy of the late Dr. Henry Morgentaler
June 17, 2013 National Statement Toronto, ON--We, at the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC), celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Henry Morgantaler, whose dedication and commitment in fighting for abortion rights have been a fundamental contribution in women’s historical struggle for basic rights and entitlements here in Canada and throughout the world. His strong will and determination, over the past few decades in pushing to make abortion accessible for women had been and continues to be an inspiration for all of us to continue to be vigilant in upholding reproductive justice as an integral component in achieving genuine women’s equality and liberation. At the core of Dr. Morgentaler’s long years of legal battles between himself and the Canadian state, is the persistent compulsion of the state to systemize and strip women of their fundamental rights to control their own bodies. In essence, Dr. Morgentaler's battle, strengthened by the many women who fought alongside him represented the bigger battle between Canadian women and the Canadian state. His pioneering work towards abortion rights for women in [...]
Youth take back their future in this year’s Roots Rhymes and Resistance
June 6, 2013 For immediate release Toronto, ON—The annual Roots Rhymes and Resistance concert organized by Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance is back for its fourth year here in Toronto. This year’s concert is titled, “Taking Back Our Future” and will, once again, be held at the University of Toronto’s Hart House Music Room. Doors open at 7:30PM and performances will start at 8:00PM. Historically an arts and cultural venue to express youth talents and capacity to build a culture of resistance, this year’s concert will be no different. Impacted by economic restructuring, the future of youth in Canada has been deemed uncertain. But for youth of colour, where the cutbacks to education, employment and general social services impact their communities most, this concert provides a necessary venue for the collective expression of all youth ready to stand up and take back their future. It will be an evening filled with talented acts and a reminder that progressive arts & culture is a much needed fuel when taking our revolutionary paths towards social change. [...]
Youth and young workers prepare to confront current manifestations of globalization’s neoliberal agenda in Canada at upcoming conference
Second announcement May 23, 2013 Toronto, ON—The Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance/Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada–Ontario (UKPC/FCYA-ON) calls on all youth and young workers to take action and participate in the province-wide youth conference, titled "Making the Youth Count in Canada's Future: The Struggle of Young Workers in the Age of Austerity and Neoliberal Globalization." The conference will be held on August 3rd at the United Steelworkers Hall in Toronto. For youth in Canada, the policies that continue to be implemented by the Conservative government as part of the neoliberal agenda of globalization indicate the relentless and worsening attacks on our present conditions and future livelihoods can no longer be denied. As witnessed in mounting student debt and the rise of contractual/"flexible" work, along with the decline of meaningful, full-time positions and job security for all, the impacts of regressive changes to social programming, education and labour need to be addressed more than ever. Recognizing this pressing need is crucial, especially in light of the resultant intensification of the struggles universally faced by youth in Canada's racialized and marginalized [...]
Cosmetic reforms to the Temporary Foreign Workers Program a disservice to all workers in Canada
National statement For immediate release May 13, 2013 Toronto, ON—The Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians (CPFC) stands firm against the Conservative government’s hypocrisy in masquerading concern for the job security of all workers in Canada through their recent reforms to the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP), despite hitting workers with their prevailing agenda to continue cheapening and contractualizing labour. Packaged as a plan to “ensure Canadians have first chance at available jobs”, the recent reforms are otherwise a form of lip service to the recent public outcry against the controversial Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) case. These changes stand as the Conservative government’s latest attempt to shed themselves of all accountability as the leading brokers and agents of the TFWP and the ongoing unemployment crisis. With the expansion of the TFWP and rising unemployment rates, the Conservative government cannot hide behind such backhanded tactics and must still be held accountable for furthering insecurity and temporariness for all workers in Canada. We must recognize that these reforms are an attempt to legitimize the inherently exploitative and oppressive design of [...]
Wage the working class struggle: Onwards with the fight against neoliberalism
International Workers’ Day National Statement Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians May 3, 2013 The Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians (CPFC) commemorates International Workers’ Day with renewed vigor and militancy as this past May 1st signified both the historic and deepening need to uphold and advance the struggles of the working class all over the globe. As a day representing the 127th anniversary of the Haymarket Square demonstration in Chicago on May 4th, 1886—which yielded the 8-hour workday standard, the abolition of child labour and safer working conditions—International Workers’ Day also serves as a reminder of the roles workers today must take on in carrying forward the legacy of resistance amidst the intensifying and ruthless assaults of the neoliberal agenda of globalization on the lives of millions of working class people. Instigated by the clout of corporate greed and its ever-growing appetite for profit, neoliberal mechanisms make labour contractual, flexible and disposable, pushing workers’ exploitation and oppression to ever more sophisticated, drastic and much deadlier forms than ever before. It is in this regard that the CPFC calls on [...]
Filipino janitorial and maintenance workers triumph over deportation threat in Halifax
For immediate release May 2, 2013 Toronto, ON—SIKLAB Ontario (Advance and Uphold the Struggles of Filipino Canadian Workers) and the member organizations of the Magkaisa Centre commend the strength and courage of the janitorial and maintenance workers in Halifax, Nova Scotia in speaking out and standing up against the unscrupulous practices held by their employer, Mantolino Property Services, Ltd. This is an achievement that affects not only the workers immediately involved in the case, but the thousands of other workers as well who continue to be underpaid, overworked and highly vulnerable to various forms of exploitation and oppression under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). As labour becomes more and more flexible, contractual and disposable under neoliberal globalization, this also represents an important victory for all workers in Canada SIKLAB Ontario, together with its sister organizations, extend a message of solidarity to the workers in their triumph to stay in Canada after facing the threat of deportation while their employer remains under investigation. Mantolino has contracts to provide janitorial and cleaning services to 13 municipal buildings, including Halifax [...]
Conference announcement: “Making the Youth Count in Canada’s Future: The Struggle of Young Workers in the Age of Austerity and Neoliberal Globalization”
Conference announcement April 19, 2013 Toronto, ON—The Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance of Ontario/Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada–Ontario (UKPC/FCYA-ON) invites all youth and young workers to attend “Making the Youth Count in Canada’s Future: The Struggle of Young Workers in the Age of Austerity and Neoliberal Globalization”, an Ontario-wide conference which will be held on August 3rd at the United Steel Workers Hall in Toronto. We continue to witness the neoliberal agenda of globalization intensify its attack in Canada through its main driver, the Conservative government. This is evident in the changes to employment and labour standards, the push towards flexible and temporary labour, the implementation of austerity policies and the push towards privatization and cutbacks of public services. These ongoing reforms and changes undeniably denigrate the lives of all working people in Canada including, im/migrants, students, Aboriginal peoples and the newly-arrived, which indicate that no sector, occupation group or community is off-limits to the impacts of the neoliberal agenda. Currently, Canada’s future generation, the youth, are subjected to an all-time high unemployment rate of 14%, which is [...]
Harper government’s scapegoating of RBC: a futile attempt at washing their hands clean of anti-worker agenda
For immediate release April 18, 2013 Toronto, ON—The Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians (CPFC) admonish the Conservative government’s hypocrisy in putting on a façade of righteousness amidst the controversial lay-offs by the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) of citizen workers and their subsequent replacement by temporary foreign workers. As the leading brokers and agents who have legislated and legitimized such flexible labour regimes, the Conservative government must be held responsible for the “restructuring” of the Canadian labour force as cheap, flexible and disposable through the expansion of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). RBC’s firing of about 45 employees and subsequent replacement with Indian IT specialists, for the sheer benefit of acquiring cheaper labour and for cutting costs, stands as but one example of the neoliberal agenda’s ongoing attack on the livelihood and well-being of all working people in Canada. While the rights and needs of all workers continue to be disregarded and circumvented over the interests of the private and corporate sectors, the Conservative government cannot continue to operate with impunity and must be held accountable. The [...]
Film Screening: “My Folks: Building a Home in Canada”
Join SIKLAB Ontario and the member organizations of the Magkaisa Centre in celebrating International Workers Day 2013 with a film screening of "My Folks: Building a Home in Canada" (a photovoice video project). Guided by the advocacy work of the Magkaisa Centre, the My Folks film sets focus on portraying the Filipino Canadian community’s experiences of migration and the challenges of genuinely settling in Canada. Fitting under the theme of home building, the film follows the stories of two women who have come through the Live-in Caregiver Program in search of a better life for themselves and their families—a plight familiar to many members of the Filipino Canadian community. Be a part of the Q&A and discussion session to find out more about the issues that affect us all as women, youth and workers in Canada, including topics regarding healthcare, education, housing needs, employment and more. What: a film screening of the “My Folks: Building a Home in Canada” photovoice project followed by a Q&A discussion session When: Saturday, April 27, 2013, 4pm to 6pm Where: Ontario Institute [...]
2013 federal budget takes sacrificial approach in economic development at the expense of human development
National statement For immediate release April 12, 2013 Toronto, ON—The Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians (CPFC) denounces the empty rhetoric behind the Conservative government’s economic action plan and its 2013 federal budget in purporting to advance “Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity,” as it instead tables an attempt to jeopardize the employment, development and future security and stability of all workers in Canada. The 2013 budget has again proven where the Conservative government’s priorities lie, as the interests of big business and corporate development are prioritized above all else—such as having meaningful and secure employment and accessible and affordable public services. This next phase of the economic action plan follows suit in the clawing back of already deeply-recessed public funds and services, as inflicted by massive cutbacks and austerity measures. The CPFC continues to question and challenge the outright assault of the neoliberal agenda that is tightly woven into the budget as it intently degrades and devalues the roles of working-class communities as vital contributors and builders of Canada. We stand critical against the rhetoric of “job creation” and [...]
End violence against women, justice for Rehtaeh Parsons!
National statement For immediate release April 12, 2013 Toronto, ON–Members of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) are deeply saddened and mourn the loss of Rehtaeh Parsons, a 17 year old high school student from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. Rehtaeh’s young life was taken away by the grief of a crime committed against her dignity and humanity as a woman. As the news of her rape and the cyberbullying inflicted on her fill the mainstream media, we are reminded of the ongoing brutality of crimes perpetuated against women. We are also reminded that our escalating victimization and violation continue to be bolstered by the institution of patriarchy and male domination in its effort to further subordinate and subjugate women in this society. Moreover, we are angered and appalled by the obvious neglect of the RCMP to treat Rehtaeh's tortuous ordeal as a case of violence. By turning a blind eye on the seriousness and the gravity of the assault, the RCMP shows their complicity in condoning the actions of the perpetrators. Thus, their outright denial [...]