A Tribute to Jose Maria Sison
A Tribute to Jose Maria Sison Progressive Filipino-Canadians and organizations under the umbrella of the Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians (CPFC), mourn for the Communist Party of the Philippines founder, Jose Maria Sison who passed away on December 16, 2022. Sison, the foremost leader of the Philippine national democratic revolution with a socialist perspective, died in the Netherlands where he lived in political exile with his partner Julie and their son. Sison’s revolutionary writings, political struggles and organizing work have been profoundly read and studied within the ranks of progressive Filipinos in Canada who strive to understand the nature of, and help build the struggle for genuine socialism in Canada, and be in solidarity with the Philippine revolutionary movement. While Sison’s focus was to fight for the national and social liberation of the Filipino people against domestic feudal, reactionary forces, and global imperialism, internationalism is also a major focus of his work. He encouraged transnational Filipinos to prepare themselves to join the ranks of the revolutionaries in the Philippines but at the same time, emphasized that the most [...]
HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WORKERS’ DAY FROM THE MAGKAISA CENTRE!
Warm and militant greetings of solidarity for this year’s International Workers’ Day from the sister organizations of the Magkaisa [Unity] Centre (Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance of Ontario, Philippine Women Centre of Ontario, & SIKLAB - Ontario). Since 1889, May Day has been celebrated all over the world to commemorate the victories and strides of labourers and working class peoples throughout history against exploitation, oppression and injustice. The first International Workers’ Day celebrations in Canada took place in Montreal in 1906 and were led by socialists, the industrial workers’ union and various social-democratic groups. Through many hard-fought struggles by labour movements across Canada, workers won to standardize the 8-hour working day, and all of the rights, protections, and benefits we as working people rely on today. As progressive Filipinos, we at the Magkaisa Centre stand in solidarity with First Nations, Indigenous peoples and all racialized and marginalized communities and continue to uphold the working class struggle and help build socialism in Canada. We also stand in solidarity with all oppressed, displaced and disenfranchised peoples around the world in their [...]
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Cancel Canada Day: Filipinos reaffirm solidarity with Indigenous communities against colonialism in Canada amidst discovery of unmarked graves in multiple residential school sites GalleryCancel Canada Day: Filipinos reaffirm solidarity with Indigenous communities against colonialism in Canada amidst discovery of unmarked graves in multiple residential school sites
Cancel Canada Day: Filipinos reaffirm solidarity with Indigenous communities against colonialism in Canada amidst discovery of unmarked graves in multiple residential school sites
National StatementCongress of Progressive Filipino Canadians (CPFC)July 1st, 2021 Toronto , ON --As progressive Filipino Canadians, we are outraged at the discovery of unmarked mass graves of Indigenous children in residential school sites all over Canada. The recently uncovered sites of more than a thousand graves of Indigenous children in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia, is a painful and gruesome reminder of the deep and widespread violence, racism, and genocide inflicted by white-settler colonialism on First Nations and Indigenous peoples. We condemn the Canadian state and the Catholic Church’s historic role in creating the residential school system that facilitated these grave crimes, and their ongoing neglect and inaction to fulfill any meaningful and genuine reconciliation and reparation programs. We refuse to celebrate a country built on colonialism and genocide. On July 1st, marked as Canada Day, we choose to pay our respects and mourn for the children who lost their lives in these “schools” and for their families who they were stolen from. We extend our solidarity to the survivors who continue to struggle with their traumas. During [...]
Magkaisa Centre presents “This is Home”, a creative writing and arts program
The Magkaisa Centre welcomes all Filipino Canadians to take part in our upcoming creative writing and arts project this summer! Whether you are new to exploring your creative side or you are a self-professed creative, aspiring artist, or even a professional, we are here to provide a space to write, create, learn and express in a collective setting. This is Home: An anthology of Filipino Canadian writings aims to highlight the stories and experiences of the Filipino community in Canada as we take a deep dive into our history, struggles, and aspirations through creative writing pieces including poetry, prose, interviews, photo essays, and more. Through our workshops, we also aim to raise our understanding of current issues that we are increasingly faced with in our daily lives. What are the ways we have made Canada home? What are the stories we have woven together with other communities? How have we contributed to the fight against racism, colonization and oppression in Canada? What are our goals, dreams, and visions for our future? The sessions will be delivered through Zoom [...]
Stop the deportation of Carlo Escario!
May 12, 2021StatementMagkaisa Centre The Philippine Women Centre of Ontario and its sister organizations, the Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance of Ontario and SIKLAB-ON, condemn the Canadian government’s order to deport Carlo Escario back to the Philippines as yet another example of the Canadian Immigration system’s unacceptable treatment of workers under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).Mr. Escario arrived in Canada in 2007 through the Live-in Caregiver Program and has been working since 2014 as a hemodialysis assistant at Toronto General Hospital, and like tens of thousands of healthcare and essential workers with similar immigration histories, have been risking their lives and wellbeing in the frontlines since the beginning of the pandemic. But because Mr. Escario has not included his marital and family status with his now estranged wife and daughter in his permanent residency application, Citizenship and Immigration Canada is now cruelly and unjustly criminalizing Mr. Escario of “misrepresentation”.As a frontline healthcare worker tending to COVID-19 positive patients, Mr. Escario is unfairly and arbitrarily deemed a criminal on a turn of a dime due to very invasive and [...]
Doug Ford, saying sorry is not enough!
On April 22, Doug Ford publicly made a tearful statement apologizing for his cabinet’s hasty move towards harsh restrictions, including policing measures against individuals in the midst of never before seen rises of COVID-19 cases in Ontario. However, his incompetence and unwillingness to follow health advice was exposed by continuing to downplay the medical professional recommended actions. He failed to secure actions toward paid sick day legislation, and could not lay out clear priority to vaccinate the essential workers. Saying sorry does not and will not ease the healthcare crisis we are in and it will not address the impacts of his flawed response/plan on this pandemic. It is saddening and angering to hear most recently a 13-year old girl named Emily Victoria Viegas from Brampton died of COVID-19. She is one of the youngest who have fallen victim to the virus. We cannot help but express that for essential workers in Brampton and across Ontario, it is an insult and slap on the faces of those who tirelessly work and risk their health, and lives going to [...]
Doug Ford, Stop Blaming the Essential Workers and Marginalized Communities
The Doug Ford government’s recent amendments to the current stay-at-home order once again shows how politically disinterested he is in genuinely addressing the current healthcare crisis. We at the Magkaisa Centre demand Doug Ford to stop putting the blame on us — the essential workers and racialized and marginalized communities — for his uselessness and failures. He would rather misdirect the issue to continually obscure the public of his ongoing band aid solutions. Increasing police authority and power to already heavily policed neighbourhoods, only reinforce the marginalization and racialization of working class communities living and working in COVID-19 hotspots. Policing does not ease the pressure on our current healthcare system; it does not relieve the stress that healthcare workers are experiencing now. More importantly, the amendments do not address the root cause of the continuing rise of COVID-19 infections among essential workers, their families and in the community. Doug Ford’s continued haphazard response has clearly paved the way to our current dire situation and shows the outright neglect for the needs of essential workers most at risk of [...]
Filipino Canadian women mourn the victims of the Atlanta spa shootings and call an end to all forms of racism
Toronto, ON -- As we commemorate International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, we at the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario urgently call on all progressive forces to heighten our resolve in fighting to end racism and violence towards people of colour, most especially women of colour. We reaffirm our unceasing commitment in opposing and exposing all forms of racism at the systemic and surface levels. As progressive Filipino Canadians, we will continue to be steadfast in combating the Canadian state's white settler colonial agenda of normalizing the marginalization, exploitation, precarity and endangerment of Asian-Canadians, Indigenous peoples, Black and racialized communities. We express our deepest condolences to the families and friends of the murdered victims of the spa shootings that occurred on March 16th in Atlanta, Georgia. As women of Asian ancestry, we condemn the shootings as a vicious racially motivated and gender-based hate crime. Anti-Asian racism has long been part of American and Canadian history. But it is no coincidence that violent attacks on Asian communities have spiked in recent times during the pandemic as former President [...]
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Ending the anti-worker, anti-woman, and racist Canadian Caregiver Program is a step toward universal healthcare, child care and women’s liberation GalleryEnding the anti-worker, anti-woman, and racist Canadian Caregiver Program is a step toward universal healthcare, child care and women’s liberation
Ending the anti-worker, anti-woman, and racist Canadian Caregiver Program is a step toward universal healthcare, child care and women’s liberation
On this International Women’s Day, we at the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) strongly affirm the path towards genuine liberation for all women from the perspective of our transnational working class community. Recognizing that at the root of current social crises are regressive state policies in immigration, privatization of healthcare, and temporary labour programs like Canada's Caregiver program. As such we call on all to join our fight against these systemic causes of women's oppression and exploitation as part of our continuing struggle for women's development and emancipation. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the Canadian public healthcare system as severely neglected and deteriorating. Our long term care homes and hospitals are more understaffed and under-resourced than ever. Filipino women continue to make up a large part of the workforce in these institutions. As Filipino women, we know this first-hand and have always fought against these deplorable conditions. This global pandemic has shown that women of colour - working as Personal Support Workers (PSWs), caregivers, nurses, and aides - are at the forefront of the fight [...]
Allegations of abuse under Canada’s “migrant” home support and childcare program not new
by the Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians (CPFC) How can we really end the cycle of exploitation of "migrant care workers Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker’s Program (TFWP) has long existed as a vehicle to recruit and cheapen transnational workers' labour. The particular category of caregiver/domestic work schemes currently under the TFPW, from the early West Indian Domestic Scheme in the 1960s, to the Federal Domestic Movement in the 1980s, the Live-in Caregiver program in the 1990s, and now the home childcare and home care support programs, have all been founded on the ability to recruit cheapened labour of women from the Global South (historically from the Caribbean and the Philippines) to enable middle and upper class Canadians access to private home care and childcare. This is care that is overall inaccessible and denied for the majority of families in Canada in the first place. For over 50 years these labour programs have existed and have perpetuated and entrenched a systemically racist, anti woman and anti worker labour scheme within the fabric of Canadian society. These caregiver/ domestic work [...]
Justice for Jennifer Laude! Keep Pemberton in Jail!
On October 11, 2014 Jennifer Laude, a Filipina transwoman, was found dead in Olongapo City. She was violently murdered by U.S. marine Joseph Scott-Pemberton. For his brutal crime, Pemberton was only found guilty of homicide and sentenced to a mere 10-year prison sentence. On this day of September 7, 2020 President Rodrigo Duterte has granted Pemberton an early release serving only 5 years in jail and an absolute pardon which erases any criminal liability. Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada (Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance - Ontario) and sister organizations under the Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians, the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario, and SIKLAB Ontario (Filipino workers rights group) strongly condemn this decision as a blatant disregard for Philippine laws and an outright failure of the Philippine Justice system. The Philippine government's shameless complacency to the dictates of the United States makes a complete mockery of Philippine democracy and sovereignty as a nation, and a grave injustice to the entire Filipino people within and outside of the Philippines. The Philippines is upholding a colonial agreement with the U.S. [...]