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 double the national unemployment rate.

In Ontario, youth unemployment is at 16.2% as of March 2013. As the province with the highest tuition fees in the country, ballooning student debt coupled by a labour market characterised by the general decline of secure and meaningful full-time jobs, the youth have little choice but to accept ‘flexible/contractual’ jobs, often in the low-wage sector, despite high levels of educational attainment.

As part of the Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians (CPFC), the Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance/Ugnayan Ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada–Ontario (FCYA/UKPC-ON) cannot accept a future or fate that can only be left up to the fluctuations of the market economy. For FCYA/UKPC-ON, it is imperative that we expose and oppose the current neoliberal agenda and all its manifestations here in Canada to counter the attacks being imposed on us, and make the youth count in Canada’s future.

Conference objectives

1. To understand the impacts of the global economic crisis and neoliberal globalization on the youth in Canada.
2. To develop strategies to advance the struggle of the youth against neoliberal globalization.

“Making the Youth Count in Canada’s Future: The Struggle of Young Workers in the Age of Austerity and Neoliberal Globalization”
Ontario-wide conference
August 3, 2013
United Steelworkers Hall
25 Cecil Street
Toronto, Ontario
Registration fee is $15 (includes meals and conference materials)

REGISTER NOW:

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For more information, contact the conference secretariat:
Ken Santos
(416) 519-2553
ukpc-on@magkaisacentre.org
www.magkaisacentre.org
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