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 as a pilot project examining Filipino women in off-street prostitution in Vancouver.
Through its work as part of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC), it started a national research project that identified the community’s four major issues of: overcoming economic marginalization, combatting systemic racism, making the youth count and enhancing Filipino women’s equality, human rights and genuine development. PWC-BC’s conference in Vancouver will highlight its past and current work in these areas by highlighting its previous collaboration with academics and its ongoing organizing work in the community and beyond. Through its educating, organizing and mobilizing work, the PWCs across Canada has played a key role in creating and nurturing the community’s new path.
As 65% of the Filipino Canadian community is comprised of women, PWC-BC from the onset saw that the key towards the community’s transformation lies in the women’s struggle for emancipation and liberation. With a clear vision of helping build and advance the women’s movement, PWC-BC provided solid guidance and leadership in the formation of a chapter in Ontario in the year of 2000. Today, PWC-BC and PWC-ON continue their efforts to organize and empower Filipino Canadian women and the community. “History, Rupture and Continuity” and “Our Voices: A Portrait Series” both mark yet another step forward on the community’s new path of genuine settlement, integration and full participation as part of the working class in Canada.
History, Rupture and Continuity: Creating and Nurturing Our New Path
A one-day conference
9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (Registration is at 8:00)
YWCA Vancouver
Rooms Welch 1 and 2
535 Hornby Street
Vancouver, BC
Registration is $20; unemployed and students $10 (includes meals and materials)
Our Voices: A Portrait Series
Art exhibit at Beit Zatoun
612 Markham Street
Toronto, Ontario
May 31st, 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM
June 1st, 12 PM – 5 PM
This event is free
-30-
For more information, please contact
Bryan Taguba or Charie Siddayao
(416) 519-2553
www.magkaisacentre.org
Email: ukpc-on@magkaisacentre.org
Facebook: Ugnayan Ontario
Twitter: @ugnayanontario