Event Announcement: Advancing the Working Class Struggle
ADVANCING THE WORKING CLASS STRUGGLE: A CRITICAL LOOK AT CANADA'S LABOUR AND IMMIGRATION PROGRAMS SIKLAB Ontario’s (Advance and Uphold the Struggle of Filipino Canadian Workers) Celebration of International Worker’s Day, featuring a panel discussion on the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) and the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP) Saturday, April 30th, 2011, 2:00 - 5:00 PM OISE Room 5280 Ontario Institute for Studies in Education 252 Bloor St. West (above St. George subway station) Venue is wheelchair accessible Free admission Light refreshments will be served Final lecture of UKPC@UofT & York’s series Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance–Ontario @ University of Toronto and York University In celebration of International Worker’s Day, SIKLAB Ontario, in collaboration with UKPC@UofT and York, ignites their militancy in upholding the working class struggle through a panel discussion on Canada’s labour and immigration programs from the perspective of the Filipino Canadian community. Making up the largest community of temporary foreign workers, live-in caregivers and deskilled immigrants, majority of whom are women, the Filipino Canadian community is relegated to serve as Canada’s pool [...]
Progressive Filipino Canadian workers’ group opposes the criminalization of temporary foreign workers
“Three Amigos” amongst latest round of temporary foreign workers criminalized by neoliberal immigration policies National Statement SIKLAB-Canada March 29, 2011 Toronto ON—SIKLAB-Canada, a national formation of progressive Filipino Canadian workers organizations, demands Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to cease the Three Amigos’ deportation order and to grant their right to remain in Canada. Dubbed as the “Three Amigos,” Arnisito Gaviola, Antonio Laroya and Ermie Zotomayor fill the top ledger of CIC’s list of temporary foreign workers who are slotted for deportation. Now having fulfilled their terms of work after arriving in 2007 to work at a gas station and restaurant in High Prairie, Alberta, their current order for deportation quickens their expiry as “disposable workers” who have already completed their terms under the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP). SIKLAB-Canada fervently demands to stop the deportation of temporary foreign workers as a call to eradicate the cycle of importing and deporting cheap migrant and immigrant labour, as instrumentalized by Canada to perpetuate the neoliberal agenda of globalization. After dispensing hours of cheap labour at the gas station and restaurant, [...]
2nd public lecture challenged all to reclaim the revolutionary road towards genuine women’s liberation
Toronto, ON – March 14, 2011 – In an empowering and celebratory night featuring a public lecture and a fundraising dinner, collective discussions led by progressive Filipino Canadian women, youth and workers educated over 80 participants on the need to reclaim the revolutionary road towards genuine women’s liberation. Presented by the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario in collaboration with UKPC@UofT (Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance–Ontario @ University of Toronto), the public lecture and celebration of the 100th year anniversary of International Women’s Day highlighted the fundamental importance of women’s liberation in the working-class struggle. “Reclaiming the Revolutionary Road Towards Women’s Liberation” was held at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), kicking off at 6:00 PM with a dinner and ending off with solidarity performances. As the neoliberal agenda of globalization launches escalating attacks on women, the public lecture challenged all to recognize the revolutionary road as the only path that will lead towards genuine women’s liberation. A conversation led by Cecilia Diocson, Executive Director of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in [...]
Something Else, Something Fierce
Check out "Something Else, Something Fierce" a fundraiser for the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) taking place on Saturday, April 16, featuring some of the fiercest Canadian artists of Filipino ancestry. The major headliner is 3-time Juno-nominated singer Emm Gryner with appearances by Kytami, DJ Miss M, R.Two and more! Aside from the big show in April, there'll be a few events taking place this month to build up excitement about Something Else, Something Fierce. For info, tickets and artist bios, check out napwcsomethingfierce.com.
Filipino Canadian youth intensify political education to expose Canada’s neoliberal agenda
Toronto, Ontario – March 7, 2011 – Members of the Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance/Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino Sa Canada–Ontario at York University (UKPC@York) take great pride in the successful launch of its first lecture series, “Exposing Canada’s Neoliberal Agenda: The Context Behind the Commodification and Racialization of Labour in Canada.” Held at York University in Toronto on February 16th, 2011, the public lecture signified that Filipino Canadian youth and students are putting forth the discussion and debate on the impacts of neoliberalism and the need for the just and genuine settlement and integration of racialized communities in Canada. The launch of the lecture series portrayed the unrelenting will of progressive Filipino Canadian youth and students to become future leaders of the movement towards the full participation and entitlement of the Filipino Canadian community. Through an interactive dialogue with students, campus allies and community members, Emmanuel Sayo, from the Philippines Canada Task Force on Human Rights (PCTFHR – a member organization of the Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians) exposed Canada’s neoliberal agenda by sharing its history from the perspective [...]
Unraveling the hypocrisy of Canada’s family reunification program
Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians National Statement March 3, 2011 The Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians (CPFC), a national alliance of Filipino Canadian workers, women and youth organizations, is not surprised with the announcement on the increase in immigrant visas approved by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) in 2010, numbering 280,636, as well as with the CIC’s announcement to cut-back on visa approval for family sponsorship and skilled workers categories. The increase in visa approval for one immigration class and the decrease in another has been a regular practice at CIC in order to ensure that the numbers of immigrants coming into the country does not exceed their limit or quota for each year. Indeed, while Canada may appear to open its immigration doors for immigrant applicants in 2010, it simultaneously closes and slams any opportunity for immigrant families in Canada to genuinely settle and integrate by hindering their reunification with other members of their families, particularly with their parents and grandparents. Minister Kenney’s honest admission at the House of Commons that “we need more newcomers working and [...]
Progressive Filipino Canadians challenge all Women to Reclaim the Revolutionary Road towards Genuine Liberation
Toronto, ON—March 1, 2011—In celebration of the 100th year anniversary of International Women’s Day, the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario (PWC-ON) in collaboration with UKPC@UofT (Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino Sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance–Ontario at the University of Toronto) will proudly hold “Reclaim the Revolutionary Road towards Women’s Liberation,” a public lecture featuring a fundraising dinner and solidarity performances. It will take place at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) Room 5202 on Saturday, March 5th from 6pm to 9pm. As part of UKPC@UofT’s lecture series, the event will challenge all to reclaim the working-class women’s struggle as an integral component of the struggle of the entire working-class. A lecture presented by Cecilia Diocson, Executive Director of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC), will emphasize the need to continue building upon the revolutionary ideas and actions of working-class women that were crucial in propelling the women’s liberation movement in the Global North. Besides celebrating the progress set forth by the resistance of revolutionary women for the last century, the event also poses a [...]
Event Announcement: Reclaim the Revolutionary Road Towards Women’s Liberation
RECLAIM THE REVOLUTIONARY ROAD TOWARDS WOMEN’S LIBERATION Philippine Women Centre of Ontario’s Celebration of the 100th Year Anniversary of International Women’s Day Guest Speaker Cecilia Diocson Executive Director, National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) Saturday, March 5th, 2011, 6:00 - 9:00 PM Doors open at 5:30 PM OISE Room 5250 Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), 252 Bloor St. West Tickets are $10 in advance or at the door Celebration includes a fundraising dinner and cultural performances Part of UKPC@UofT’s lecture series Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance/Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada–Ontario @ University of Toronto) During this 100th year anniversary of International Women’s Day, the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario (PWC-ON) in collaboration with UKPC@UofT invites everyone to an empowering night featuring a fundraising dinner with a public lecture and cultural performances in celebration of the century-long legacy of revolutionary women’s struggle. Initially wrought a hundred years ago by women garment and factory workers who marched the streets of New York in outright refusal of their severe working conditions, the very existence of International Women’s [...]
“Arrivals/Departures: Women’s Experience of Migration Under Globalization” Art Exhibit by AF3IRM
Event endorsement by the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario
Upcoming lecture to expose the reality behind the commodification and racialization of labour in Canada
Toronto, ON—February 9, 2011 - Packed with fresh content grounded in a community context, a new lecture series by UKPC@York (Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance–Ontario @ York) is sure to enlighten, empower and entice the minds of youth, students and educators. The 1st lecture, “Exposing Canada’s Neoliberal Agenda: The Context Behind the Commodification and Racialization of Labour in Canada” will take place at York University’s Stong College, Room 302 on Wednesday, February 16th from 6:00 – 8:00 PM. A dynamic lecture by Emmanuel Sayo, from the Philippines Canada Task Force on Human Rights (PCTFHR) - a member of the Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians, will expose the implications of Canada’s neoliberal expansion on racialized communities and the broader Canadian society. The lecture will explore Canada's racist history as a white-settler nation, whose process of nation-building has relied on immigration policies and exclusionary laws that have relegated people of colour as permanent sources of cheap labour. From the Chinese head tax to today’s Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP), the lecture will show how such policies [...]