Stepping up eagerly and standing out fearlessly for our moment of resistance
National Roots, Rhymes and Resistance "Panahon Natin, Our Moment: Step Up, Stand Out!” Friday, July 16 2010, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM Doors open at 6:00 PM, show starts at 7:00 PM Arbor Room, 7 Hart House Circle at the University of Toronto $10 Cover… Read More Stepping up eagerly and standing out fearlessly for our moment of resistance
Seizing the critical moment through “Roots, Rhymes and Resistance: Panahon Natin, Our Moment! Step Up, Stand Out!”
National Roots, Rhymes and Resistance Toronto, ON – June 16, 2010 – Once again, Filipino youth, women and workers across Canada are seizing the moment in a resounding call to make Filipino youth count in Canada’s future. The culture of resistance takes centre stage as dynamic Filipino youth spill their talents on a national level at “Roots, Rhymes and Resistance: Panahon Natin, Our Moment! Step Up, Stand Out!” The show will be held at the Arbor Room at the University of Toronto’s Hart House on Friday, July 16, 2010 from 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM. Building off the momentum of Toronto’s first RRR held last December, event goers will be able to see a stronger and more vibrant range of performers from Sinag Bayan Ontario and more. Be prepared to unravel your creative minds as Filipino youth step up to the challenge of redefining Filipino culture through music, theatre, spoken word, dance and multimedia. Throughout history, youth have always been at the forefront of stimulating change within their communities. In recognizing the inherent dynamism of Filipino youth, UKPC/FCYA-ON [...]
The Maleta journeys on into Laidlaw’s “New Shape” exhibit
Toronto, ON – June 14, 2010 – Once again, Filipino-Canadians are unpacking their stories of migration as the Maleta Project continues its journey into Queen West’s Gallery 1313. As part of the Laidlaw Foundation’s “New Shape” exhibit, running from the 9th to the 20th of June, three pieces from the Maleta Project are being displayed. In a scene where artistry and creativity seems commonplace, Maleta subverts and surprises audiences by depicting art that is collectively produced out of the rich experiences of a community united in resistance. Community members, artists and gallery onlookers will recall the power and the impact contained within the pieces “Cargo,” “Singkil” and “Giant Maleta.” Produced under the theme of “End the Exploitation, March for Liberation,” these pieces were crafted by the hands of the Sinag Bayan Ontario arts collective, and embodied by the lives of the transnational Filipino women striving for better lives in their new home. “As young Filipino artists and community organizers, we see art as an opportunity to convey our community’s culture of resistance to our audiences,” says Alleben Purugganan, [...]
Conference Communique: Counterspin towards a just and genuine settlement and integration
Over 80 progressive Filipino Canadians from 14 different mass organizations across Canada together with friends and supporters from the United States, strengthened their unity to advance the just and genuine settlement and integration of the Filipino Canadian community at a groundbreaking national conference called Counterspin towards our just and genuine settlement and integration held last April 30 - May 2, 2010 in Montreal, Quebec. The two and a half day conference was organized by the various progressive Filipino Canadian organizations of the Kapit Bisig Centre in Montreal, Magkaisa Centre in Toronto, and Kalayaan Centre in Vancouver as an educational event to deepen understanding of the history and current situation of Filipino Canadians; to understand the nature of the Canadian state and society and their role in helping shape the Filipino Canadian community’s reality; and to develop action plans for just and genuine settlement and integration in order to achieve full participation and entitlement. The conference was also a continuation of a pioneering project launched three years ago: Filipino Community and Beyond: Towards Full Participation in a Multicultural Society. [...]
Recent achievements mark another testament to the will of UKPC-ON to make the Filipino youth count
Toronto, ON – May 26, 2010 – Burgeoning talent and creativity amongst Filipino-Canadian youth, fostered through community organizing and activism, mark the recent achievements of Gabriella Abis and Kenneth Santos, both members of UKPC/FCYA-ON. The Magkaisa Centre proudly congratulates and celebrates the achievements of Abis and Santos, whose actions serve as a glimpse into the possibilities of an empowered Filipino-Canadian youth. Within the energies and capacities of the youth reside the driving force necessary to propel the Filipino-Canadian community towards its just and genuine settlement and integration, as exemplified by Abis and Santos. Gabriella Abis, using her skills behind the lens, placed the Top 10 slots of the City of Toronto’s “Our City, Our Stories powered by Canon” photography competition. Her series of photographs, “The Odyssey of Play,” were chosen amongst 152 submissions, all of which originated from Toronto’s list of Priority Neighbourhoods. “My photos convey a sense of happiness, friendship and freedom,” describes Abis. “Some of feelings are what our parents brought us to Canada for, not just for jobs,” she continues. Abis is a 17-year old [...]
Ninotchka Rosca, internationally acclaimed novelist, to link arms with progressive Filipino Canadians at the “Counterspin” national conference
Montreal, QC – April 28, 2010 – Progressive Filipino Canadians await the days that they will, once again, reaffirm the growing unity amongst progressive national organizations of Filipino Canadians workers, women and youth in advancing the struggle for our community’s empowerment and development at the historic conference “Counterspin towards our just and genuine settlement and integration.” In deepening our understanding of the Filipino Canadian community as part of a transnational community, internationally acclaimed writer and long-time women’s rights and human rights advocate Ninotchka Rosca will be part of this historic conference as a guest speaker. Rosca will help set the framework of our struggle as a transnational community in North America. She states that “migration is a life-altering process. Completion is as much a part of the migrant’s journey – completion of their lives, homes, families, communities and their value to society…and to treat it like a job application is really to insult and injure the migrant’s humanity.” Unmasking and challenging the one-dimensional view that migrants and immigrants leave their country simply to “earn a living” regardless of [...]
Progressive Filipino Canadians to cultivate the new path for genuine settlement and integration in Canada
Second Announcement Montreal, QC – Excitement and anticipation builds as progressive Filipino Canadians prepare for “Counterspin towards a just and genuine settlement and integration” – a national conference that signifies the continuing struggle of the Filipino Canadian community for full participation and entitlement in Canadian society. To be held on April 30, May 1 & 2, 2010 at the Jewish General Hospital Amphitheatre Institute of Community and Family Psychiatry (4333 Cote Sainte Catherine, Montreal), this landmark conference will be a monumental event in the history of the Filipino Canadian community, as we pave the way to cultivate and nurture the new path for genuine settlement and integration. Building on the years of educating, organizing and mobilizing work of the Kapit Bisig Centre in Montreal, the Magkaisa Centre in Toronto and the Kalayaan Centre in Vancouver, progressive Filipino Canadians embrace this new era in our struggle with an affirmation to strengthen its unity towards the Filipino Canadian community’s advancement and development. As we march forward in reclaiming our rightful place in a multicultural and multi-ethnic Canada, we call on [...]
Counterspin towards a just and genuine settlement and integration: Filipino Canadian workers, women and youth link arms, raise fists and be counted!
National Conference April 30, May 1-2, 2010 will mark the days that progressive Filipino Canadians will, once again, galvanize their unity in a national conference called “Counterspin towards a just and genuine settlement and integration.” This landmark conference is the product of the strengthening unity amongst the progressive national organizations of Filipino Canadians including workers, women and youth and signifies the new phase in our educating, organizing and mobilizing work in the Filipino Canadian community. For over 50 years, Filipino Canadians have struggled to settle and integrate in order to achieve full participation and entitlement in Canadian society. Three community centres working together, namely Kapit Bisig (“link arms”) in Montreal, Magkaisa (“unite”) in Toronto and Kalayaan (“freedom”) in Vancouver, have been in the forefront of these struggles. And once more, they continue to “ link arms and unite in freedom” to make this coming Counterspin conference possible. To be held at 3755 Chemin de la Cote Sainte Catherine, Montreal, this national conference will bring forward our struggle for a just and genuine settlement and integration and declare our [...]
Filipino-Canadian community’s stories of migration unravels at the arrival of the Maleta
Countdown to the Maleta Launch
Toronto, ON – March 17, 2010 – Going beyond tokenizing traditional cultural performances and culinary treats, the Maleta (suitcase) Project aims to sew the experiences of the Filipino community together to weave a history of Filipino migration to Canada. Titled “End the Exploitation, March for Liberation: The Maleta Launch,” the opening show will focus on the theme of enhancing Filipino women’s equality, human rights and genuine development. Works will explore the issues, the struggles and the resistance Filipino women have exemplified in Canada. “From over 20 years of Filipino women’s organizing in Canada and 10 years here in Ontario, we can’t keep silent about the experiences of Filipino women” states Alleben Purugganan, Maleta’s Project Coordinator. “We have to acknowledge that as a community, the exploitation that is happening and we need to strive for our just and genuine settlement and integration in Canada,” she continues. The Maleta project was originally held in Vancouver, but has now come to Toronto through the work of the Magkasia Centre. Rather than just being an exposé of different experiences, however, it is [...]