As the violence continues, the Live-in Caregiver Program still remains unquestioned
National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) SIKLAB-Ontario (Advance the rights and welfare of overseas Filipinos) Media release As the violence continues, the Live-in Caregiver Program still remains unquestioned May 9, 2009 Toronto, ON – Filipino advocacy groups strengthen their call to abolish the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) as the experiences of Filipina domestic workers once again make it onto the front page of the Toronto Star. The groups identify the abuses suffered by the live-in caregivers in the home of Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla as a testament to the state-sanctioned modern-day slavery in Canada. While the general public is busy condemning our provincial and federal parliamentarians in their complicity to this ongoing violence, SIKLAB-Ontario, a local migrant workers' organization, and the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) remind Canadians that the “Dhalla case” is beyond the isolated incidences of abusive high-profile employers. Rather, they encourage media and the public to interrogate the federal program itself, and investigate why the stories of Magdalene Gordo and Richelyn Tongson are common to all domestic workers employed through [...]
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO TURNS TO UNJUST SOLUTION TO SATISFY CHILD-CARE DEMANDS
Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance - Ontario March 11, 2009 Press Release UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO TURNS TO UNJUST SOLUTION TO SATISFY CHILD-CARE DEMANDS Filipino student group appalled by the hypocrisy of Uof T’s Family Care Office in endorsing modern-day slavery Toronto, ON - The Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance – Ontario (FCYA-ON), a registered student organization at the University of Toronto, is outraged at the Family Care Office for holding a workshop on finding a caregiver under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP), a federal program that promotes the human trafficking of Filipino women. The workshop is provided by a group that says that it promotes “family diversity,” but yet it blindly ignores the exploitative nature of the LCP. The Family Care Office held an information session on February 18, 2009 to provide a venue for a placement agency and current employers of Filipina caregivers to help students, staff and faculty find the caregiver who is “the right fit for their family.” Although members of the University should have an opportunity to make informed decisions about [...]
Filipino women in Canada: continue the struggle to scrap the LCP and for our genuine freedom!
National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada March 8, 2009 Statement Filipino women in Canada: continue the struggle to scrap the LCP and for our genuine freedom! On this year's International Women's Day, the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada continues to call for the scrapping of the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) and sends warm and militant greetings of solidarity to all working women around the globe who are struggling for equality, justice and genuine development. We remember and pay homage to the 20,000 immigrant women garment workers in the United States, who took to the streets in 1908 to struggle for better working conditions. Their struggles inspired socialist women to call for the first International Women's Day. We also honor the struggles of women around the world who have devoted and offered their lives to the struggle for national and social liberation and for genuine equality for women and against all forms of exploitation and oppression. As the global economic crisis worsens, women around the world and in Canada are the hardest hit. In Canada with [...]
Sad State of the Filipino Union
Sad State of the Filipino Union Ugnayan Ng Kabataang Pilipino Sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance – Ontario Issues of Filipino identity dominated the conversation during the first State of the Filipino Union (SOFU) gathering on February 26, 2009. However, the gathering did not address the more apparent concerns that affect the successful settlement and integration of our community such as, systemic racism, violence against women and economic marginalization. “What was it like to grow up in Canada? Did your parents teach you Tagalog? What was your experience with assimilation? Did you teach your kids Tagalog?” These questions were directed to a panel of 16 Filipino youth and 16 older Filipino Canadians who spearhead or are affiliated with cultural, religious, media, service-oriented and university student-based organizations in the Greater Toronto Area. Many panelists responded with similar experiences and reiterations of culture clash, “just trying to fit-in” scenarios and learning Filipino culture as elements that informed their identity. However, if Filipinos have continued to arrive in Canada since the 1960s, why has the dialogue today become so stagnant and fixated [...]
Filipinos welcome U.N.’s critique of Canada’s human rights record, cite human rights violations of live-in caregivers
National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada Press Release Filipinos welcome U.N.’s critique of Canada’s human rights record, cite human rights violations of live-in caregivers For immediate release: February 6, 2009 A national advocacy group of Filipinos in Canada welcomed the recent recommendations of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) urging Canada to ratify a treaty to protect the rights of migrant workers. The UPR took place in Geneva, Switzerland on Feb. 3, 2009. Members of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) a national advocacy group of Filipinos in Canada say the Canadian government should listen to the U.N. body’s recommendations and the voices of Filipino migrant workers in Canada and other NGO’s who have been urging the government to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICRMW) and investigate abuses under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP). Chapter members of the NAPWC participated in consultations in Vancouver and Toronto last month organized along with other NGOs and Indigenous peoples organizations [...]
Announcement: Going back to the roots
A sharing on the Philippines and the Filipino people's experience with globalization and their struggle for genuine human rights. Guest Speaker: Monica Urrutia a member of the Philippine Women Centre of BC and staff of the Public Service Alliance of Canada who joined the Vancouver District Labour Council's (VDLC) solidarity tour to the Philippines last Novermber 29 to December 14, 2008. Where: room 1230 Bahen Centre, University of Toronto (St. George Street and College St) When: February 22, 4-6pm Refreshments will be served! Bahen Centre is also wheelchair accessible! Facebook invite: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=124472900533
Growing Filipino community in Canada still faces major obstacles to successful integration, says advocacy group
National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada SIKLAB-Canada Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance Filipino Nurses Support Group - BC and Quebec Press release Growing Filipino community in Canada still faces major obstacles to successful integration, says advocacy group For immediate release: January 30, 2009 While recently released statistics reveal that Filipinos are the largest source of immigrants and temporary workers for Canada combined surpassing China , national advocacy groups say Filipinos still face major barriers to their successful settlement and integration in Canada. According to statistics from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 19,064 Permanent Residents and 15,254 temporary workers from the Philippines arrived in Canada in 2007. Aside from Americans, more Filipinos arrived in Canada as temporary foreign workers than any other nationality. Organizations under the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada, SIKLAB-Canada (Advance and Uphold the Rights of Overseas Filipino Workers) Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance and the Filipino Nurses Support Group warn against the complacency that the recent announcement may create, signaling to Canadians that the Filipino community has finally reached a level of development in Canadian society. Instead, the [...]
One year after the death of 15-year old Deeward Ponte, the struggle against systemic racism continues!
January 27, 2009 Today marks the one-year death anniversary of Deeward Ponte, the 15-year old Filipino youth who was stabbed at Gray’s Park in Vancouver, and later died in the hospital. As Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance (FCYA), we extend our sympathy to the Ponte family and pay tribute to the memory of Deeward. As Filipino youth, we are all deeply affected by this tragedy in our community and remain strong in our struggle against systemic racism and for the genuine social justice of all Filipinos. The Filipino community suffered the loss of two youth in the first half of 2008. In April of 2008, 24 year-old Charle Dalde was killed in Richmond, B.C. The Dalde case further shocked the community when the Richmond RCMP harassed the victim’s family racially profiling Charle’s stabbing as gang-related, a claim later proven false. Both the cases of Deeward Ponte and Charle Dalde are harsh reminders of the violence, racial profiling and negative stereotypes placed on Filipino youth in Canada. We also remember the violent deaths of 17 year-old [...]
Honor the Memory of Fallen Youth, Unite Against Racism and Youth Violence
November 28, 2008 marks 5 years since the untimely passing of 17-year old Mao Jomar Lanot, a Filipino student whose life was tragically taken after being beaten outside of Sir Charles Tupper Secondary School in Vancouver, British Colombia. The impacts of the tragic event not only affected his family but was felt by the entire Filipino community, who grieved collectively at the loss of one of our youth. As Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/ Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance (UKPC), we have always maintained the position that Jomar's death was one that could have been avoided. Measures must be put in place to understand that Jomar's death is not an isolated incident, but part of the larger systemic barriers like racism and economic marginalization that continue to block the Filipino community's genuine participation in Canadian society. On November 14, 2008, the report "The Roots of Youth Violence" was released in Ontario, authored by former Chief Justice Roy McMurtry and Dr. Alvin Curling. The report, commissioned by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, emphasizes the need to research the education and justice [...]
Communiquè from “Filipino Community and Beyond: Towards Full Participation in a Multicultural and Multi-ethnic Canada”
National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada More than 120 participants came together from British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario to attend "Filipino Community and Beyond: Towards Full Participation in a Multicultural and Multi-ethnic Canada." The community-based and community-led national research conference was held from November 6-9 at the University of Toronto. As part of a three-year project of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) in partnership with Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism, the conference showcased the work being done by the Filipino community toward addressing its concerns and developing capacities and initiatives that will lead to the community's empowerment and full civic participation. The conference opened on the evening of November 6, 2008 with a reception and art exhibit at University of Toronto's Wilson Hall Lounge. Art exhibits included murals depicting narratives of migration painted by youth members of Kabataang Montreal, an art piece on the lack of access to health care for live-in caregivers by SIKLAB Ontario, a video on young women's issues by UKPC/FCYA Ontario, the "Maleta" family - a family of suitcases [...]
Filipino migrants advocacy group celebrates three-year anniversary; renews call to scrap the exploitative Live in Caregiver Program
For immediate release: October 15, 2008 TORONTO,ON – More than 50 members of the Filipino community from Toronto and Montreal gathered on October 11, 2008 to celebrate SIKLAB Canada's three years of educating, organizing and mobilizing Filipino migrant workers. The event was celebrated with a dinner and a forum on the Live-in Caregiver Program at the OISE building at the University of Toronto. SIKLAB–Canada is a national progressive organization that advances the rights and welfare of Filipino overseas workers. With the theme, "Sulong Migranteng Pinoy! Towards genuine development, equality and human rights," the event gathered migrant workers, women and youth to discuss urgent issues facing the community, including the lack of visibility in Canadian society and Citizenship and Immigration Canada's Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP). "Despite our large numbers, Filipinos in Canada are virtually invisible in the larger society," says Roderick Carreon, Chairperson of SIKLAB-Canada. "Through our organizing work, we hope to increase our visibility and participation in Canadian society to address the most confronting issues facing our already marginalized community," stated Carreon. Carreon also encouraged members of the [...]