Magkaisa Centre hosts its annual community barbeque
Press Release Toronto, ON--On July 27, 2008, members of the Magkaisa (Unity) Centre held its annual barbeque at Earl Bales Park in North York. The event brought together over 70 community members from the Magkaisa Centre in Toronto with guests from the Kapit Bisig (Linking Arms) Centre in Montreal. The occasion served not only to showcase various Filipino dishes and street games, but also as an informal forum for discussions amongst the members of the aforementioned centres. Mervyn Mabini, a member of Ugnayan Ng Kabataang Pilipino Sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance-Ontario (UKPC/FCYA-ON) stated that, "the barbeque was a venue for different sectors of the community to come together and learn from each other's experiences." The Magkaisa Centre is a community centre that focuses on empowering Filipinos in their struggle for human rights, equality and development, similar to the Kalayaan centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, and the Kapit Bisig centre in Montreal. The Magkaisa Centre houses several organizations - SIKLAB Ontario (Sulong, Itaguyod Ang Karapatan Ng Mga Manggagawang Pilipino Sa Labas Ng Bansa), a progressive organization that advances the [...]
Progressive Filipinos in Canada support the complaint of Marichu Suarez Baoanan against Baja family
Press Statement As progressive Filipinos in Canada, we support the civil complaint of Marichu Suarez Baoanan alleging trafficking, forced labour, peonage and racketeering against her former employer, Lauro Liboon Baja Jr. and his family. Baja is a 71-year old retired former Philippine ambassador to the United Nations and current foreign affairs consultant of Philippine Senate President Manuel Villar. According to reports, Baoanan, a 39-year old nursing graduate from the Philippines, arrived in the United States in January 2006 with a diplomatic "red" passport and visa, as a "personal employee" of Ambassador Baja. She says she paid P250,000 to Baja's wife, Norma Baja in agreement for exchange of transportation to the U.S, a visa, work authorization and help in finding a nursing job. Instead, she says she was forced to work in the five-story Philippine consular residence 16 hours a day, seven days a week and only received $200 for three months of work. She says she also received abuse from Baja's grandson who was allowed to hit her. It enrages us that many Philippine government officials continue to [...]
National Research Conference to Showcase Three-Years of Continuing Work towards Full Participation of Filipinos in a Multicultural Canada
First Announcement July 8, 2008 On November 6-9, 2008, the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) will hold a Canada-wide research conference on Filipinos and the Filipino community at the University of Toronto, Toronto Ontario. It will showcase the accomplishments of its three-year project in partnership with Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism called “Filipino Community and Beyond: Towards Full Participation in a Multicultural and Multi-ethnic Canada”. It will also be an opportunity to share community-based research papers using mainly participatory-action based models some of which had been presented at international conferences. Cecilia Diocson, executive director of NAPWC stated that “this conference will bring forward the most important issues confronting Filipinos and their community and how they address them in the course of their settlement and integration in Canada.” The project which started in January 2006 focuses on four major areas of concerns: enhancing Filipino women’s equality and human rights; making the Filipino youth count in the community’s future; combating systemic racism; and overcoming economic marginalization. The conference will prominently figure the project’s enduring impact on community development; [...]
Community forum on the Philippine health and medical mission
On June 28, 2008, Dr. Lynn Farrales, a Filipino-Canadian physician based in Vancouver led a community forum on the Philippine health and medical mission at the University of Toronto's Bahen Centre. The Philippine health and medical mission provides the opportunity for community organizers and Canadian health professionals to work together as Dr. Farrales plans a medical mission with other professionals who are interested in supporting community-based initiatives. Working with community organizations, this mission stresses the need to develop medical initiatives in the Philippines at the grassroots level. Dr. Farrales completed medical school at Queen's University and Family Practice training at the University of British Columbia. She also holds a Master's degree in Human and Nutritional Sciences from the University of British Columbia. Just recently, she has completed extra residency training in the field of International Health and has worked in the areas of refugee health, HIV/AIDS, and mental health Last year, Dr. Farrales traveled to rural Kenya to work on an HIV/AIDS project. She has recently returned from the Philippines where she worked with community based organization Citizens [...]
Toronto Filipino community mourns the death of another Filipino live-in caregiver
Filipino community grieves the death of another Filipino woman under the Live-in Caregiver Program. Toronto, Ontario- On June 6, 2008 a Thornhill family arrived home to find their Filipino nanny dead. According to media reports, the 39-year-old Filipina was found face down in the deep end of the backyard pool. Members of SIKLAB- Ontario, the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario and Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada-Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance (UKPC-FCYA) are in full sympathy and support in this trying period with the family of this woman. "This unfortunate death is another addition to the growing tragedy in the export and commodification of Filipinos under the labour export policy (LEP) of the Philippine government. We hope that this Filipina nanny's death will not just become another anonymous statistic of unexplained death," said Yolyn Valenzuela, national vice-chairperson of SIKLAB- Canada. According to Ian Nillas, member of UKPC-FCYA, "in less than a year, we mourned Jocelyn Dulnuan and Arcelie Loagan, both temporary workers under the LCP. This is another senseless and tragic death of women who left their homes in [...]
Canadian Union of Labour Employees’ (CULE) Solidarity Campaign with the Philippines
A Year of Solidarity and a Commitment to Continue the Struggle! May 29th will mark the one year anniversary of the Canadian Union of Labour Employees’ (CULE) Solidarity Campaign with the Philippines. In partnership with the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC), CULE joined the Filipino community and its supporters across the country last May 2007 to demonstrate solidarity with women and workers in the Philippines. “We have learned that the Philippines is the second most dangerous country for trade unionists,” explains CULE President Lisa Garnier. “We needed to act on the situation in solidarity with the Filipino people, especially amongst some of its hardest hit – urban poor women,” Garnier added. Members of CULE and NAPWC have contributed to and sent ten balikbayan boxes to date filled with basic medical supplies and school supplies for children through SAMAKANA in the Philippines. SAMAKANA, (United Urban Poor Women), is a nationwide federation of women from urban poor communities struggling against the adverse consequences of national economic policies on women, focusing on poverty, inflation, homelessness, unemployment and the [...]
Fil-Canadian groups slam ‘racist’ treatment of stabbing victim’s kin
MANILA, Philippines - Filipino-Canadian groups condemned the unwarranted handcuffing of the family of a stabbing victim Charle Dalde by British Columbian police who inspected their apartment last week. On the night of April 14, the Richmond police ordered Dalde's parents and younger brother come out of their Lansdowne Road apartment, lie down on the ground, and put their arms behind their heads. The police allegedly did not present any search warrant. "The disgusting abuse of authority from the police and harassment of the Dalde family is just another example of the systemic racism faced by the Filipino community in Canada," said the umbrella-organization Kalayaan Centre in a statement. "Instead of being treated as victims, the Dalde family was treated like criminals by the police." Charle Dalde, 24, was on his way home from a date with his girlfriend on April 14 when a man stabbed him to death. At the time of the incident, Dalde's mother, Harlyn, heard a ruckus in the fire lane that divides several apartment buildings south of Lansdowne Road. Not long after, the victim's [...]
Overseas Filipinos and Member of Parliament hold press conference to oppose immigration changes from Bill C-50
Montreal, QC - On Wednesday, April 23rd at 10:00 AM, the Filipino community in Montreal and a representative from MP Thomas Mulcair's office will hold a press conference to speak against the passing of Bill C-50, a budget bill that proposes unprecedented and dangerous changes to the immigration system. Under Bill C-50, the Citizenship and Immigration Minister will be given the right to select applications and determine if applications should be fast-tracked, frozen, or even denied, despite already fulfilling the strict requirements. The Conservative government justifies these policy changes as an effort to reduce a backlog of 800,000 applications, and further reduce the small amount of funding allocated for immigrant application processing. The government funding set aside for immigration processing is currently 1% of the overall immigration budget. In reality, this is a move to increase the arbitrary power of the government to approve permanent residency applications. "Bill C-50 will certainly leave the Filipino community more vulnerable to human rights violations as temporary workers," states Roderick Carreon, National Chairperson of SIKLAB-Canada (Advance and Uphold the Rights and Welfare [...]
Overseas Filipinos in Canada join global call to oust
As progressive overseas Filipino migrant workers, youth and women we join our voices to the thousands of Filipinos in the Philippines and around the world who rallied today to mark the anniversary of EDSA 1 People Power uprising by calling for the ouster of the fake, corrupt and fascist Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. We congratulate the broad united front lead by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) along with other patriotic and progressive groups who rallied throughout the nation today and in Manila for reaching Mendiola Bridge near Malacanang Palace for the first time in two years. As overseas Filipinos in Canada, we are also outraged by the latest revelations regarding the controversial billion dollar Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment Limited (ZTE) National Broadband Network (NBN) deal. The testimonies of Joey de Venecia III and Jun Lozada implicate top government officials in profiting from hundreds of millions of dollars in kickbacks and overpricing of the NBN deal. The government has tried desperately to cover-up this scandal and silence the whistleblowers and its opposition through coercion, kidnapping and intimidation tactics. First Gentleman [...]
Filipino Youth across Canada commemorate Deeward, call for scrapping the LCP
Filipino youth in three major cities across Canada will hold vigils, masses and marches over the next two days to commemorate the recent death of 15-year old Deeward Ponte and to call for the “scrapping of the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) and towards genuine social justice for Filipno youth and their families.” Local Filipino youth in Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/ Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance - Vancouver (UKPC/FCYA - BC) will lead a vigil and march tomorrow, Friday, February 8, 2008 in Vancouver. The vigil will start at 4 pm at Sir Charles Tupper (419 East 24th Ave.) to mark the site of the 2003 death of Mao Jomar Lanot and march to Gray’s Park (Fraser and 33rd Ave.) where Ponte was killed. The two Filipino teens were children of former live-in caregivers. In Montreal, Kabataang Montreal – Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance will offer a mass at St. Kevin’s Parish, 5600 Chemin de la Cote-des-Neiges this evening on Thursday, February 7, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. In Toronto, UKPC/FCYA – Ontario will hold a vigil on Friday, February 8, 2008 [...]
Film Series and Discussion: “Filipina Transnational Domesticity and Feminist Activism”
Toronto, ON – The Philippine Women Centre of Ontario (PWC-ON) and the Women and Gender Studies Institute of the University of Toronto will launch a documentary film series on "Filipina Transnational Domesticity and Feminist Activism." The series will explore the experiences of Filipino women on the areas of migration and domestic work; U.S. militarization and sex trafficking in the Philippines; impacts of globalization on Filipino women; and Filipino women's organizing in Canada and the Philippines. Discussants from community organizations and the academia will follow to highlight the various organizing work and research being done on these topics. All events run from 7-9 pm, Wilson Hall Boardroom, Wilson Hall (40 Willcocks Street), New College, University of Toronto. This film series is also co-sponsored by: the Southeast Asia Studies Group at the Asia Institute, the Chu Community Network at the Asia Institute, The Department for Sociology and Equity Studies in Education at OISE, and the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies. ------------------- Feb. 7. Domestic Work and the Filipino People's Experience Paper Dolls (Documentary film by Tomar Heymann). Israel, 2006. [...]