National Filipino workers advocacy group pushes for increased visibility and end to exploitative Live-in Caregiver Program; celebrates three-year anniversary
For immediate release: October 7, 2008 TORONTO, ON – With a federal election only a few days away, members of the local progressive Filipino community will gather this Saturday, October 11, 2008 to push for increased visibility in Canadian society and an end to exploitative labour programs like the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP). The event to be held at the University of Toronto will also mark the three-year anniversary of the group's advocacy and organizing work amongst Filipino migrant workers across Canada. The dinner and forum will take place this Saturday, October 11, 2008 in the OISE building, University of Toronto, Room 2211 at 6:00 pm. Organized by SIKLAB-Canada (Advance the Rights and Welfare of Filipino Overseas Workers) the event entitled, "Sulong Migranteng Pinoy! Struggle towards equality, genuine development and human rights," expects to gather 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). Since the early 1908's nearly 100,000 Filipino women and their families have come to [...]
National research conference to tackle settlement and integration issues of Filipino community in Canada
Second Announcement On November 6-9, 2008, the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC), in partnership with Canadian Heritage, will hold it's first-ever community-led and community-based national research conference called "Filipino Community and Beyond: Towards full participation in a multicultural and multi-ethnic Canada" at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario. The conference will showcase NAPWC's three-year project in addressing the most important issues confronting Filipinos and their community in the course of their settlement and integration in Canada. "With the rapidly growing Filipino community in Canada, the lack of our full participation in civic, political, economic and cultural affairs in Canadian society has major impacts in our community's successful settlement and integration. This is an urgent issue that needs to be addressed in our community organizing," stated Cecilia Diocson, Executive Director of NAPWC. Since the launching of its three-year project in January 2006, NAPWC has been addressing key issues in overcoming economic marginalization; enhancing Filipino women's equality, human rights and genuine development; combating systemic racism and making the Filipino youth count in Canada's future. Various community-led and [...]
UKPC Orientation and Open House
Title: UKPC Orientation and Open House Location: Magkaisa Centre Description: Join us as we collectively discuss the issues our youth and our community face today. Learn about the work UKPC/FCYA has been doing in educating , mobilizing and organizing Filipino youth in Canada. Explore the ways on how to get more involved with the Filipino community here in Ontario. Then stick around for some BBQ! Gising na kabataan! Start Time: 18:00 Date: 2008-09-19
Filipino Community’s Issues and Challenges Expressed by Youth at Successful Cultural Night
UKPC/FCYA-ON Press Release August 20, 2008 Filipino Community's Issues and Challenges Expressed by Youth at Successful Cultural Night On August 7, 2008, Ugnayan Ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance of Ontario (UKPC/FCYA-ON) hosted its first cultural and open mic night, “Pinoy Poetiks”, at the University of Toronto's historic Hart House. Nearly 100 youth of Filipino descent ranging from different backgrounds and age groups attended, with over 20 different performers. The event was held to fundraise for the organization's upcoming “Balik Ugat Balik Komunidad” (Reclaiming our Roots, Back to the Community) capacity-building workshop series, as well as the “Filipino Community and Beyond: Towards Full Participation in a Multicultural and Multi-ethnic Canada” national research conference held by the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada with Heritage and Multiculturalism Canada, commencing this upcoming November at the University of Toronto. The evening was opened by members of UKPC, including some well-known artists, R. Scribe, Dagamuffin and UGN Son, and FenaxiZ. Pinoy Poetiks showcased the rich talent of young Filipinos and expressed the diversity of their voices through spoken word, [...]
Filipino Youth Lead a Workshop Series to Educate, Organize and Mobilize for the Rights and Welfare of Filipinos in Canada
Press Release August 5, 2008 TORONTO, ON – While summertime in Toronto is full of festivals celebrating the diversity of cultures that depict the city's population, Filipino youth are gathering to identify and explore their Filipino heritage in a month-long workshop series: "Balik Ugat, Balik Komunidad" (Back to the Roots, Back to the Community). Young minds can wander during summer breaks from university, high school, and work, but the workshop promises to energize these minds by uncovering their Filipino roots, identify contemporary issues facing the community, develop skills in activism and organizing, and towards the pursuit for an artistic outlet. The workshops are designed with the intention and purpose of building our capacity to further advance our struggle towards equality, genuine development and full participation in Canadian society. The BUBK workshop series is hosted by Ugnayan Ng Kabataang Pilipino Sa Canada / Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance-Ontario, and is in partnership with the Philippine Women's Centre of – Ontario and SIKLAB Ontario. The series will be held bi-weekly, Monday evenings and Saturday afternoons, beginning on August 9th and will [...]
Progressive Filipino youth express empowerment and activism through Pinoy Poetiks Cultural Night
Press Release Toronto, ON – Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance-ON (UKPC/FCYA-ON) will be hosting its very first "Pinoy Poetiks" on August 7, 2008, 7:30 p.m. at Hart House, Arbor Room, University of Toronto (7 Hart House Circle, Toronto). This night will showcase the rich talent of young Filipinos and express the diversity of their voices through spoken word, poetry, song and dance. With the theme "Balik Ugat, Balik Komunidad" (Reclaiming our Roots, Back to the Community), Pinoy Poetiks tackles the country's most pressing issues, both in Canada and in the Philippines. Filipino identity, human rights, systemic racism, women's issues, and a history of activism are only some of the topics that will be expressed through various artistic mediums. "Culture is an effective tool for community empowerment, and the Filipino youth is really waking up to this fact," says Noel Matta, a rapper and member of UKPC originating from Scarborough, who is also known by his stage name FenaxiZ. The UKPC Kultural Collective aims to express the struggles the different sectors the Filipino community face [...]
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 [...]