Philippine Women Centre of BC

Thats our powerful community leader!! Rest in power, Qara. You are missed but your work is never in vain.

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the sudden passing of our collective member and community leader, Qara Clemente. Qara's commitment to community organizing can be traced over the last decade. In her research, she explored housing needs and racism in education. She led and advocated for the most marginalized within and outside the Filipino community. She knew intimately the systemic barriers and issues that affect our youth and women. She dedicated her life and activi...sm to speaking out and educating others. Among countless other art projects and initiatives, Qara led Sinigang Sundays, a filipina feminist hangout where we built community through food, stories and music. To us, Qara was our head cook, DIY queen, DJ of good beats, powerful teacher and dedicated friend. She was a working-class heroine. It is impossible to write in words how powerful she was and it is impossible to fully measure the impact of her works. We lost a leader but we will never lose the movement. She wouldnt have wanted that. May she rest in power. We continue to hold her up.

Many have responded to Alex Tizon’s article, My Family’s Slave, since its publication in The Atlantic’s June 2017 issue. As members of the Philippine Women Centre of BC, we invite readers to be critical of what has been written. We ask readers to confront the uncomfortable questions of privilege that the author did not ask himself in his article, despite benefiting greatly from the story of Eudocia Tomas Pulido. We ask readers to see the article not as the end of her story,...Continue reading

The Tizon piece has brought some new followers to our page. We assume that is in an effort to learn more about our advocacy work. Since the early 1990s Filipina women have called for scrapping Canada's modern slavery program aka (Live in Caregiver Program or Canada's Caregiver Program). We have more to say on the Tizon piece. Stay tuned for our official response.

"The first Tuesday of every April is earmarked to celebrate National Family Caregiver Day. We invite you to pause and be mindful of the paid and unpaid labour women of colour pour into our nation-state, from caring for the elderly or children, while being separated for years from their own families. We also call on the federal and provincial governments to provide genuine solutions to healthcare and childcare. What have you done to actively resist imperialist labour structures? #notonourbacks #scrapthecaregiverprogram #universalchildcarenow

Last week, we had a great talk for a UBC Families Studies Course. Typically, we will show students a video that gives an overview of the Live-in Caregiver Program (Canada's Caregiver Program) and Cora Cadiz gives her firsthand account of going through the program. Thanks to professor Rafael Wainer and students for asking thoughtful questions respectfully. Here is a post from one of the students that we really appreciated reading. We always beg the question: how will you break your complicity with this racist and oppressive program?

East coast! We can't think of a better way to spend Valentine's Day in Toronto

Lots came out to support and be in solidarity with the Muslim community. Major takeaways: check in with muslim friends/colleagues/neighbours -condemn all terrorism regardless who the perpetrators are and if they are in your OWN community -understand the real fear experienced by Muslims (and black Muslims as highlighted by BLM)... -if you have questions about Islam, learn through speaking to people and books, not the media #NoBanNoWall #NoMuslimBan #cdnpoli See more

Filipinas against Islamophobia and broken liberal promises ~~~~

Emergency hang out! Filipinas against Islamophobia! Come out today for a sign making party at 2:30pm. All welcome.

"While diversity is an empirical reality in Canada, with a population from various ethnic backgrounds, systemic racism continues to uphold hierarchies of exploitation and stands as a barrier between the cohesion of our many communities...Hate crimes and violent attacks are not isolated incidents that mar the image of a diverse Canada, but are symptoms of the reality that people of colour and Indigenous people face in this country." #StopIslamophobia #SafeThirdCountry #LifttheCap

Prayer & Solidarity organized by Muslim leaders and organizations. Saturday 6 PM Van art gallery.