Filipino-Canadian youth set to gather in Vancouver for important conference

 

Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance

 

For immediate release

July 29, 2003

 

(Vancouver, B.C.) ‘Why did our parents migrate from the Philippines?  Why can’t we find decent work in Canada?  Why are Filipinos disappearing from high school?’  These are just some of the critical and common questions of Filipino-Canadian youth that will be discussed at an upcoming conference in Vancouver.

 

The BC-wide conference, titled “Confronting the Critical Moment: Equality and the Right to Development Now!” will take place from August 15 to 17, 2003 at the University of British Columbia.  Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance (UKPC), the hosting organization, says this significant event will help facilitate the process of learning, exchange, response and commitment to actions that is essential to forge unity amongst Filipino youth and students around pressing issues.

 

“Our community is growing at a rapid rate – we are now the third largest visible minority group in B.C.  Yet, Filipino youth continue to face personal and systemic racism,” says Cherlyn Cortes, member of UKPC.  “Filipino youth are now known as the ‘disappeared’ because we are dropping out of high school at alarming rates; and the jobs we are relegated to are cheap, part-time service-sector work.”

 

Cortes notes that these critical issues are the impetus behind the conference.  “Filipino youth have a crucial role to play in community efforts to attain equality and to demand our right to genuine development,” she says.  “We are working towards a place where Filipino youth have dignity and equality in Canadian society.  This is a new model of empowerment and liberation for our community.”

 

The conference will feature a keynote address by Cecilia Diocson, chairperson of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada.  A community activist for over twenty years, Diocson will provide a rich and provocative presentation about the Filipino community’s experiences of forced migration and their contributions to Canadian society.  Panel discussions will also highlight particular themes including, human rights, family separation, right to education, systemic racism, issues of young Filipino women, opportunity for employment, and the role of youth in the anti-war and anti-globalization movement.

 

Cortes added, “With the ongoing economic and political crisis in the Philippines and the U.S. declaration of the Philippines as the “second front” in the war on terrorism, Filipino youth must also define their role in struggling for genuine democracy and freedom in the Philippines.”

 

The conference is open to all Filipino youth, while only particular segments of the weekend are open to the general public.  There is a sliding scale registration fee of $25 to $50.

 

For more information and to register, please call Cherlyn or Carlo at #604-215-1103 or e-mail at [email protected].

 

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