Presentation at the Metropolis Conference Ottawa March 14 2014 Cecilia Diocson Executive Director NAPWC Counterspin conferences In the early spring of 2010 a network of progressive Filipino Canadian ID: 246904
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Slide1
Creating a new path for genuine Settlement and Integration
Presentation at the Metropolis Conference
Ottawa, March 14, 2014
Cecilia Diocson – Executive Director, NAPWCSlide2
Counterspin conferences ……
In
the early spring of 2010, a network of progressive Filipino Canadian
community organizations
held a conference in Montreal
to discuss the process of “creating and nurturing a new path for genuine settlement and integration” of Filipinos in Canada. Slide3
This three-year community-based research project was largely funded by Multiculturalism Canada in accordance with its mandate to:
“assist in the development of strategies that facilitate full and active participation of ethnic and cultural communities … by assisting in the identification and removal of barriers to equitable access and by supporting the involvement of these communities in public decision-making processes
.
” Slide4
Project main concerns:
Four key areas:
Economic marginalization
Combating systemic racism
Enhancing women’s equality and genuine development
Making the youth countSlide5
Some key findings and results …
Filipinos are one of the fastest immigrant minority groups
Filipino youth has second highest high school drop out rate
International division of labour consigns Filipinos as providers of cheap labour in the global market for migrants and working people
Immigration programs do not address structural and societal barriers to integration and settlement.Slide6
Conclusions and subsequent actions
In the three year-period
of
project implementation, the project
revolved
around three main processes that
had
empowered many in the community and led to the next phase in our community work.
These
processes addressed the four key issues of
(1) overcoming
economic
marginalization, (2)
combating systemic racism
, (3)
enhancing women’s equality and development and
(4) making
the youth count in the community and Canada’s future – issues that we addressed as being part of the Canadian working class.Slide7
Three processes …
The first process is knowledge production and capacity building
.
Community-based
participatory action research, academic collaboration, skills training in various aspects of community development, workshops and seminars and other educational activities were carried out
successfully.Slide8
Three processes …
The second process is the mobilization and initiatives for action.
Accumulation
of knowledge and understanding of our situation in Canada led to
and, in turn, was inspired by various
community mobilizations and
initiatives.Slide9
Three processes …
The third process is organization building and consolidation.
The
knowledge production and mobilization processes
through collective
and organizing
efforts that inspire vision and direction..
Vision
and
direction
realized and sustained through systems and
structuresSlide10
Dialectics of the whole process …
Interacting with and reinforcing each other, these three processes of knowledge production, mobilization and organization have become
embedded in our work
during the three-year
period. Slide11
Back to the present …
We have now embarked on the next phase of our community work taking into account the results of our research and learning the lessons of our past work.
The first Counterspin conference fully summarizes our new direction in the struggle for genuine settlement and integration in Canada.Slide12
Counterspin statement ….
“A new path
for
genuine settlement and integration is emerging in the progressive Filipino Canadian community…. a path leading to full participation and entitlement in a multi-ethnic and multicultural society within a world that is facing the crisis of neo-liberal globalization and the crisis of environmental degradation and climate change…a
path
critical of Canada’s official settlement and integration programs. We reject the path that consigns us as mere cheap labour appendages in the accumulation process of domestic and global
capital.
Instead
, we will strive to create a new path that struggles against our economic marginalization and social exclusion; a new path that struggles against systemic racism; a new path that struggles to achieve women’s equality and development; and a new path that
struggles for
a bright future for the youth
.”
Thank you.