Filipino Community


Miarayon, Mindanao.

Miarayon, Mindanao.

Filipinos don’t celebrate Halloween, they instead have a day dedicated to the dead on 1 November, the Araw ng mga Patay [Day of the Dead]. It’s a holiday that is the perfect metaphor for Philippine spirituality: an imported Catholic holiday that hints at an animist past. (more…)

A few weeks back I asked Filipino youth to tell me what they liked and hated about their people.  During Kultura last Saturday, I did this again.  (more…)

Yeah, yeah!  KPC’s 3rd annual Kultura Festival was last Saturday and it was ridiculous!  In this set of pics I’ll show some of the afternoon events in the park across the street from the centre in trendy Kensington Market in downtown Toronto.  There was music, dance, spoken word, visual art and installations, Filipino street food–and on site hair stylin and massage! (more…)

Olivia with Juana and her husband Noli.

Yesterday Migrante-Ontario, the Independent Worker’s Association (IWA), and associated groups celebrated Juana Tejada’s successful fight to gain permanent residence status. Juana is the live-in caregiver (LCP) that was denied status twice after she was discovered to have terminal cancer and deemed a burden to the Canadian healthcare system. (more…)

A while back I went to a Filipino event at a large Toronto venue. It was an outdoor event and unfortunately it was raining, though luckily the venue had large open air tents to keep the people dry—but for some reason I smelled wet dog.

I was reminded of my youth when I was ashamed of being Filipino. (more…)

poster designed by Christine Mangosing

Hey Toronto Peeps! Come out this Saturday (23 Aug) for Kultura, and see how Filipino youth put on a festival! This is not your Tita and Tito’s Fiesta, this is ours.

I’ll be exhibiting here, and I have an photo installation that will be ongoing throughout the afternoon. Plus check out what local professional Filipino artists are putting together.

spoken word/music performances in the park, arts & crafts vendors, Pinoy street food what?! fishballs, banana-Q anyone!? play readings by Filipino playwrights & actors, shorts films by Filipino filmmakers. Represent!

All happening at Bellevue Square Park on Augusta & Dennison, and at KPC 167 Augusta Avenue

Juana Tejada, the Filipina caregiver with terminal cancer that fought against her deportation and won, is an inspiration to caregivers and the Filipino community at large. Come celebrate her victory with her next Sunday (24 Aug), and join in the new campaign to ensure what happens to her doesn’t happen to anyone else. (more…)

Just a little gentle prodding and Canadians are tripping over with racist glee. All someone had to do is use the right politically correct code words for racism in the 21st century.

Canadians are too polite to tell the gooks to go home, that just wouldn’t seem right. (more…)

IMG_1370

It was wet, really wet, but I’m glad I was there to spend some time with some of my kababayans [countymen] at a campsite near Guelph, Ontario.

There were about fifty people there, caregivers on their one weekly day off, and members of Migrante-Ontario (and it’s member groups). It says alot about the Filipino people how high spirits were despite the weather and the difficult lives in which they live.

Filipina’s make up over 95% of the live-in caregivers in Canada, despite their struggles, most Canadians (including Canadian born Filipinos), know little about them. (more…)

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