Funds to combat racial profiling by police are misplaced, say Filipino advocacy groups

For immediate release: March 30, 2005

VANCOUVER, B.C. - Filipinos in Canada expressed their criticism over the federal government's recent announcement to commit $2.2 million over the next five years to promote "bias-free policing."

"These funds are being misplaced, says Carlo Sayo, member of the Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance or Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada. (FCYA/UKPC). "Instead of millions of dollars being directed to capacity building of the police, the government should be allocating these funds to the victims of racial profiling and to programs which genuinely work to end systemic racism," he said.

Filipinos are often victims of racial profiling. One recent example was the death of 17-year-old Filipino Jeffrey Reodica in Toronto who was shot in the back three times by a plainclothes Toronto police officer after a feud between Filipino and Caucasian youth on May 21, 2004.

Another example was the death of 33-year-old Majencio Camaso who was also shot three times by police on July 11, 2004 in Saanich, B.C. after responding to a domestic dispute. The Ontario Human Rights Commission has reported over 59 investigations against the Toronto Police Department being conducted by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU). The SIU was implemented after several complaints brought forth by the public, charges which exposed corruption, brutality, harassment and racial profiling on part of the Toronto Police.

Filipinos are the fourth largest visible minority group in Canada and the third in B.C. They currently number 58,600 in B.C. alone and are expected to number 139,700 by 2017, according to a recent study by Statistics Canada. Because of systemic racism, Filipino youth face violence and abuse on a daily basis. The 2003 death of Mao Jomar Lanot a Sir Charles Tupper Secondary Grade 11 student came after years of the Filipino community calling for changes to the school system.

For the last ten years, FCYA/UKPC has been conducting educational workshops in the schools and community and lobbying the government in an effort to combat systemic racism and expose it as a tool of capitalism to oppress and exploit workers of color and divide the working class. They have chapters in Toronto and in B.C. They receive little or no funding from the government, who avoid funding "ethno-specific" programs.

"Our efforts to combat systemic racism and improve access to services are being ignored," says Sayo. The group says that because of systemic racism, even second generation Filipinos are effectively denied the rights and benefits of Canadian citizenship. - 30 -

For more information, please contact: Carlo Sayo, Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance at 604-215-1103 or e-mail: ukpc@kalayaancentre.net