Filpino-Canadian Youth Alliance
Press Statement

Press Statement on Trial of Accused Assailants of Mao Jomar Lanot from the Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance

October 25, 2005

In November 2003, 17 year-old Mao Jomar Lanot was beaten outside of Sir Charles Tupper Secondary School by a group of teens.   He died several hours later.   Almost two years later, on the eve of the trial of the accused assailants, the recent incidents of violence in the community remind us of Mao Jomar, and of dozens of other cases of youth violence that have happened in recent years.   As an organization of Filipino youth and students, we question whether things have improved since Mao Jomar's death.   Have our institutions in Canadian society, like the Vancouver Police Department and the Vancouver School Board, learned anything from that tragedy to understand systemic racism and its impact on communities like ours?

It is too easy to point fingers at the youth caught in the conflict.   We also do not blame their parents, many of who work overtime or at more than one job for the survival of their families.

Instead, we say that there is an urgent need to critically examine the violence in a larger context and name that it is a result of the systemic racism faced by marginalized immigrant communities of colour.   It is not simply an isolated issue.

According to the last Census, Filipinos are now the fourth largest visible minority group in Canada, and the third largest in BC.   Recently released statistics from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) show that the Philippines was the third largest source country for immigrants to Canada in 2004.   This rapid growth of the Filipino community is part of the out-migration of millions of Filipinos who are forced to migrate and look for jobs abroad due to the chronic economic and political crisis in their homeland.   The number one migrant nation in the world, the Philippines has over 8 million migrants spread out in 186 countries around the world.

One of these countries is Canada.   Despite our growing presence here we continue to remain among the most marginalized in Canadian society.   According to CIC, Filipino immigrants to Canada earn $2000 less than Canadians, despite having a high degree of education.   A Vancouver-based professor found that Filipino women only earn 52% of the median income of women in Vancouver.   Part of this marginalization is due to the failure of Canada to recognize the credentials of foreign-trained professionals, like Filipino nurses, but a great part of our marginalization lies in the continued implementation of Canada's racist and anti-woman Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP).

According to CIC, 95% of those entering Canada under the LCP are Filipino women.   Often earning less than $2 an hour, these women are modern-slaves forced to work and live in their employer's homes.   Canada does not allow them to bring their children to Canada until they meet the onerous requirements of the LCP.

Years of separation - often reaching beyond a decade - causes the breakdown of the family unit until the children are finally reunited with their mothers in Canada.   But with the often-irreparable deterioration of the family relationship, and little or no community-based programs and support services, Filipino youth are faced with very few options.   Many drop out of high school as a result, leaving the Filipino community with one of the highest dropout rates in Vancouver and other major cities. This is a looming tragedy for our community, which values education and the future of its children so much.

It is in this context of underdevelopment that we place this recent string of attacks.   We are told by the Vancouver Police Department that these incidents between two communities are fueled by bravado, or youth boredom, when we should be looking at the fact that communities of colour are forced to compete against one another because of their common marginalization.

When the case of Mao Jomar Lanot erupted 2 years ago, we held firm to this analysis, along with members of the South Asian and First Nations communities, and we will continue to stand with other communities of colour to combat systemic racism and its resulting violence.   Institutions like the Vancouver School Board and the Vancouver Police Department need to stop their racist stereotyping and acknowledge the existence of systemic racism and hear the recommendations of community groups, like ours, who are involved on the ground in anti-racism work.   Instead of blaming and labeling us, the Vancouver Police Department should listen to our concerns.   Although they said that they would contact community leaders, we have yet to hear from them.

We will not let Jomar's death be forgotten.   As a community we will come together to continue to educate and organize ourselves and we will continue to reach out to other marginalized communities, but we also demand that Canadian institutions be accountable for the destructive impacts of systemic racism in their words, actions, policies and practices.   In this so-called multicultural and diverse society, it is our right as a community to be treated with respect and dignity.   We deserve no less and we will continue to struggle for our community's future - for its genuine development and equality in Canadian society.