Philippine Women Centre of B.C.
Statement
Vancouver, B.C., Canada

Stop violence against women!  Break the silence!

November 8 , 2006

As Filipino women in British Columbia (B.C.), we  extend our sincere sympathy to the Indo-Canadian families of the two women recently killed, and one attempted killing of a woman, and the Indo-Canadian community mourning these tragedies.
 
The shooting of Gurjeet Kaur Ghuman and slayings of Navreet Kaur Waraich and Manjit Panghali, all within a two-week period, are senseless results of the festering problem of violence against women.  Immigrant women in Canadian society face many pressures as new immigrants and under patriarchal structures which place the burdens of domestic work primarily on us.

Violence against women is unfortunately widespread or too common in our society.  Women  hold unequal positions and are undervalued in society compared to men who use aggression as a form of control over women in our communities.  We understand that the problem of violence against women is also linked to the rampant exploitation of our men as workers and people of colour in Canada.  We critique the the B.C. government’s lack of political will to address the grave problems immigrant women are burdened with.

Compounded by the many pressures of immigrating to Canada with little support in terms of integrating, many Filipino women victims of violence feel isolated and unaware or unsupported in their efforts to flee their abusive partners and rebuild their lives.  The Philippine Women Centre of B.C. (PWC) has conducted research on violence against women which is also prevalent in our community.  We have found that many abused Filipino women face barriers in accessing immediate, relevant, and much-needed services which has resulted in their further disempowerment and marginalization that can have negative impacts on their children.

We declare our indignation against the recent series of violent attacks against Indo-Canadian women in Vancouver’s Lower Mainland and hold the provincial government responsible because of its brutal cutbacks to much needed women’s services while immigrant women’s lives are at risk on a daily basis.

We join the Indo-Canadian community’s outcry against these appalling events which have been described as the “systemic demeaning of women.”  We join women’s and immigrant groups’ criticism of the government’s ongoing budget cuts and program slashing of much needed services to vulnerable communities who are extremely marginalized and oftentimes unheard or misrepresented in Canadian society.

These actions have only served to cripple immigrant groups trying to stop violence against women in our communities which have included the closure of the South Asian Women Centre, the provincial government’s cut of operational funding for all 37 B.C. women’s centres in March 2004, and the recent federal government cuts to Status of Women Canada.

Philippine women have also been hard hit by anti-women policies of the B.C. and Canadian governments that have not only taken away funding to our programs, but has failed to put the safety and dignity of women’s lives as a priority issue to tackle.  Nearly 100,000 women from the Philippines have been recruited to Canada under the anti-woman and racist Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP), which strips us of our basic rights to decent wages and working conditions, making us vulnerable to physical, social, and economic violence.

We therefore stand in solidarity with women in the Indo-Canadian community taking a firm stand in working to stop violence against women, towards genuine women’s equality, and immigrant women’s empowerment in Canadian society.#