Press Release

Filipino-Canadians and supporters celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Kalayaan Centre

February 14, 2007

Vancouver, Canada – Around 150 members of the Filipino-Canadian community and their immigrant, migrant and Canadian friends and supporters joined the organizations and members of the Kalayaan Centre in marking its 10-year anniversary in a community celebration on February 10, 2007.

Surrounded by historical photographs of the Kalayaan Centre’s work and activities alongside current artwork and photographs, there were outpourings of congratulations and appreciation from the people that joined the celebration as well as from solidarity messages that came from the Philippines and across Canada.

The celebration marked the first decade of operation of the Kalayaan Centre at 451 Powell Street – the first-ever Filipino community centre in the Vancouver region.

In August 1996, women of the Philippine Women Centre of B.C. (PWC) seized the opportunity to expand its work in the community and brought together progressive Filipino organizations in Vancouver to establish the Kalayaan Centre.

Since this time, the Kalayaan Centre has operated to serve the needs of and empower the growing but marginalized Filipino migrants and immigrant community in Vancouver.

May Farrales, Executive Director of the PWC, emphasized in her welcome that the Kalayaan Centre “is not only a place for Filipinos to gather, but more importantly, it is a place where marginalized Filipinos can collectively continue the struggle to achieve equality, human rights and genuine development.”

Cecilia Diocson, a founding member of the PWC and the current Executive Director of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada, reminded the audience of the myriad of challenges the Filipino community in Canada has faced, such as being underfunded to being criticized for its “ethno-specific” focus on the community. Despite these challenges, the Kalayaan Centre has survived and established a presence in the Filipino community and beyond. Diocson also emphasized that the Centre and its organizations have touched the lives of thousands of women and members of the community because of the courage and will of the community to strive for its own empowerment.

In recognition of the community’s struggle and commitment to support the Kalayaan Centre, the evening’s celebration was dedicated to the hundreds of the centre’s members and volunteers who have kept the Kalayaan Centre’s doors open and its programs expanding.

The organizations of the Kalayaan Centre: the PWC of B.C., B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, SIKLAB-B.C., the Filipino Nurses Support Group, Sinag Bayan Cultural Arts Collective and Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance all shared testimonials about the significance of the Kalayaan Centre in their community work among overseas Filipinos and progressive and peace-loving Canadians.

The evening’s celebration was made especially poignant by cultural performances including a specially-written rap song for the 10-year anniversary of the centre by members of the Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance.  With the refrain “Ten years of organizing my folks, Ten years of giving us hope”, the youth related the importance of the centre’s member organizations in advancing the rights and welfare of overseas Filipinos as part of the Filipino people’s continuing struggle for genuine equality, peace, and development. Other songs, poetry and presentations also paid tribute to the daily struggles that Filipinos face in Canada, and underscored the need to heighten the community’s commitment to press on in their struggle for their legitimate and just struggles against racism, exploitation, and oppression.

Parliamentarians, academics and other community representatives also expressed their solidarity.

Seth Klein of the Canadian Centre of Policy Alternatives-B.C. Office’s said that: “Throughout the last 10 year, PWC-BC and the Kalayaan Centre have not only become a crucial voice for Filipino migrants and immigrants in Vancouver, but have also played an important role in the social justice and international solidarity movement in B.C.”

Hospital Employees Union President Fred Muzin praised the Centre for being: “…at the centre of many important campaigns against the Live-in Caregiver Program, Systemic Racism against Filipino youth, the corrupt regime of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, just to name a few...”.

Also in attendance and offering solidarity greetings were the Bus Riders Union, Grassroots Women, the Group of Friends and Relatives of Political Prisoners in the Philippines, Alvin Tolentino, Mining Watch Canada, UBC Program and Research Centre in Women’s and Gender Studies, IWW-Vancouver, Women’s Studies at Langara College,  Association of Chinese Canadians for Equality and Solidarity Society, Federation of Russian Canadians, Chinese Canadian National Council, the Red Star Club (Vancouver), Public Service Alliance of Canada-National Component (BC/YT), and the Philippine Women Centres of Ontario and Quebec.

To close of the evening, PWC drew the winning ticket for the Balikbayan 2007 Raffle Draw. Janelle Ho-Shing won the grand prize of two tickets to the Philippines.

The celebration kicked off of a series of events that the Kalayaan Centre plans to hold in 2007 as part of the centre’s 10-year anniversary.

Members were united in stressing that as they celebrate the first decade of the Kalayaan Centre’s operation, there is an urgent need to learn the important lessons of its rich history of community organizing in order to be fully prepared to contribute to the struggle for the genuine equality, freedom, and peace of all Filipinos wherever they may be.#