LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Why dismantle Filipino organizations? Diversity enriches our community

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Why dismantle Filipino organizations? Diversity enriches our community

Dear Editor,

I am writing in response to the Letter to the Editor (“Dismantle all Filipino groups…”) in the Dec. 1-15, 2006 issue. I completely disagree with the recommendations made in this piece.

The purpose of the first part of Mr. Artemio Valladolid’s piece, I believe, was to illustrate the apathetic political culture in the Filipino community, as he sees little Filipino participation in anti-war demonstration or poverty marches; which I might add, are not the only definitions of political participation. Yet he later goes on in his letter calling for the dismantling of all Filipino groups and forming a single Filipino group in Toronto with the sole purpose of celebrating Philippine Independence Day.

In my opinion, if Mr. Valladolid believes that the Filipino-Canadian community is not visible at these rallies, it is precisely because the community does not go as an organization. As a participant in a few anti-war demonstrations, I do see Filipino-Canadians scattered throughout, sometimes as members of other organizations. I have also seen demonstrations and rallies by Filipino organizations in Toronto, advocating the rights of Filipino domestic migrant labourers or protesting the sex-trafficking of Filipino women. In the first case, in “mainstream” demonstrations there is little Filipino visibility as a group, while in the second case of Filipino organized demonstrations, there is little media coverage. This attests to Valloadolid’s brownout, but also the first scenario demonstrates the consequence of his call to join these demonstrations as individuals.

A further contradiction is that he points to the democratic electoral freedom in Canada, whereas, ‘we couldn’t even run for office if we were only ordinary people’ in the Philippines. But later he criticizes someone who runs for a position that “suspiciously lack[s] English-speaking skills and with no understanding of the demographics of his community”. Valladolid was correct in stating that in Canada, anyone has the right to participate in democracy by running for office. It is for the electorate to decide whether or not that candidate is capable of representing them.

That is the point: if the people who are being represented are non-native English speakers, then a non-native English speaking representative would in fact represent them and be aware of their issues and needs.

He also calls on the elders to step aside to allow those born and raised in Canada to run for office. My first point still applies. I fit the profile of what Valladolid is calling for, but I would never be able to fully represent a large immigrant community because I will never be able to experience the challenges of a being a new Canadian.

What Valladolid is missing throughout his whole piece is the idea of equity. Maybe it is an inherently Canadian concept but an important one in this type of society. The multicultural tolerance within this city allows for equity; that is, the acknowledgement of circumstances that prevents actual equality and also accounts for them.

Equity policies allows for things like the disabled parking spaces or maternity/paternity leave. That’s not the best example, but the point is, if all our differences were forgotten and we were all given exactly the same things, then none of those would exist. We would say, it doesn’t matter if you require more space and a closer distance because of your walker or cane, park wherever there is space, or who cares that you need to nurse, keep working or quit your job.

So to call on people to forget their identity of Ilocanos, Tagalogs or Cebuanos, is asking people to forget their differences, even if this means, those who have specific issues, because they are a minority, are not addressed. We don’t ask people in Canadian society to forget they are Quebecois or Aboriginal, so why would we ask our own community here in Canada to forget that we all have different identities and interests that still allow participation in the Filipino community?

In addition, although I do not agree necessarily with the entertainment culture, and Valladolid calls on us to spend the rest of our time with either Liberals, Conservatives or NDPers, that is not for everyone. Not everyone is political the same way, that not everyone is into the heritage band or the cultural folk dances. He says “we should act like members of our new community, not the old one we left.” But in Canada, voter turnout has been steadily declining since the 90s, especially among Canadian youth. According to Elections Canada, 67% of eligible voters voted in 1997 and 61% in 2000.

Political participation outside of voting such as being a member of the party, demonstrating, rallying, organizing or debating, is also not a big tenant of Canadian political culture either.

Calling on the fourth largest immigrant community in Canada to dismantle is going to only halt any sort of upward mobility, that many of the organizations he is calling on to disperse, advocate for. Who will make the Filipino-Canadian’s unique issues be heard? There is no denying that our issues are different from any other Asian community here because of our colonial past, the current economic situation of the Philippines, the Live-in Caregiver Program, the mail-order bride industry, family separation because of these programs, social and economic marginalization, rejection of schooling in the Philippines, etc.
Even Philippine Independence Day is controversial to many, as some people do not accept this as an the actual day of Philippine Independence. It celebrates independence from Spain but does not acknowledge the American colonial rule following the Philippine-American war, and then the “granting” of Independence in 1946. To call for one organization and one purpose – to celebrate Philippine Independence Day – will only marginalize, isolate and polarize the community Valladolid is calling to unite.

I am a Canadian-born Filipino-Canadian youth. I would have expected a Philippine-born elder who went through the immigrant experience to know more about the issues back home, the community here and the Canadian society he calls on us to integrate into. It’s diversity that enriches a community and through acknowledgement and acceptance of our differences, there can be unity. Let us embrace it and work together for a strong Filipino-Canadian community, rather than yield to a call on us to disperse and forget what makes us a dynamic force here.

Camille Cendaña
Toronto