Toronto women activists raise demands on Int’l Women’s Day

Toronto women activists raise demands on Int’l Women’s Day

Filipino activists from Bayan Canada and Gabriela carry the Philippine flag at the International Women’s Day March in Toronto, calling attention to the plight of Overseas Filipino Workers, many of whom are women.
Photo: Marites Sison

By Marites N. Sison

Filipino migrant workers, caregivers, and Filipino-Canadian activists joined women’s rights groups, civil society organizations, and labour unions in a rally and march commmemorating International Women’s Day in Toronto Sunday, March 8.

Members of the Caregivers Action Centre  (CAC) and Migrante Canada carried colourful placards stating “Landed Status Now!,” as they joined the march from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) building on Bloor Street West, to Yonge and Dundas Streets. “We work hard, every day, we deserve equal pay,” they chanted, as many Torontonians who were enjoying the weekend’s spring-like weather either stopped to listen or to take photographs of the march.

Before the march, the CAC  issued a press statement urging Canadians to support their fight to gain “a path to stability and justice.” In 2019, the federal government offered an “Interim Pathway” to thousands of caregivers facing deportation, but the program “had many barriers and closed too soon,” said the CAC.

A new caregiver program has been created, but it imposes more stringent requirements, said the CAC. “We have to pass English language tests and get a high score, but are not given any assistance to prepare for these tests,” said the statement. “We are also being asked to show higher education certification, but the law bans us from studying while we are working.” The CAC noted that many caregivers  “have been living and working in Canada for years without needing to pass these unfair and unnecessary tests.”

A member of Anakbayan Toronto at the International Women’s Day March in Toronto, March 8.
Photo: Marites Sison

Filipino activists from Bayan Canada and Anakbayan Toronto also joined the march to call attention to the plight of thousands of Filipinos — most of them women — who leave their families behind to work overseas. “Many end up working in exploitative and precarious conditions,” said a statement distributed by Bayan. It cited the case of a Filipino domestic worker in Kuwait who was reportedly murdered by her employer’s wife last December, and another, who was executed in Saudi Arabia after she was found guilty of murder amidst protests that she was not given a fair trial. “These women are casualties of the Philippine government’s decades-old labour export program,” said Bayan, adding that the Duterte government has failed not only to protect Overseas Filipino Workers, but has not addressed the root causes of migration. It cited inequality, the semifeudal exploitation of peasants and farmworkers, bureacratic corruption, and foreign domination as reasons why many Filipinos remain mired in poverty and opt to seek employment overseas. There are about 10 million Filipinos who work overseas and send remittances that prop up the Philippine economy. Last year, their personal remittances reached a record high of $33.5 billion.

Shortly before the march, Filipino activists joined a rally inside the OISE building, which put a spotlight on issues affecting women, children, and the marginalized in Ontario. These include the Ontario provincial government’s cuts to education, healthcare, and other social welfare services. Other issues included gender pay gap, missing and murdered Indigenous women, climate change, and economic insecurity faced by immigrants and racialized groups.

Rhea Gamana, secretary general of Bayan Canada and member of the International Women’s Day Organizing Committee, co-hosted the event. She expressed her group’s solidarity with groups fighting for gender equality and social justice for all.
“These are challenging times for women,” said Jenny Ahn, another member of the organizing committee, as she cited the rise of rightwing populism around the world, “corporate greed,” climate change, and violence against women. Ahn lambasted the Ontario government for its recent decision to cut $1 million in funding to Ontario’s 42 rape crisis centres. “It’s 2020, this shouldn’t be happening,” she said.

Not even the threat of the novel coronavirus, Covid-19, stopped thousands from taking part in the march. As one placard noted, “There is no worst virus than patriarchy!”

Organized by Women Working with Immigrant Women and the International Women’s Day Organizing Committee, the rally and march had the theme, The World is on Fire — We are Rising.

Filipino caregivers take part in the International Women’s Day March in Toronto Sunday, March 8.  Photo: Marites Sison

Not even the threat of the novel coronavirus could stop this participant at the International Women’s Day March in Toronto, March 8.        Photo: Marites Sison

Members of the Elementary Teachers of Toronto call attention to the Ford government’s cuts to education at the International Women’s Day March in Toronto, March 8. Photo:Marites Sison