Job loss, mental health, racism, grim financial prospects
Job loss, mental health, racism, grim financial prospects
Survey on COVID-19 impact to Filipino youth in Canada:
By Ysh Cabana
The Philippine Reporter
The global pandemic has brought a whole host of new challenges to younger members of the community. The lockdowns, and the economic wrath that followed has left a definite moment on a generation at risk.
“We know that many Filipinos are on the frontlines and in essential services,” said Stef Martin of youth group Anakbayan-Toronto. “We also know that worldwide, Filipinos overseas and in the Philippines, especially those OFWs, migrants, undocumented, and the poor and the working class are the most affected by the pandemic and continue to be,” she added.
“We also considered how LGBTQ+ youth have unique experiences, needs and challenges with the larger Filipino community.”
To try to understand its ripple effect over the past few months, Kapit-Bisig, a nationwide network of mutual aid organizations, held an online community report on the “COVID-19 Impacts on Filipino Youth” on August 30.
It polled youth ages 18 to 29 across Canada through their education, employment, health and experience on racism. Split in half between Canada-born and born elsewhere in the world, about 21 percent of the respondents were first generation, 34 percent were so-called 1.5 generation, and more than 42 percent were second generation. The survey was conducted primarily in English.
For University of British Columbia student Jestinne Punzalan, family dynamics was impacted. “Staying home is a distraction. Of course when you’re at home you also have other family members with you that are at home as well that are working from home. Online classes are harder to focus and lots of students have lack of motivation and ‘Zoom fatigue.’”
The group cited three important things for students: school support, finances and basic necessities including housing, food, healthy environment and social circles.
“If one of these things, for example, mental health is affected, then their education will also be affected with it,” said Punzalan, who is also a member of Sulong UBC.
The group said that respondents from the hospitality and foodservice industry are the hardest hit workers with about 20 percent laid off and are not working during the poll period. This was followed by the healthcare sector and retail industries with 14 percent and 13 percent respectively. Majority of the respondents indicated that there was a change in income or occupation that impacted their families.
Some of the common themes the survey revealed was that Filipino youth are concerned about future job prospects, reduced income, lack of savings for recurring expenses, lack of coverage for sick days or hazard pay, stress to safety and sanitary precautions, and mental health issues the participants and their family members have taken.
“There’s actually a great majority of individuals that were unable to access mental health in comparison to physical health. It’s just that alot of these services are pushed on the back end or the backburner. Services are not as intensive as they used to be because they are able to modify it and switch to more of a virtual interaction,” said Rochelle Deloria of Calgary, Alberta.
Deloria also shared some of the responses from the Filipino youth included their personal accounts of their interaction with anti-Asian racism amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the accounts were microaggressions such as exclusion and distancing, staring and eyeballing among others.
Along with other FIlipino youth groups Filipino Canadian Students Association (Filcasa), Sulong UBC, Aksyon ng ating Kabataan (ANAK), University of Calgary Filipino Students’ Association (UCFSA), and Makulay atbp., Anakbayan calls for urgent, large-scale and targeted policy responses to tailor to the needs of the Filipino-Canadian community. This includes re-integrating back into the labour market those who have lost jobs, ensuring youth access to unemployment insurance benefits, and instituting effective measures to boost mental health.
Kapit-Bisig, whose name means “linking arms” in Tagalog, coordinated the distribution of vital resources such as food, personal protective equipment, and essentials such as diapers, over-the-counter medication, and other necessities since March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Many recipients were migrant workers, undocumented, out-of-work or essential workers in low-wage jobs. Some were left out of government assistance measures.
Comments (0)