KM10: Celebrating a Decade of Filipino Youth Organizing in Pinoyville!

10 Years of Filipino Youth Fighting Against the Impacts of Migration to Canada Through Community Organizing

KM10: Celebrating a Decade of Filipino Youth Organizing in Pinoyville!
Saturday December 4th, 2010
6570, chemin Cote-des-Neiges
Time: Doors open at 7pm
Admission: $10 (Special rates for High School students)
Tickets now available!

For more information: 514-678-3901

November 6th, 2010

Press Release prepared by Kabataang Montreal

Montreal, Quebec – There is a youthful sound that is resonating through Pinoyville and is catching the attention of new and old KM members alike. On December 4th 2010 at 7pm in the Saint-Pascal-Baylon Church Hall (6570, chemin Cote-des-Neiges), Kabataang Montreal (KM) will be hosting “KM10: Celebrating a Decade of Filipino Youth Organizing in Pinoyville”, in the historic location of the youth organization’s first general assembly.

“In 2000, we addressed the issues of Filipino-Canadian youth in Montreal, including high school drop-out rates, family separation due to migration, systemic racism and lack of history and identity. We are still faced with these same issues today and the need to address these issues dictates the need for an organization like KM to continue to exist,” says Neil Castro, Secretary-General of Kabataang Montreal.

The plight of the Filipino youth continues to be unheard. Although there are many programs directed at our youth, providing activities to keep them busy, none have successfully given them the forum to speak out and having their words or actions count. The work of KM over the past 10 years has been to educate, organize, mobilize and to give Filipino Canadian youth a voice that would be heard so that they could play an integral part of it’s own community’s future. Many Filipino youth have come forward and shared their experience and turned it into the driving force to make change in the policies and programs that govern their realities. Namely, settlement and integration programs geared toward immigrant communities, multiculturalism and immigration policies.

“I started by sharing and understanding my own reality,” says Justine (not her real name) member of KM, “being separated from my mother for 8 years while she worked in Canada caused a rift in our relationship that is so difficult to repair.” Justine goes on to say, “since I’ve joined KM, it has really opened my eyes to see that I am not the only one going through this. I will continue to work with KM because this kind of experience with our youth has to eventually stop!”

Despite the tragedies and injustices experienced by our community, there is still a bright future for our youth here in Canada. “Our parents traveled thousands of miles to come to Canada to make a difference in their families’ lives, we’re here to make a strong statement about our just and genuine settlement and integration into Canadian society – this is our home and we are here to stay,” says Jillian Sudayan, board member of Kabataang Montreal.

KM10 will be a culmination of the struggles and successes of the Filipino youth in Montreal. We celebrate because we know we are justified in our fight to change the way our community has been treated over the past 50 years in Canada. We celebrate because the spirit of the youth is alive and well giving us hope for the future.

The night will be filled with live local entertainment straight from the community – music, spoken word poetry, dance and displays of art are to be expected during the event. Don’t miss this night filled with the spirit of relentless resistance and the voices of a thriving community!