Migrante-Alberta’s Solidarity Message to the AFL Conference on Equity

The Filipino migrant organization Migrante-Alberta expresses its support for Alberta Federation of Labour’s 2011 Equity Conference with the theme, “Diversity and Inclusion: Equality vs. Equity.”

We join the AFL, and the growing number of people of colors, in their struggle to make Alberta a fair and just place for all cultures and races of society.

According to AFL, the number of visible minorities in Alberta had increased by close to 40 percent from 2001 to 2006 alone.

It is not surprising that Filipino workers and immigrants are part of this growing visible minorities. Because of the deteriorating economic conditions in the Philippines, many of our fellow Filipinos are forced to seek employment across the globe. This puts them at risk for abuses, discriminations and false promise of better future.

In Canada, the Philippines ranked 5th among countries that export workers in 2009, sending as many as over 29,000 workers to this country. And for many of us, although having already earned university-level education, work as low-skilled labourers in fastfood restaurants, meat processing facilities or in farms as seasonal workers. Immigrants from the Philippines to Alberta placed second, next to China, in a 2006 survey by Census Canada.

We hope that through a thorough examination of the biases and stereotypes that form the bases for prejudice and discrimination in our society, the conference succeeds to develop strategies to improve workplace conditions.

Be assured that Migrante-Alberta will stand beside you in your endeavour to achieve a fair and just society for all workers.

26 Feb 2011

*Migrante-Alberta is a chapter of Migrante-Canada, an alliance of progressive Filipino migrant/immigrant organizations from B.C. to New Bruinswick.