PALAKASIN! Ang Tunay Na Ugnayan/Strengthen Our Youth, Unite for Freedom - Filipino Canadian Youth Conference

Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino Sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance-Ontario, in partnership with The Philippine Women Centre of Ontario (PWC-ON) and SIKLAB-Ontario, conducted a two-day province-wide consultation and conference entitled: PALAKASIN! Ang Tunay na Ugnayan/Strengthen our Youth, Unite for Freedom on November 30 - December 1, 2007, at the University of Toronto, St. George campus.

This province-wide youth conference and consultation was part of our ongoing project to establish full integration, settlement and participation of Filipinos in a multicultural, multi-ethnic Canada. Because we recognize that the issues of Filipino youth in Canada continue to be of major concern to the community, this project includes a component on Filipino Canadian youth. It is our hope that PALAKASIN! will encourage further understanding of the issues affecting Filipino Canadian youth, and the particularities of their situation in Ontario thereby asserting their importance in the community's future.
Topics will touched on major areas of concern to Filipino youth. These are:

• Migration and globalization: the causes and impacts of forced migration on the Filipino community in Canada
• Our present realities: the individual and collective experience of the Filipino community with a particular emphasis on family separation and reunification, young women's issues and systemic racism
• Strengthening collective action towards an empowered Filipino community in Canada