FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the project all about?
The Filipinas of HamOnt is a project by Filipinas for Filipinas that seeks to map the spaces and document the stories of Filipinas living, working, or studying in Hamilton, ON. The project reaches out to Filipinas of different stripes and shapes: born and raised in HamOnt, a citizen, a long-timer, a newcomer, a temporary resident, a mixed or a tricultural Pinay, or in-between.
We are Filipinas wanting to hear from fellow Filipinas. By listening to your stories, we are also finding our own. By connecting with you, we are also connecting with our history. By sharing, we can celebrate our community together.
What does the project plan to do?
We intend to pursue this project through a three-pronged approach: by conducting a survey that will allow us to understand the profile of the Filipina presence in the city, by inquiring what kind of livelihood and leisure opportunities that they engage in, how, and why - in pursuit of the two sides of the proverbial coin: “a better life”; through conversational interviews of at least ten individuals within the project timeline, and more after the project timeline (given additional time and resource) that will explore how Hamilton-based Filipinas of different migration generations shape their choices of occupations and forms of leisure; and by creating a Facebook page where the interviews, summary of the survey results, and references and resources are available.
How are you conducting the survey and interviews given the COVID-19 pandemic?
According to safety and the most up to date provincial health directives, we will conduct the surveys and interviews online.
Why are you doing this project?
First, we come from a space of personal curiosity to know where fellow Filipinas are in HamOnt, what they are doing, and how they navigate being Canadians (or on the way to being one) and Filipinas. Grounded by our collective desire in the team to (re)connect to our shared Philippine heritage and the Filipina community around us, we decided to work together. Second, the project joins broader initiatives and movements that support women empowerment. For us in the project, this translates to encouraging Filipinas to tell their stories, taking space, reflecting on thoughts and practices within broader histories and contexts, renewing links to our Philippine heritage, and engaging in the rethinking of issues that are of significant and ongoing importance to Canada.
Who can participate and how do I get involved?
We encourage women who self-identify to having a background from the Philippines, who either live, work, or study in Hamilton to participate.
You can share your take and viewpoints in the Filipinas of HamOnt survey, have conversations with us, and spread the word about our project to other Filipinas of HamOnt.
The idea for Filipinas of HamOnt was born in the Reaching for Power Initiative, which Anabelle Ragsag and Jessica Vinluan attended and first met. The Initiative is aimed initially at providing an opportunity for women and non-binary individuals who identify as Black, Indigenous, Persons of Colour (BIPOC) to participate in a free 5-part workshop series with a focus on learning how to claim power and place in politics to effect change. With the pandemic, representatives of the Initiative got in touch with participants like us, to inform us that the Initiative is providing funding for implementation of projects from June 15 to September 15, 2020. Grounded by our collective desire to (re)connect to our shared Philippine heritage and the Filipina community around us, we decided to work together.
The project team involves Anabelle Ragsag and Jessica Vinluan, both of Filipina heritage and calls Hamilton, ON their hometown.Anabelle is a first-generation immigrant in Canada, who lived in Halifax and Ottawa but has now found a home in Hamilton since 2012. She is a University of the Philippines graduate in Politics and Industrial Relations and a Carleton University alumna in Public Policy and Program Evaluation.
To know more about Anabelle, you may want to check out her work about refugee and migrant experiences in the book Ethnic Boundary-Making at the Margins of Conflict in the Philippines, and support for the demands of World War II sexual slavery, "comfort women" here and here. She also co-wrote about policy change in the Canadian immigration process and related her own story as an immigrant in HamOnt, which appeared at The Hamilton Spectator.
Jessica is a second-generation Filipina-Canadian, born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario. She is a recent graduate of Brock University with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and a Bachelor of Education. During teachers' college, Jessica founded Redefine Twenty, an organization focused on youth and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) womxn, committed to anti-racist, anti-bias practices and education. She is a Young Woman of Distinction nominee to the Hamilton YWCA’s Women of Distinction Awards 2020.
The Filipinas of HamOnt project received funding from the Reaching for Power Initiative, a project of the City of Hamilton and Hamilton YWCA. The Women and Gender Equality (WAGE) Canada, in partnership with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), funded the Reaching for Power Initiative.
The Filipinas of HamOnt is a project and not an organization. But we encourage Filipinas in the city to claim space and nurture connections, within or outside established Filipino spaces in HamOnt: churches, cultural gatherings, ethnic and alumni groups, all-Filipino sports tournaments, among others.
How can I reach the project team?
You may email us at filipinasofhamont@gmail.com.
How do we inquire more about the project?
If you wish to inquire more, reach us at FilipinasOfHamont@gmail.com. If you want to ask about related projects funded by the Reaching for Power Initiative, you may email tammy.hwang@hamilton.ca at the City of Hamilton's Global Hamilton office or jmillar@ywcahamilton.org of the Reaching for Power Initiative, YWCA Hamilton.