FILM SHOWING: Say I Do

In celebration of International Women's Day,
the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario
will hold a screening of the documentary film

Say I Do
on Sunday, March 12, 2006,
1:00-4:00 p.m.
at the Bahen Centre (room BA1230),
University of Toronto
40 St. George Street, south of Russell Street

followed by a report on the results
of the community-based research
Canada:The New Frontier for Filipino Mail-Order Brides.




The compelling documentary Say I Do chronicles the stories of three mail-order brides from the Philippines now living in Canada. In order to escape lives of poverty and support their families, these women married men they didn't know. Upon arriving in Canada, they found themselves isolated in the remote regions of the country. With no one to turn to, these women were at the mercy of their husbands - men who searched for women with traditional family values.

Say I Do is a powerful indictment of a growing mail-order bride industry that results from the economic industry that results from the economic consequences of globalization and the proliferation of websites that "traffic women." As the political and economic crises in the Philippines intensify, so does the trafficking of Filipino women to industrialized countries like Canada. The feminization and commodification of the migration of Filipino women to Canada as domestic workers, mail-order brides and entertainers/prostitutes are rapidly increasing as more and more Filipino women are forced to leave the Philippines in hopes of living better and decent lives. This global trafficking of Filipino women includes a significant number of women who leave the country as mail-order brides - marrying men from various industrialized countries. 600,000 Filipino women are trafficked globally - 1 out of 4 are children.

Under intensifying globalization, women have now become commodities to be bought and sold for profit on the international market. According to the United Nations, the trafficking of women is the third most profitable industry after the trafficking of arms and drugs. As such, in the midst of intensifying globalization, mail-order brides have become a major component of the international trafficking of women, with Canada becoming a destination for Filipino mail-order brides. For many Filipino women in Canada, mail-order brides are slowly emerging as a new identity or a social construct that stigmatizes the women and makes them virtual modern-day slaves. Thus,
it is impossible to examine the Canadian dimension of trafficking of women without acknowledging the growing presence of Filipino mail-order brides. It is critical that their situation, needs and struggles be brought our into public consciousness.

Filipino women in Canada are in strong resistance and the movement to end the trafficking of Filipino women and children is gaining further momentum through the Purple Rose Campaign (PRC)- an international campaign to end the sex trafficking of Filipino women and children. The PRC aims to increase public awareness around the issue of trafficking, to support the research and documentation of trafficked women and to raise funds for GABRIELA Philippines - a national alliance of women's organization).

For more information, contact Joy or Cynthia @ 416-878-8772 or email pwcontario@yahoo.ca