Women in Hamilton's Filipino community band together to make sure their stories are told

As a second-generation Filipina growing up in Ontario surrounded by mostly white classmates, Jessica Vinluan said she was always missing a sense of community.

That's why, when the new teachers' college graduate met Anabelle Ragsag, a former university instructor from the Philippines, in Hamilton in 2020, Vinluan decided she would try to make sure no one else from her community felt that way. 

Vinluan, Ragsag and a multi-generational group of women have come together to form Filipinas of HamOnt, and are looking to make sure their experiences — especially during the pandemic — are documented and heard. 

Vinluan said it all started with Ragsag's desire to get to know the community better and check in on others by sending out a survey.

"I was like, let's take it a step further, I really want to hear stories where we can... see other Filipinas in the community," Vinluan said. 

As connections were made, the volunteer-run project Filipinas of HamOnt was born, aiming to be "involved in reshaping public local and global discourses and narratives, to be leaders in institutional decision-making across Hamilton and beyond."

The group has since hosted various events and programs for members of the community. 

'Everybody has a story'

The group is now reaching out to the wider Filipinx community — an inclusive term to mean those within the community of any gender identity — to check in after a tumultuous two years of pandemic. 

The efforts are being called the Mahalaga Ka/You Matter campaign, a name which reflects its bilingual programming (in Tagalog and English). The goal is to recognize, document and share the community's concerns and experiences in the time of COVID-19.

"It's really about creating connections with the community and telling these folks that your story matters, your experiences matter," said Vinluan.

The campaign, sponsored by the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion (HCCI) and the Mariam Assefa Fund, is being delivered in three parts, the first of which is already underway, focusing on spreading and collecting public health information.

Campaign coordinator Sheilla Diamse, who moved to Hamilton last year from the Philippines, said this part is about addressing the concerns of the community through virtual outreach and bridging the gap in vaccine rates among the Filipinx community.

"Based on the data provided by HCCI, a large portion of those who are not vaccinated are racialized groups... Through this effort, we'll be able to provide invaluable data or at least have a grasp of what is the sentiment of the Filipino community with regards to vaccination and the pandemic in general," she said.

The next part of the campaign, a writing workshop series for women, starts later this month on March 21. The workshops are out to ensure that Filipina stories will be included in the Hamilton Public Library's COVID-19 archive project, which is documenting pandemic experiences. 

"It will be so lovely to share, and have people brave enough to share the things that they have composed," Karen Ancheta told CBC Hamilton. 

Ancheta is one of the workshop facilitators and is an artist and actor in the city. 

"The next step would be to have it actually archived in the Hamilton archive, if they're willing to submit, and then it's a piece of history."

The group is currently calling for community participants to take part. 

"If we get to share stories, and they are archived with the [Hamilton Public Library], there's a slice of this time period with Filipina content of what this time was like," Ancheta said.

"Everyone has a story, and some people that I've run into in storytelling groups have said, 'who would want to know my story?' But you'd be surprised how powerful it is having people step into your shoes."

The third and final part of the campaign is a project geared at children in the community. 

"Kids between the ages of five to 11 will [be able to] create a drawing or an illustration of their experience with COVID, so they could be expressing their feelings or emotions in an art form and meet other kids that are possibly feeling that way," said Vinluan.

A 'home away from home'

Vinluan said she hopes this campaign will result in the growth of their Filipinas of HamOnt group so other people from the community can find a sense of belonging in Hamilton. 

"This idea of continuing to build a sense of community where, whether you want to participate in programming or workshops, or if you just want to drop in and say, 'hey, there's a movie that's playing, do you want to go see it with me?' In that sense, it doesn't have to be that formal gathering," she said.

Daimse said for her, it means she can find a home away from home. 

"For a newcomer like me, I won't be missing home that much, because I have like minded individuals, fellow Filipinas, who I can run to, and work on amazing projects like this, and do contribute to the community."