By doing so, we advance our resistance to the system of imperialism that prioritizes war and plunder over childcare; that tears apart the families of migrant workers who are exploited as cheap and disposable labour; that exploits the labour of working class women who continue to feed, clothe, care for and educate our children and communities while blaming individual women who are unable to buffer their children from the harsh realities of this unjust system.
Canada’s Childcare Crisis, Migrant Workers, and Family Separation
With
fewer than 10% of Canadian children in licensed childcare, there is no
question that lack of access to affordable childcare constitutes a
crisis in this country. And beyond this, working class mothers in
Canada are finding it increasingly difficult to survive while
neo-liberal policies and inequality in the workplace continue to stream
women into low-wage, flexible, part-time or casual jobs. Increasing
costs of housing, public transportation, education and other basic
necessities hit working-class and other marginalized women and their
families hard.
Yet instead of responding to this
crisis, Canada has long relied on the exploitative Live-in Caregiver
Program as this country’s de facto childcare program, separating
primarily Third World women from their own families, bringing them to
work in the homes of wealthy Canadian families while working-class
Canadian women are denied access to affordable, accessible childcare.
The
pain of family separation experienced by migrant and immigrant mothers
will only increase as Canada seeks to “modernize” its immigration
system, making it easier for employers to order up migrant workers when
the demand is great and dispose of them at will. Yet despite the
importance of their labour, the precarious situation of migrant workers
who are denied citizenship rights and live under constant threat of
deportation leaves little to celebrate this Mother’s Day, especially
for those mothers who are forced to leave their children in order to
provide for their basic needs or mothers whose Canadian-born or raised
children continue to experience the impacts of their mothers’ systemic
marginalization and exploitation.
Reclaim Mother’s Day: Justice for All Mothers!
The
origins of Mothers’ Day stand in stark opposition to the sentimental
and commercial sentiments now commonly associated with the day.
Following the American Civil War, women such as Anna Jarvis and Julia
Ward Howe worked to establish Mother’s Day in recognition of women’s
struggles to raise their children under horrible health conditions and
to advance the powerful anti-war and anti-conscription voices of
working-class women unwilling to see their children served up as fodder
for war profiteers. This tradition continued after 1914, the year
Mothers’ Day was nationally recognized in the US, as women mobilized
against conscription and an imperialist war that left so many of their
family members dead or maimed.
As mothers, childcare workers,
domestic workers, children, and supporters, we aim to continue this
tradition and connect the individual struggles of our families with the
need for fundamental economic, political and social change. We stand in
solidarity with working class mothers around the world and with all
women who struggle for justice in a rich tradition of resistance that
will be the inheritance of future generations.
Scrap the racist and anti-woman Live-in Caregiver Program!
Genuine Universal Childcare now!
Justice for migrant and immigrant mothers!
Mothers of the world say no to imperialist war and plunder!
Reclaim Mothers’ Day!
Grassroots Women – Mothers’ Day 2008
March and Rally: “Working-class Mothers Resist Imperialism! Justice for all Mothers!”
Join
us for this child-friendly event. Everyone welcome in showing support
for: moms without status, moms facing deportation, aboriginal moms,
immigrant moms, migrant moms, moms without jobs, moms without housing,
moms on welfare, moms without childcare, moms whose kids have been
taken away, moms with bad jobs, moms at school, moms facing violence,
moms facing war and poverty, moms in prison and all working-class
mothers…
Sunday, May 11, 2008 Rally at: McSpadden Park, (5th Ave. and Victoria Dr.) at 12:30 p.m.
Hear speakers share how mothers are resisting all over the world! Political balloons for the kids!
March to Trout Lake (East 13th Ave. and Victoria Dr.) for 2 p.m.
Testimonials
from mothers and open mic for those who wish to share their experiences
or make a dedication to your mother and all mothers!
This
event is endorsed by: Café Rebelde Collective, Hospital Employees
Union, Philippine Women Centre of BC, SIKLAB-BC (Advance and Uphold the
Rights of Overseas Filipino Workers), Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance,
Filipino Nurses Support Group, Seattle Radical Women, No One Is
Illegal-Vancouver, Alliance for People’s Health, Investing in Health
Forum, B.C., Public Service Alliance of Canada – Vancouver Area
Council, PSAC-Vancouver Regional Women’s Committee, BC Government and
Services Employees’ Union – Human Rights Committee, and PIVOT legal
society.
Grassroots Women
1115B E. Hastings (entrance on Glen)
Vancouver, BC V6A 1S3
web: www3.telus.net/grassrootswomen
email: grassrootswomen@telus.net
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