by ICHRP Canada

Members of ICHRP Canada in BC and Canada Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights (CPSHR) attended a music and conversation event hosted by KAIROS BC-Yukon on March 18 featuring “The Allouettes,” three women who shared their stories and voices for climate justice through song and reflections.

Ruth Walmsley, Catherine Humbling, and Janette McIntosh were three women who were arrested in September 2021 for taking part in an interfaith prayer circle organized by the group Protect the Planet, Stop TMX! They spent nine (9) days in jail, beginning on February 14 and ending on February 22, 2022. Since 2018, they stand on the shoulders of Indigenous land protectors who were arrested for opposing the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX) and working to prevent catastrophic climate change.

Beth Dollaga, a founding member of Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights (CPSHR), gave a speech in which she expressed concern over the increasing number of extrajudicial killings, threats, and harassment directed at Filipino activists, civil society organizations, journalists, and critics who are working to protect human and environmental rights.

ICHRP-Canada Secretary General, Luthfi Mawarid, brought up the campaign for Danilo de Leon to stay in Canada (https://www.change.org/p/let-danilo-de-leon-stay-in-canada). De Leon is a worker-leader and the current Chairperson of Migrante Canada In 2009, Danilo came to Canada to work temporarily. He is one of thousands of temporary foreign workers who have and are still contributing to Canada’s severe labor shortages. Danilo is one of thousands of migrant workers who lost his immigration status after slipping through the cracks of Canada’s immigration system.

It was truly a night filled with music and reflections about social justice for all!