Mila Astorga-Garcia
Mila Astorga-Garcia is Research Coordinator of the Community Alliance for Social Justice (CASJ); Research Analyst, City of Toronto; and Managing Editor of The Philippine Reporter. Her community-based research has focused on social justice and human rights issues in the Filipino community, particularly on youth-policing issues; the live-in-caregiver program; and access to trades and professions. Her broader policy research encompasses current social development issues and strategic policy approaches applicable to large urban municipalities.

Jennilee Austria
Jennilee Austria is a graduate of Trent University and holds a Masters degree in Immigration and Settlement Studies from Ryerson University. She is currently a School Settlement Worker with the Settlement and Education Partnerships in Toronto (SEPT) programme.

Darlyne Bautista
Darlyne is presently serves as Trustee for the Winnipeg School Division. She holds a Masters Degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Southeast Asian Studies. Her research interests include oral history, immigration and youth, identity formation, labour migration, transnational families, and multicultural education. She is a founding member of Aksyon Ng Ating Kabataan, Inc.

Conely de Leon
Conely de Leon is a doctoral candidate in the School of Gender, Feminist and Women’s Studies at York University. She received her Master’s of Arts in Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Toronto, and her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Women’s Studies, and English Language and Literature at Queen’s University. Her research interests focus on transnational feminist praxis, gender and migration, and the development of Critical Filipina/o Studies in Canada.

Josephine Eric
Josephine is a leader with the Migrant Workers Family Resource Centre in Hamilton. She has completed degrees at McMaster University and the University of Toronto and has conducted graduate research on Filipina women in Canada and Filipinos’ religious experiences. Josephine came to Canada under the foreign domestic program and is the mother of five energetic children.

Allison Magpayo
Allison  is a master’s student in the Department of Geography at York University. In the past she has had the pleasure of working with the York Centre for Refugee Studies and the Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts and Culture, keeping daily engagement with migration and human rights issues relevant to the Filipino community.

Mithi Esguerra
Mithi Esguerra is currently studying for a degree in Social Work at Ryerson University.  Mithi is also a leader of Migrante Youth and a Board Member of the Community Alliance for Social Justice.

Ricky Esguerra
Ricky Esguerra is Vice-President for Education, Community Alliance for Social Justice (CASJ). He sits on the Board of the Kababayan Community Centre. He has done research and popular education with non-government organizations and the Canadian churches focused on international debt, Canadian aid to the Philippines and migrant workers. Before coming to Canada, he taught Political Science at the University of the Philippines where he was Senior Research Assistant at the Third World Studies Centre.

Alex Felipe
Alex Felipe graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Toronto with the goal of becoming a human rights lawyer but along the way, he became a photographer. His photography has been featured in a variety of local, national and international publications and exhibitions. His photo essay about Canadian-owned mining in the Philippines won honourable mention at the 2009 National Magazine Award for Photojournalism. He is currently a masters student in the Department of Geogrpahy at York University.

Hermie Garcia
Hermie Garcia is the founder and editor of The Philippine Reporter, a leading newspaper for the Filipino community in Canada, established in 1989. Before immigrating to Canada in 1984, Hermie was an editorial writer for The Times Journal, a national daily newspaper in the Philippines, a senior writer for the Observer magazine, and a desk editor at Times Mirror. Under Hermie’s leadership, The Philippine Reporter has received five awards from the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada, most recently in 2009. Hermie is currently President of the Community Alliance for Social Justice.

Veronica Javier
Veronica has an MSW in Social Work and holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Sociology and minor in Religious Studies. Veronica’s research interests include discourses surrounding the Philippine Diaspora, Filipina subjectivity, immigrant spirituality/religiosity, religion and immigration.

Julia Mais
Julia is Project Coordinator for the Settlement.Org website with the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI). She holds a MA in Geography from York University and a BA in Hispanic Studies and History at the University of Victoria. Her work and volunteer experience includes supporting new immigrants and visa holders, E.S.L. instruction and International Development research.

Kezia Malabanan
Keziagraduated from the University of Manitoba with a BA degree in Anthropology. She’s an active member of Aksyon Ng Ating Kabataan Inc. Her research interests include hyphenated and evolving identities, subcultures, immigrant youth experience. She left the Philippines to come to Canada in 2006 as an angst-ridden teenager. Almost five years later and with a much more mellow perspective, she’s quite interested to take part in this project.

Maureen Mendoza
Maureen received her BA in Sociology and English Literature from University of British Columbia and MA in Sociology from the University of Toronto. Believing that the future of Filipino-Canadian scholarship continues to be shaped by those that bridge the academy and the community, her research work investigated the educational attainment and post-secondary experiences of Filipino-Canadian youth. She is currently researching access to medical services for minority populations, and will soon resume her studies in Urban Planning and Community Development.