Jocelyn Dulnuan's spirit will not rest

Jocelyn Dulnuan and the Filipino Community Cannot Rest Until There Is Justice

Jocelyn Dulnuan Support Committee
October 13, 2007

Jocelyn Dulnuan, 27 years old, of Namulditan, Hingyon, Ifugao, the Philippines was found dead on Oct. 1, 2007 in the house located at 2450 Doulton Place, Mississauga where she worked as a live-in caregiver. Jocelyn had arrived in Canada last November through the Live-in Caregiver Program of the Canadian Government. Peel regional police are investigating her death and treating it as a murder case.
Twelve days have already passed since the discovery of her body. Press reports as of today are conflicting over whether the police have already finished their investigation. The police for its part have been very tight-lipped about the case. We hope this has only been so as not to jeopardise the investigation.
Jocelyn Dulnuan’s murder raises important issues of public safety, equality and justice for the Filipino community. Given the recent problems regarding the treatment of Filipinos by certain police departments in certain jurisdictions in Canada, the fear exists in the minds of many in the Filipino community that Dulnuan’s murder may not get the serious and prompt treatment it requires. We need to know that the police is taking this case seriously and not doing a slipshod job because Jocelyn is a Filipino, and a migrant worker.
Filipino migrant workers are a significant part of our community of 100 thousand plus in the greater Toronto area and contribute greatly directly to the Canadian economy through their work, the products they buy, and the taxes they pay without availing of Canadian public services. Indirectly as well, the work of Filipino migrant workers enables Canadians themselves to contribute greater to the economy. Filipinos, and especially Filipino migrant workers deserve equal rights, safety and justice.
The proper institution to ensure that justice is pursued and the muderer(s) of Jocelyn punished is the Philippine consulate. It is the role of the Philippine consulate to protect the rights of Filipinos in Toronto and surrounding regions. At the very minimum the Philippine consulate has the duty both to pull every diplomatic lever it can to ensure that justice is thoroughly pursued by the local Canadian authorities while keeping the Filipino community properly informed of its efforts. We note that Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Claro Cristobal said that Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo has instructed Alejandro Mosquera “to provide full cooperation for bringing anyone responsible for the crime to justice….” Given the sorry history with other cases of Filipino migrants that have come to grief and the initial response of the local consulate and labour attaché to our approach for help, we can only hope that these instructions are not mere public relations exercises. If any harm comes to a Filipino abroad, will the consulate just leave that person behind and hush matters?
Jocelyn Dulnuan would be alive now if the Philippine government had been able to provide the employment back home sorely sought after by so many Filipinos rather than relying on sending people abroad for remittances. We hope that Jocelyn is not a sacrifice to this policy of exporting Filipino workers.
The Jocelyn Dulnuan Support Committee is composed the following Migrante-Ontario organizations: Damayan Migrant Resource and Education Centre, Philippine Advocacy Through Arts in Canada (PATAC), SIKLAB-Ontario, Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada-Toronto (UKPC-TO), and United Filipinos for Nationalism and Democracy (UFiND); the following organizations: Asosacion Negrense, AWARE/Gabay, Community Alliance for Social Justice (CASJ), Ifugao Association, Philippine Independence Day Council (PIDC), Philippine Network for Justice and Peace, and the Santaginian Association of Ontario; Fr. Ariel Dumaran of San Lorenzo Ruiz Parish and members of Jocelyn Dulnuan’s extended family and friends.

FOR REFERENCE: Maria Sol Pajadura. Cell: 647-448-7030. Email: siklab_ontario@yahoo.ca.

Migrant Workers sacrifice their lives

Few months ago, I looked after a funeral of a Filipina caregiver who just arrived in Toronto this year 2007. She was diagnosed of a disease which killed her in few weeks while employed in one of the homes in Ontario. I got the news from a priest in Hongkong, who received a call from one of her friends here in Toronto. I got a phone call that she died at the hospital. She has no coverage of insurance whatsoever. Friends gathered around. The grassroot organizations raised some amount and comforted her friends. They could not afford the cost of the visitation at the Funeral home. For few minutes, I conducted the funeral rites and tried to console the people there. There was no indication at that time the Philippine Consulate extended their support and help. We know that most of the Caregivers do pay some dues to Philippine government for some kind of insurance. However, many of them stay outside the Philippines and are not perhaps paying their dues because they do not frequent Philippines. It was a sad event, and I felt bad for the Agency who made her migration possible. We should be doing to protect these migrant workers.
Recently, we heard of Jocelyn Dulnuan, who was killed in rich owned mansion in Mississauga, Ontario. It has been more than a week, now and we never heard any development how she died and what happen to the investigation by the Police in Peel Region.

We feel that Justice is not speedily happening for this migrant worker who died outside of her country. There are hundreds of them today anywhere in the world who suffer the same fate because the countries who sent them out do not care.
I will be posting the development of what is happening in the community because of this situation.
Our government is somehow responsible for the plight of many migrant workers like us. Because of economic situation back home, Millions of Filipinos have to flee economic hardships backhome by working outside the country as caregivers, and other oversea workers leaving their loved ones most of the time for years. We have about more than 10 million people in diaspora, perhaps larger than Jewish people outside of Israel, wandering around in Europe, North America, Middle East looking for the Promise land, flowing with milk and with honey. I have been waiting for more news regarding Jocelyn Dulnuan who died violently in an affluent home in Mississauga. Her mother works in Hongkong, and she has only distant relatives here in Ontario. She is also from the Ifugao region of the indigenous areas in Northern Philippines. She came from a tribal roots in Ifugao. We would like to follow up the Newspapers, like Toronto Sun and others about what is happening to the investigation. We encourage organizations to send inquiries about her situation. We have created a Committee for her and there will be a Vigil this coming Sunday October 14 at 12:30 a Vigil Service for Jocelyn Dulnuan. We invite the Community to gather at San Lorenzo Ruiz c/o St. Simon's located at 525 Bloor Street East.
Please exit at Sherbourne and Bloor St. and walk thru Glen Road. The Parish is at Bloor St toward Danforth Ave. and it is also located near Howard Avenue and Ontario Street. Please call me at 416 456-7417 Fr. Ariel Dumaran for directions. We hope to rally organizations to pressure our Justice system to provide some answers about Jocelyn Dulnuan. We appreciate the response of the Philippine Consulate. We hope that we will more of these actions from them whenever any migrant experience oppressions, and human rights violations.