Reporters dropped the "sex slave" narrative while covering the Boston brothel sting, and Journalism Professor Elizabeth Nolan Brown says it finally cleared the air for the public to ask, What's the point? reason.com/2025/04/09/c...

How do Canada’s sex work and immigration laws affect massage parlour workers? Im/migrant women who are simply trying to earn a living face arrest, detention and deportation when police enter their workplace. Learn more: swanvancouver.ca/resources/

“Audiences see the patterns: who is interviewed and who isn’t, which words are chosen, whose humanity is recognized. If journalists want to rebuild trust, the solution isn’t to retreat into false ‘balance’ or further police their language. It is to show that journalism can be a force for justice.”

Community honours Lapu Lapu Day Festival tragedy victims through mural www.cbc.ca/player/play/...

Filipino BC is looking for volunteers for the re-launch of the Kapwa Centre for Community Resilience. As a volunteer, you’ll help prepare spaces for gatherings, share information about upcoming programs, and welcome folks with respect and compassion. APPLY NOW: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

After a fulsome and productive meeting on Monday, Filipino BC is confident and reassured that the City of Vancouver is committed to prioritizing the interests of victims and their families and will take thoughtful and deliberate action to address their concerns. filipinobc.com/lld-x-fbc-co...

"What we're seeing here is a gap. […] we're going to be asking the same questions whether it's a temporary memorial or this memorial event or benefit concert — have you spoken to the families yet?" www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

What happened here is not a natural disaster. It is a social disaster, one that exposes deeper harms and systemic gaps. When the crisis is emotional, communal, and psychological, it’s harder to name. You cannot see a fire burning inside someone. filipinobc.com/lld-x-fbc-co...

Filipino BC continues to advocate for the memorial to be treated with cultural sensitivity and deep empathy, especially as many feel that the grieving process is still ongoing. filipinobc.com/lld-x-fbc-co...

In Filipino Catholic tradition, there is a 40-day mourning period. On the 40th day, it is believed that souls ascend into the afterlife. So for many, our beloved community members are still with us. vancouversun.com/news/vancouv...

Today, we met with Latincouver and Consul Generals from Latin American. We recognize the profound loss to the community and we will develop a plan to work closely with them moving forward. Community Update | May 13, 2025 filipinobc.com/lld-x-fbc-co...

We honour the lives lost in the recent tragedy and hold their families close in our thoughts. May their memory live on in the hearts of those who knew and loved them. Community Update | May 8, 2025 - filipinobc.com/lld-x-fbc-co...

RJ Aquino, Chair of @filipino-bc.bsky.social steps into the temporary Resilience Centre for victims and anyone impacted by the April 26 tragedy. Nearly 100 hundred people were already there.

In Tagalog, we say, magpahinga, which means to rest. And the Resilience Centre is made for people to do just that. When it reopens today from 5 to 8 PM, anyone who has been affected by the tragedy can gather for a meal, connect, learn about resources and rest. filipinobc.com/lld-x-fbc-co...

Filipino BC is now on BlueSky, follow @filipino-bc.bsky.social for the latest updates and subscribe to the newsletter here: form.jotform.com/BCFilipino/f... #KAPWASTRONG

We encourage families—including parents, grandparents, caretakers, and children—individuals, vendors, volunteers, staff in nearby businesses, and anyone affected to come as they are. Whether you’re seeking comfort, connection, or simply a quiet place to be, the Centre is for you.

The Filipino BC Resilience Centre will livestream the Holy Rosary Memorial Mass at today's Resilience Centre drop-in for affected community members in attendance. Thank you to Chef TJ Conwi for supporting bringing extra meals to the Resilience Centre.

Filipino BC is opening the Resilience Centre at 5 p.m. at the Killarney Secondary School, offering wellness and coping support, and an assessment of community needs. Everyone who has been impacted by Saturday’s tragedy is welcome. #KAPWASTRONG

Filipino BC and United Way BC have launched a donation fund to support those impacted by the tragedy that took place at the Lapu Lapu Day Festival in Vancouver on April 26, 2025. 100% of the proceeds will go to impacted communities. #KAPWASTRONG filipinobc.com

Community Update - April 29, 2025.

I’m currently working as the Media Relations Coordinator for Filipino BC - Lapu Lapu Day. Please direct your requests to [email protected] I will not be monitoring this account.

The latest from @enbrown.bsky.social highlights what we’ve been pointing out in the Cambridge/Watertown brothel case: this case did not involve sex trafficking charges, but rather relies on the antiquated, racist Mann Act (formerly “White Slave Traffic Act”). reason.com/2025/04/09/c...

Trey Helten, an advocate for drug users whose willingness to speak searingly about his own battle with addiction provided hope and inspiration to many in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, has died at 42. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

"The loss of safe spaces for sex workers, even temporarily, carries profound and far-reaching consequences. These impacts were thoroughly documented in the findings of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, led by former B.C. attorney general Wally Oppal." theconversation.com/service-clos...

TW: Mentions of serial killer, gender-based violence " [...] the case is a searingly stark reminder of the contempt with which sex workers are often treated by the police, and the dehumanisation they face at the hands of the media, even when they’re victims of violent crimes." tinyurl.com/2w869jk7

The CAJ was disappointed to learn that Morgan Modjeski, a Winnipeg-based reporter with CityNews, has been ordered to hand over to law enforcement the complete and unedited interview he did in 2023 in the aftermath of a deadly mass shooting in the city. caj.ca/winnipeg-jou...

Who is behind unfounded claims that sex trafficking spikes during large sports events? Learn about this myth’s ties to Vancouver, Calgary and racist stereotypes about massage parlour workers from Southeast Asia. SIGN UP: swanvancouver.ca/events2024/

This is my second attempt today to vote at this polling station. I brought snacks.

Really incredible to have CTV, an entire broadcast news outlet, say they 'don't have the bandwidth' to deal with the type of harassment that Rachel Gilmore deals with as an individual journalist all the time.

On March 16, we remember eight people, including six Asian women, who were killed in the Atlanta spa shootings. They include a migrant supporting family in China and a single mother who tirelessly worked the overnight shift at a massage parlour. LEARN MORE: www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/03...

Joy Smith always wants you to look at posters but never wants to change policy. A UN Special Rapporteur described the TFW program as a “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery” and called for an end to closed work permits which give employers all the power and suppress worker rights.

Former President Duterte’s murderous “War on Drugs” had a devastating impact on Filipino sex workers. They were treated as suspects who used drugs and worked with dealers. “They already think we sell our bodies, so why not drugs?" -Tex, Philippine Sex Workers Collective tinyurl.com/msdx9878

How Duterte went from boasting about killing drug dealers to facing trial for crimes against humanity

I received a response from CTV management after I emailed the newsroom about errors in this segment (there’s no mention of the actual charges). I’m glad this station is committed to factual reporting and will discuss this with their editorial team.

Turns out that Gene Bowers is the new WPS chief after all. Safe to assume the public will receive no explanation of why there were months of delays and legalities. Here's our recent rundown of his bizarre obsession with sex workers. Total scumbag. winnipegpolicecauseharm.org/blog/the-ant...

Migrants are being blamed for everything from the housing crisis to hospital wait times to joblessness—and it couldn’t be further from the truth. In our new video, migrants and advocates debunk the myths that Canada’s elite are using to distract and divide the rest of us.

I spoke with CBC about #Anora, solidarity with sex workers & the im/migrant women @swan-vancouver.bsky.social supports. "This is an incredible recognition for a film, whereas the women that we support [...] the work that they do is not even recognized as a job." #Oscars www.cbc.ca/player/play/...

Backstage at the Oscars, ‘Anora’ director says sex work “has an incredible, unfair stigma applied to it.” #InternationalSexWorkersRightsDay apnews.com/video/anora-...

Sook-Yin Lee speaks about the media's conflation of sex work and trafficking: "They’re completely different things, and it disables us from having a conversation about labour rights between consenting adult people and it just continues to put them in harm’s way.” tinyurl.com/54sj3f4s

Winnipeg police arrested seven men for buying sex, then presented it as a human trafficking sweep in a news release to journalists. Purchasing sexual services is NOT the same as trafficking. Let's see how local media reported the story...

EXCLUSIVE: RCMP formally apologize for violating journalist’s rights, commit to changes in wake of explosive oversight report. RCMP commissioner acknowledges force acted unreasonably, disregarded jurisprudence in detaining journalist Jerome Turner in 2020. ricochet.media/labour/media...

Who is going to jump on this news release and who will finally call expert criminologists that have peer-reviewed studies analyzing trafficking data?

I am so happy to see reporting like this about women in sex work. This is what one of SWAN's media focus group participants hoped for, but I had doubts about ever seeing it in the daily news cycle.

“…sex workers are being counted as "rescued" victims, even if the only rescue involves handcuffing them, questioning them, and giving them the phone number of some local social services group.”https://reason.com/2025/02/05/human-trafficking-sting-yields-547-arrests-but-only-1-for-human-trafficking/

Trump’s return has sparked tighter border policies. But research shows policing borders pushes migrants into more dangerous crossing points, which leads migrants to rely more heavily on human smuggling operations. Experts write.

“Because the community that we support are within the intersections of sex work, race, gender and also potentially precarious status with immigration, or migration status, there are many different challenges they face when accessing health care in general.” thetyee.ca/News/2025/01...

天鹅祝您们蛇年吉祥 ，事事顺心，身体健康! SWAN wishes you good luck, success and good health in the Year of the Snake! SWANは皆様の幸運、成功、そして健康を祈っています！For Lunar New Year, consider giving a gift to the Asian im/migrant women we support by donating to SWAN's programs and services: swanvancouver.ca/donate/

I’m so disappointed that a whole team of journalists could not see any harm in a police ride-along where they deceived sex workers in the hopes they could get a “rescue” for the cameras. How did no one flag how problematic this is? www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...