By Ricardo Jorge S. Caluen
Word of the passing of Carmencita “Ging” Hernandez last December 6th left the tight circle of activists within the Filipino community—in Ontario, for that matter– in a state of shock.
Everyone knew how dynamic a person Ging was. As she lay comatose in her deathbed at Toronto Western General Hospital, life support systems seemed to shackle Ging to her bed, she who was once a dynamo that propelled a generation of new immigrants to Canada into community action to demand equal opportunities in this our adopted country.
It was with much trepidation that I entered the intensive care unit of the hospital to bid a colleague and friend goodbye. I was not the least shocked to learn of the massive stroke that paralyzed Ging. Afer all, just a week earlier, she had replied to a query in an email which she closed with “Best regards”. I found this rather odd for I don’t recall Ging ever closing her notes to me that way. This was a first. And now certainly the last. I even confided to a mutual friend: “Milagro…nag best regards sa akin si Ging…”. Talk of the Filipino’s belief in pamahiin… a foreboding. I didn’t really consider myself to be among Ging’s intimates. I guess one earned membership in that elite group by having locked arms with Ging in her many advocacies or countless projects for a better Canada for everyone—not just Filipinos– especially immigrants and the vulnerable sectors of society.
They pulled the life support systems just a few hours after my visit and almost instantaneously a life was snuffed rather cold-bloodedly. This was no way for a fighter to go.
I had worked closely with Ging particularly on two occasions, observing her leadership style that was nurturing and encouraging, one that also brings out the leader in you. The first time was when the Kababayan Community Centre played a lead role in rallying the Filipino community to support a picket and boycott of the Scarborough Town Centre which we accused of racist behaviour for banning youths of Asian descent. This was in 1993 when I myself was a newcomer to Toronto and had recently volunteered at the KCC where Ging sat on the board as a founding member. The picket and boycott campaign was massive and successful enough, leading us to believe that today’s more culturally-sensitive stance of the town centre is an off-shoot of that campaign.
This was not the first time that Ging campaigned against racism (and sexism). In 1981, as a founding member of the Coalition of Visible Minority Women, she was part of the core that designed and implemented programs to enable immigrant women to practice their profession in Canada. The well- known and publicized program focused on foreign trained nurses. As a board member of INTERCEDE, an organization that worked for the welfare of domestics, Ging was one of those who took to the streets advocating for the rights of caregivers to remain in Canada at the end of their contracts, where she would have held a placard that invariably said “Good enough to care for your baby, good enough to stay in Canada”.
Indeed, Ging was no stranger to the parliament of the streets having been at forefront in the organization of CAMDI–or the Campaign Against the Marcos Dictatorship– in Toronto which held many protest rallies in front of the Philippine Consulate. Yet for all the impassioned politics and rhetoric of the period, Ging didn’t lose her humanity. Rodel Ramos, a veteran journalist, recalls how he used to trade barbs with Ging Hernandez during talk shows that tackled Philippine politics, he being on the opposite side of the fence and defending the (Philippine) government. “Ging would call me Tuta ni Marcos during our heated discussions, yet, at Christmas time she never forgot to send gifts for my children,” says Ramos. It is as if to say that at the end of the day, and no matter your political color, we are all made of the same flesh and blood.
Flor Dandal, long-time Executive Director of the KCC, says of Carmencita Hernandez:
Many of Kababayan’s newcomer-oriented programs are derived from Ms. Hernandez’s vision. She was a remarkable woman of compassion, integrity, courage and generosity
in helping new immigrants. As a founding member of the Coalition of Visible
Minority Women, she helped develop a program for internationally educated nurses to access the nursing profession. It was partly because of her major contribution in this advocacy group that in 1989 Ms. Hernandez received the Toronto Star Women Award. Apart from nurses, she was also involved in the organization of foreign-trained lawyers and other professions in pursuit of accreditation of their credentials and professions.
She was very instrumental in setting up Kababayan’s programs for the youth and
Women which took flight during her incumbency as president of Kababayan.
Ging was a Renaissance woman whose intellectual and artistic pursuits were as varied as her advocacies. And where she couldn’t find time to be writer or director herself, she at least produced theatre productions and provided the impetus for creativity particularly among the Filipino youth. She did so through organizations like Pinoy Sa Canada (where I used to contribute articles) or AMOR (Arts Music on Reflections) , Ging’s dream of a banded community of Filipino visual artists, writers, composers, musicians, and playwrights. It was under Pinoy Sa Canada where I had to opportunity to co-direct, together with Ms. Gloria Caronan, “My Grandmother and I”, a play that addressed the issue of AIDS in the Filipino community. The play was written by Leni Montreal with noted Filipino actor Mely Tagasa playing the title role. Earlier, under the aegis of the Kababayan Community Center under Exec. Director Flor Dandal, and with strong encouragement from Ging, I wrote and directed “Mall Fright”, a one-act play that depicted the plight of Filipino and Vietnamese youths who had been banned from entry into the Scarborough Town Centre and who accused the security guards of stereotyping. All this and other creations of Ging’s unbridled dreams were produced in her famous address on Lansdowne Avenue that has sheltered many a newcomer with little or no income, as if serving as a transition house.
It is perhaps only now, sadly from hindsight, that Ging Hernandez’ role in the Filipino community not only in Toronto but in the entire Canada is being revisited, giving us deeper insight into the import of her accomplishments.
Mila Syme, Judge, Immigration Refugeee Board, writes:
Carmencita was well known in the Immigrant and Visible Minority Community for her contribution – mostly in a behind the scene but certainly a very positive force: in anti-racism organizations, anti-domestic violence and employment equity associations, and as a founding member of the National Organization of Immigrant and Visible Minority Women and the Network of Filipino Canadian Women. She was awarded the Most Outstanding Immigrant by the Toronto Star. At a time when open discussions of violence against women and racism were considered taboo in many communities (including the Filipino community) ,she was there organizing seminars and raising it before the Ministers of the day: Gerry Philips (Provincial )and Barbara McDougall (Federal) and with then Premier Bob Rae and Deputy Ministers like Elaine Ziemba of the Ontario Women’s Directorate. She worked with the Law Society of Upper Canada (Ontario) to facilitate the recognition of credentials of Philippine-rained lawyers. Ging’s contribution to the lives of many Filipinos and immigrants is immense and intense.
Praise for perhaps Ging Hernandez’s unparalleled accomplishments continues to pour in as we go to press. Cornelia Soberano, long-time ally and former Toronto lawyer who continues her advocacy work for the welfare of Filipinos in Hawaii is copious with her regard for Ging.
It really pains me that I could not be there to both celebrate Ging’s life and to grieve in community with Toronto friends for her passing on…but I find solace for, as a native American friend of mine here would say: death is really “simply a door from life to life”
I know that when she gets to St. Peter and he asks “On earth, did you touch one life?” The answer for sure is that she touched many. As Dr. Pagtakhan used to say, what matters are our deeds that help “enhance the essence of humanity.”
I could only cry in my heart as it’s hard for others here to fully understand what it means to lose a partner in community organizing. When we lost Alice (Agpoon) we lost a beautiful soul; when we lost Fely (Villasin) we lost a fierce advocate; now we lose the dynamo that is Ging…who could fill Ging’s and Alice’s and Fely’s gigantic shoes…with injustice in one form or another being there always, who can be an equally loud voice that the powers that be cannot ignore?
Ging was our rudder when the funds of INTERCEDE were put at risk; as president of INTERCEDE in the late ’80s, I was happy that Manang Clem, Sebyo Aquintey, and all the brave domestic workers who had fought for their immigration and labor rights, were such strong leaders; after we had hired Fely as our executive director, we knew that the voices of domestic workers would be heard loud and clear and their reasonable demands would be met by the system.
We as a community of course benefitted from Ging being in the know, given her civil service position. She knew about grants for social justice being available for specific initiatives (which was otherwise public information but something we did not have easy and timely access to), her passion to have the plight of the immigrant community alleviated. Thus, her expertise and valuable contacts to make things happen were put to good use.
In the struggle for fair accreditation of foreign legal training that I had the honor to help initiate in the early 90s–we did achieve meaningful systemic change that led to the admission of more immigrants from the rest of Asia, Africa, Europe and elsewhere. Ging found government funding to help Filipino and other immigrant students with the challenges of their return to school after decades of being out of it and therefore needing some tangible support. In fact, Ging devised and sought funding for a major training opportunity to allow them access to law school and beyond.
Indeed, when a serious history of the Filipino community in Toronto is written in the future, there would be a serious gap in the writing of our immigrant history if the name of Carmencita Hernandez and her major contribution is omitted.
Dr. Rey Pagtakhan, former Member of Parliament (Winnipeg) and a pillar in the National Organization of Filipino Canadians where Ging once served as Regional VP for Greater Toronto, perhaps best sums up Ging’s true worth in this message:
It is with deep sadness that Gloria and I received the news of Ging’s death. Please convey to her many bereaved immediate family members, relatives, and friends our deep condolences. We have lost a truly great personal friend and the Filipino community in Toronto and the far beyond, in Canada and abroad, has lost an exceptional scholar of humanity – a paragon of community advocacy par excellence.
Even as we deeply mourn her loss – and no doubt we will continue to feel that personal and community loss for a long time to come – may we find solace, comfort and joy in the assurance that Ging is now with Our Creator in That Other Place where we all long to be someday.
Elsewhere, Ging wrote her favourite quote: “Fame is like a bee. . . it has a song; it has a sting. . oh, yes, it has a wing.” Finally, Ging’s life is being celebrated.
Memorial Service to Celebrate the Life of
CARMENCITA “GING” HERNANDEZ
Location: Toronto Korean Adventist Church
4150 Chesswood Dr
Toronto ON M3J 2B9
Viewing: Sunday, December 18th from 6pm to 10pm
Funeral Service: Monday, December 19th at 10:00am
Driving direction: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=4150+Chesswood+Dr,Toronto,ON+M3J+2B9+Canada&t=m
Taking TTC: Get off at Downsview Subway station and take the Bus route 106 – bus stop right across the chapel.