They need to talk to women who are in the resistance. They're not talking to us. The livelihood projects stay on the livelihood level. When you have a regime that looks at women this way, those livelihoods will only go up to a certain place.
Duterte has chilled even the diplomatic community. He has insulted some ambassadors. He has threatened to throw out some missions from the country. I think it is important that your representatives in the Philippines be braver and be unafraid to be seen talking to people who dare to question the president, not just his policies but his performance, because he's acting out. It could begin there. Our people have lots of ideas of what we'd like to do, and we can find the spaces to do it. We can do it sometimes very bravely, but we can also do it sometimes very quietly, growing the movement and growing the understanding. A lot has to happen in the Philippines in terms of looking at what happened and why.
That is a discussion that needs time. It needs trust. It needs building connections among people. You will have to do some self-examination, and we will also have to examine you. That needs trust. In the past, the Canadian mission in the Philippines had that kind of relationship with civil society and with the NGOs. I don't think I'm mistaken when I say that I don't think it's there now. You have to talk to people like me, at home. I'm not the only one. There are brave women. There are creative women. There are women of all ages from different sectors. We are trying very hard, banging our heads on the wall, and thinking about how we can break this non-violently, because violence is not our way.
It is good to have those conversations coming from the outside as well. That tells us that people recognize what we are going through. It tells us that they are supportive and that they also believe in the future that we continue to believe in.