Ging Hernandez

She died on December 6, 2011 at Toronto Western Hospital, three days after she suffered a massive stroke.

in 1993 she was honoured with the prestigious BANAAG Award, given by the Philippine government to overseas Filipinos with extraordinary achievements or humanitarian work.

In 1990 she received a YWCA Women of Distinction Award in community service.

In 1987, the City of Toronto gave her its Constance E. Hamilton award, which recognizes efforts to secure fair treatment for women. Two years later, the Toronto Star named her Woman of the Year.

In 1986, Hernandez was among the attendees of the inaugural meeting of the National Organization of Immigrant and Visible Minority Women of Canada, an umbrella national organization with a vision of creating equality for all women. She was elected the NOIVMWC Regional Vice President representing Ontario through which she organized with the Canadian Ethnocultural Council Womens' Issues Committee. She spoke at events as a representative of a member organization of the national Coalition for a Just Refugee and Immigration Policy and as a panelist at various community, labour and feminist events.

She helped establish the Carlos Bulosan Cultural Workshop (now Carlos Bulosan Theatre, a Toronto theatre group which debuted in 1982 with Carding, a play about Filipino immigrants in Canada.

In 1978, she co-founded Balita, one of the first Filipino newspapers in Canada, and became its contributing editor.

She co-founded the Kababayan Multicultural Centre, a settlement agency advocating for the rights of Filipino people in Toronto, where she served as a board member together with fellow anti-Marcos activists Ruben Cusipag, Tessie Jew, Voltaire de Leon, and Helen Mascardo in 1977. She was instrumental in setting up Kababayan’s programs for the youth and women which took flight during her incumbency as president of Kababayan.

Carmencita Hernandez came to Canada in 1975, with a Masters of Science degree in Finance from University of Minnesota.

In the 1970s, as the Philippines struggled under the Marcos dictatorship, Hernandez was one of the few activist leaders who led the Second Propaganda Movement against the Marcos dictatorship and formed the Toronto chapter of the Coalition Against the Marcos Dictatorship/Philippine Solidarity Network. She became the spokesperson of the Canadian Campaign for the United Opposition in the Philippines.

Among Filipino organizations, she served as the chair of the Women's Committee of the National Council of Canadian-Filipino Associations (formerly United Council of Filipino Associations in Canada or UCFAC), a non-profit federal organization representing member associates across Canada formed in 1963 and incorporated in 1990. Being the regional representative of Greater Toronto Area. In 1992, Hernandez helped organize the first Filipino Canadian National Conference on Wife Abuse and Violence Against Women held in Montreal.

Carmencita "Ging" Hernandez (December 27, 1943 - December 6, 2011) was a Philippine-born activist most notable in her part in the anti-Marcos movement and women's rights movement in Canada.