posts
Chad Evans Wyatt and Mary Evelyn Porter
Consider the visual grammar of the "Gypsy" photograph. Exoticism, and "otherness" separating these people from their majority context. In the words of Czech Professor Miroslav Vojtĕchovský, these images are a theatre of grotesque characters, irreconcilably different, without redemption. Garish colour can further isolation.
RomaRising offers respectful black and white images of dignity, countering stereotype. Many among these souls are highly educated, and have capacity to function as government ministers and lead within society. Indeed, Mr. Ciprian Necula became State Secretary in the Ministry of European Union Funds, representing the Romanian Government. He is not unique [...]
JoEllen Brydon Art
In 2006 I came upon a story based on an ethnic community history, about a “band of Gypsies” who arrived in Peterborough, Ontario in 1909 causing quite a stir. Guided by Professor Keith Walden, from the history department of Trent University, I developed an academic reading course to facilitate my research and examine Romani history and culture. I referenced the photographic images of the visit in the Bailsille Collection at the Peterborough Centennial Museum and Archives, as well as the extensive news coverage. I talked to people about their memories of “Gypsies”, and consulted throughout with Ronald Lee, Romani scholar, activist and natural born Roma [...]
Canada’s History | 1 Jun 2018 | Cynthia Levine-Rasky
Despite racism and persecution, the Roma have persevered in Canada.
IN SEPTEMBER 1919, IN SYDNEY, NOVA SCOTIA, a police officer encountered a group of settlers who had not been seen before — a group of twenty-one Roma who had recently arrived in the Cape Breton Island town. The plainclothes officer charged the men in the group with robbery, despite their claim of having no knowledge of the crime. Their brief stay in the county jail was followed by bail, release, and an arraignment. The police confiscated the group’s horses […]
Gina Csanyi-Robah, Vancouver educator and executive director of the Canadian Romani Alliance, will speak at SFU on March 19th to shed light on the ongoing struggle against anti-Gypsy discrimination in Canada. This event commemorates the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (March 21st) [...]
COLUMBIA LAW REVIEW | May 2010 | Jack Greenberg
For much of their histories, the Roma in Eastern Europe and African Americans traversed similar paths. Both endured centuries of slavery and were emancipated, almost simultaneously, during the mid-nineteenth century. Both continued to suffer years of discrimination, poverty, inferior housing, deficient health, and segregated education [...]
Watch Live to Air: Oscar Peterson Day 2024 with Jim Doxas, Robi Botos & Pat Collins [...]
BOSTON, MA – September 23, 2024
The François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University and the Canadian Romani Alliance published a groundbreaking study measuring both major and everyday discrimination experienced by Romani individuals in the Greater Toronto-Hamilton area (GTHA) in Canada [...]
During World War II, the Nazis perpetrated a genocide of Europe’s Roma and Sinti, who they saw as racially inferior and as social outsiders. It is thought that 70-80% of the European community was murdered [...]
If you are Romani we invite you to talk to us! If you live in Toronto or Hamilton and are Romani please connect with us. The interviews will be done on the phone, online, or in person. Interviews are 45 min long. You don’t have to use your real name. You will receive a $25 gift card to say thank you! […]
The Canadian Romani Alliance is delighted to share that we are beginning an exciting new community partnership with Harvard University. The goal is to research and document discrimination experienced by Roma in Canada[...]
Announcement: New funding received by York University’s Refugee Law Lab to work with Air Passenger Rights and University of New Brunswick law professor to investigate racial profiling by Canadian government at airports abroad […]
Long after he started a new life in Montreal, Paul Herczeg was still bearing witness to the final moments of thousands of Roma sent to their deaths at Auschwitz in a single night in 1944. For decades, well into his 80s, he volunteered with the Montreal Holocaust Museum, meeting with school groups, giving media interviews, contributing to virtual exhibitions and oral history projects [...]
Montreal-based groups welcomed last week’s unanimous consent motion by Canada recognizing the genocide of the Romani population by the Nazis during World War II, 76 years ago [...]
On August 12, 2020, the Genocide of Roma and Sinti, which that took place during WWII was officially recognized by the Government of Canada following a unanimous consent motion in the House of Commons brought forward by Member of Parliament Sameer Zuberi. This official acknowledgement made possible by a successful “Act of Parliament” was the outcome of over a decade of determined work by the Canadian Roma community [...]
Three Toronto lawyers who were found guilty of professional misconduct in handling Roma refugees’ asylum claims have settled a class-action lawsuit by their former clients […]
The Canadian Romani Alliance, a Canada wide coalition which includes the Toronto-based Roma Community Centre, are delighted to share that, after nearly three years, the Class Action Lawsuit, on behalf of nearly 900 Hungarian Roma Refugee Claimants, has been resolved [...]
Flaherty McCarthy LLP commenced a class proceeding on behalf of the Roma families whose refugee claims failed while the families were represented by any of Viktor Serhey Hohots, Erzsebet Jaszi or Joseph Stephen Farkas. That class proceeding has settled, subject to court approval.
The notice forms and the settlement agreement are available online. The link to the documents is as follows […]
Jagmeet Singh, Leader of Canada’s NDP, issued the following statement:
"On this day in 1944, during World War II, all the 2897 Roma and Sinti who remained imprisoned […]
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism, today issued the following statement:
“On this Romani Genocide Remembrance Day, we honour the memory of over 500,000 Romani […]
Kenney was Canada's minister of citizenship, immigration and culture at the time. He was involved in an effort, highly controversial in this country, to make it difficult for Roma people who suffered discrimination and worse from right-wingers in Hungary to immigrate to Canada […]
Send a 1-click email to Prime Minister Trudeau: Canada has still not officially recognized the Genocide of Roma and Sinti (‘Porrajmos’) which occurred during Nazi occupation of Europe in World War II.
Ottawa is being urged to offer redress to the Roma refugees who were the clients of three disciplined Toronto lawyers and subsequently had their asylum claims rejected by Canada [...]
Honourable Minister:
The Refugee Lawyers Association of Ontario supports the recommendations submitted by the Redress for Roma Refugees Coalition, set out in the briefing it provided you dated February 14, 2017.
The RLA is a voluntary association of approximately 300 lawyers representing refugees. We have long advocated for appropriate and enforced professional standards in the representation of refugees, both with respect to the Law Society of Upper Canada's Rules of Professional Conduct and the standards of our provincial Legal Aid Plan (Legal Aid Ontario) [...]
Dear Mr. Salam,
Re: Support for the Redress for Roma Refugee Coalition
OCASI is writing to express our support for redress for the Roma refugee claimants who were represented by Viktor Hohots, Joseph Farkas and Elizabeth Jaszi. These three lawyers were found to have engaged in professional misconduct by the Law Society of Upper Canada and all three have been sanctioned.
OCASI-Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants is the umbrella organization for Ontario's immigrant and refugee-serving sector, and has over 220 member agencies across the province [...]
Dear Minister Hussen,
Re: Support for the Redress for Roma Refugee Coalition
The Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (CARL) would like to express its support for you to take action for Roma refugee claimants who were represented by Viktor Hohots, Joseph Farkas and Elizabeth Jaszi.
The Law Society of Upper Canada found that these three lawyers engaged in professional misconduct. Their misconduct is not limited to the clients who came before the LSUC. Rather, it represents a widespread pattern [...]
March 24, 2017
Dear Minister Hussen,
We are writing to express Amnesty International’s serious concern about the former clients of Viktor Hohots, Erszebet Jaszi, and Joseph Farkas: three lawyers whom the Law Society of Upper found guilty of professional misconduct in relation to their incompetent and inadequate work with Hungarian Roma refugee claimants.[1] Between 2009 and 2013, these lawyers represented hundreds of Hungarian Roma refugee claimants, many of whose claims were subsequently refused. As inadequate legal representation may have undermined the fair adjudication of these refugee claims, we urge you to offer impacted individuals a new chance to claim protection [...]
Dear friends,
I have wonderful news to share.
Yesterday, at 5:20 pm EST, less than 24 hours before his third scheduled deportation, CIC called young Gergo Balogh (subject of article below) to inform him that his H&C application has now been approved and that he can stay in Canada [...]
Immigration lawyers are seeing a growing number of deportation cases where a failed refugee claimant is being removed even if the person has a pending permanent residence application with the spouse, who is granted asylum in a separate claim [...]
The federal government denies it’s behind the problems faced by Roma travellers, saying it’s up to airlines to decide who boards flights to Canada.
Ottawa is being accused of preventing Roma travellers from boarding Canada-bound flights and denying them the possibility of seeking asylum here [...]
A community coalition has asked the federal government to grant permanent status to deported Roma refugees who were clients of three disgraced lawyers.
Ottawa is being urged to offer redress to the Roma refugees who were the clients of three disciplined Toronto lawyers and subsequently had their asylum claims rejected by Canada [...]