GYPSIES IN CANADA THE PROMISED LAND

GYPSIES IN CANADA: THE PROMISED LAND?

On August 6, 1997, a television documentary with implications for Canada aired in the Czech Republic. The program suggested that for refugees, entering Canada was not difficult, and that, in fact, assisted settlement costs, such as housing and access to employment, would be offered. The documentary was specifically aimed at the Gypsies living in the Czech Republic, an ethnic minority that prefers to be known as Roma.

The Roma claim they are subject to institutional discrimination in the Czech Republic. Indeed, many are without citizenship, as a result of the division of Czechoslovakia into two nations in 1993, four years after the fall of the communist regime. The Roma also cite racially motivated acts of violence directed toward them as reasons for wanting to emigrate. In addition, they are a people economically displaced in the Czech Republic. Many Roma in the Czech Republic are unemployed, uneducated, and live in crowded, cheap housing. In a nation with an unemployment rate of four per cent, over 70 per cent of Czech Roma are unemployed. The majority of Roma children are educated in schools for the mentally handicapped, which effectively prevents them from continuing their education at the post-secondary level.

After watching the television documentary, many Czech Roma spent all their savings to come to Canada. They began arriving in Canada in great numbers, and upon arrival they claimed refugee status. Canadian immigration officials were overwhelmed with the sudden demand. The new arrivals were put up in shelters, but soon the space available as emergency shelter for the municipality of Toronto, the city to which the majority of them arrived, was filled. The numbers of Roma arriving in Canada in 1997 represented a significant increase over the previous year, in which 189 Czechs entered Canada to claim refugee status. (Only nationality is recorded by Immigration Canada, as opposed to ethnic group.) In 1997, however, 1285 people in total from the Czech Republic arrived and claimed refugee status. Half of those arrived in August and September, immediately after the broadcast of the documentary.

One reason Roma were able to come to Canada without difficulty was the lack of a visa requirement for Czech citizens to this country. This requirement had been lifted by the Canadian government in April 1996. However, with the sudden arrival of so many Roma claiming refugee status, the Canadian government reinstated the visa requirement for all arrivals from the Czech Republic, on October 8, 1997, in an effort to curb the flow of refugees.

In 1996, Canada granted refugee status, and therefore permanent residency, to more than 10 000 people from around the world; about 10 per cent of all immigrants accepted each year. At the present time, another 15 000 refugees from numerous areas of the world still await the processing of their claims. Because of the movement of refugees throughout the world, since 1978 Canada has had a system in place for processing all refugee claimants. The recent arrival of large numbers of Roma exemplifies why a process was put in place, but the sudden increase in numbers also highlights the demands placed on the Department of Immigration from time to time. The sudden influx of Roma also raises the question of how the Department of Immigration can or should handle an unprecedented rise in refugee claimants from a particular region in both a humane and just manner.