A few nights ago, I watched the North American premiere of the film Just the Wind at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film's raw depiction of the experience of racism and oppression experienced by the Roma people left me deeply disturbed.
The family portrayed in this film lives in a poor, rural area of Hungary facing daily discrimination and harassment while attempting to maintain the semblance of normalcy. They hear of the violent murder of a neighbouring Roma family perpetrated by strangers who arrived in the night and killed the family, children and all, in cold blood with shotguns. The film is based on a series of racist murders committed against the Roma people in Hungary in 2008-2009. Such violent attacks continue today.
Beyond the sheer brutality of these murders, I was further horrified when the the family in the film shared their wish to escape to Canada. As the filmmaker put it, Canada, and specifically Toronto, is seen as "some kind of paradise" to Roma in Hungary, often with no detailed knowledge of this place. This brought on a nauseating feeling as I thought of the current government's portrayal of Hungary as a "safe country" for the Roma people, who are themselves portrayed as bogus claimants. I thought of the Roma refugee claimants I have seen in my clinic, who are simply trying to find safety for themselves and their families, like anybody would. The government has pushed through unpopular Bill C-31 and changes to the Interim Federal Health Program for refugee healthcare which will both fast-track these people to deportation and deny them healthcare services while they are here.
Persecution of the Roma across Europe
Perhaps a lesser-known fact about the Holocaust, is that along with six million Jews, this event also included the murder of over 500,000 Roma people. Originating in the 11th century A.D. from Northern India this group has suffered enslavement and subsequent persecution throughout Europe where they have settled over time. They appear to be considered outsiders in every land. In Eastern Europe, they are outright discriminated against with many Roma children being sent to segregated schools with inferior education. These people have been constantly subjected to various racist depictions as nomadic gypsies with a tendency towards crime and drug use, with few attempts being made to address the root causes such as lack of access to education, housing, employment and dignity. Even in Western Europe, where the situation is deemed to be better for the Roma people, just recently, France gained widespread criticism in 2010 for deporting thousands of Roma back to Romania and Bulgaria.
Hungary's human rights abuses against Roma
The film is set in Hungary at the time the 2008-2009 attacks against Roma people. These attacks were strongly denounced by Amnesty International which has recognized the racial motivation for these crimes and denounced the lack of protection for this people in this country. This violence is not merely bred through fringe groups, but even incited by political parties. Just last month, a march organized by the far-right Jobbik party in Hungary drew out 1,000 people who chanted racist anti-Roma slogans and slung concrete at their homes. The police did nothing in response. This party gained seats in the Hungarian parliament for the first time in 2010 at which time they proposed rounding up all the Roma to place them in "public order protection camps" with curfews. There have even been documented cases of forced sterilization of Roma women in Hungary.
There are no "safe countries"
Through the implementation of Bill C-31 and the recent cuts to refugee health care, Jason Kenney is expected to soon announce a list of so-called "safe countries." Refugee claimants from these countries will be given a shortened refugee claims processing time making it difficult to secure a lawyer and obtain documents, with the intended goal of fast-tracking deportations back to their country of origin. During this time, refugee claimants from these countries will have effectively no access to healthcare, including emergency care in the event of a heart attack. History has taught us that a country that is safe for the majority can be very unsafe for the minority. We must instead assess each individual refugee's claim on its own merits taking into account situations like domestic violence, discrimination based on sexual orientation and the concerns of ethnic minorities. Despite clearly being unsafe for the Roma, Hungary is widely anticipated to be on this list of safe countries.
Unfortunately, Canada is no paradise for the Roma people. I dread the day that I may have to look into the eyes of a Roma family in my office and say that Canada has decided Hungary is a safe place for them, and therefore has made Canada unsafe by denying them healthcare services. I apologize to the Roma people as a Canadian, but more importantly, I vow to continue the fight alongside them and frontline workers around the country to push for a fairer immigration system, because there are no safe countries, seemingly including my own.
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I can say that after those four years, I left Greece with such a sense of pride and respect for the Roma people and their culture. I would be proud to have one living next door, or even have my daughter marry one.
And to some of the posters below, shame on you for the the nasty, racist and ignorant comments posted below. You do not represent the majority of Canadians.
As an outsider or mark, I'm never going to see any of the Roma culture other than the part of it that seems to be trying to rob me. I
for those interested in the refugee health issue in Canada, some colleagues and I at McGill have put together a summary of the common myths surrounding Bill C-31 at http://chartinghumanrights.wordpress.com/2012/09/08/refugee-health-care-fact-or-fiction/
we'll be putting up articles periodically on this issue and other human rights ones.
I'm glad you saw this film, I'm glad it moved you - however I would warn against any blind acceptance and welcoming of these people without screening.
Roma have already been responsible for the largest human trafficking ring and largest theft ring in Canadian history. Theft is part of their culture.
Their culture is descended from one that believed it was descended from Lilith and free of original sin. Therefore is is their DUTY to steal from the descendants of Adam and Eve... which is everyone else as far as they're concerned.
If they can pass the tests every other immigrant has to, then they are welcome. Including criminal checks, skills, bank balances, familial sponsorship etc.
They are not victims.
Unfortunately many Roma people deliberately avoid the rest of society as a defensive mechanism and so they really do not have a platform to speak out for themselves. That's why it helps that people further the dialogue, especially since you can count on rent-a-pundits like Ezra Levant to translate Jobbik's racist hate speech into english and spew it verbatim. The reality of the problems these people face is complex, not simple and has as much to do with Europe's transition from communism to capitalism as it does with anything else.
Some will maintain that Roma are all criminals and that they have some sort of hegemonic culture which is entirely negative. The reality is that they are probably one of the most diverse ethnic groups on the globe. The differences in culture and experience betweens Roms living in slums in Slovakia, cities in Norway, rural parts of Romania, or the American south are huge. That's why I would be skeptical of any claim that Roma people are universally anything, except people.
We don't need anymore people here that don't work and expect the taxpayers to support them for life.