Jason Kenney is on a Roll - Part II
April 19, 2009 - 2:19am
Hello all:
I am brand new to posting. Please excuse any technical mafunctions. I felt, new as I am, that I had to resurrect the Kenney thread, as the news from this incredibly insensitive Minister keeps rolling in. The latest outrage: The Vancouver Province 15 April 2009 "Canada Flooded with Czech Roma Refugee Claims" 2008 saw 993% increase from year before PARIS - Immigration Minister Jason Kenney called Wednesday on the Czech government to crack down on unscrupulous operators believed to be behind a massive surge in the number of refugee claimants arriving at Canadian airports from that country.The increase, believed to emanate from the minority Roma community, began in late 2007 when Canada lifted the visa requirement for Czech visitors to Canada.
There were 78 claims during the last two months of 2007, compared to none a year earlier.
In 2008, there were 853 Czech nationals seeking Canadian protection from alleged persecution in a European democracy, a staggering 993 per cent increase.
The Czech Republic has suddenly become one of Canada's top seven sources of refugees, ahead of war-and violence-stricken countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia.
"This is obviously a concern," Kenney told Canwest News Service, noting the Czech Republic must comply with human-rights requirements as a member of the European Union.
"Although, like every other democracy, it has its challenges and its shortcomings, it's hard to believe that the Czech Republic is an island of persecution in Europe."
The Roma, also known as Romany or Gypsies, face systemic discrimination and racist attacks from far-right groups, according to numerous human-rights reports. Critics, however, question whether their situation fits the United Nations definition of persecuted refugees.
Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board, an independent tribunal that assesses refugee claims, sent a fact-finding mission to the Czech Republic last month to help the board assess living conditions for Roma.
The board defines refugees as "people who have left their home country and have a well-founded fear of persecution" based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.
Canada has shown in the past it's prepared to take firm action, lifting in the mid-1990s and then re-imposing the visa requirement a year later, after a flood of more than 4,000 Czechs, again mostly Roma, showed up during the visa-free period. At the time, a documentary appeared on Czech television, touting Canada as a promised land for Roma because of alleged easy access into the country and generous social programs after arrival.
A Czech government official said in an e-mail exchange Wednesday that there is "no reason to consider them refugees."
Foreign affairs ministry spokeswoman Zuzana Opletalova noted the government has a special office responsible for minority rights. The head of that office is in "permanent contact" with Canadian officials.
There have been a number of neo-Nazi and skinhead marches into Roma ghettos, including one earlier this month, and there have been reports of unauthorized sterilizations of Roma woman as recently as last year. Roma children are routinely segregated in classrooms and often put in schools for developmentally challenged children, a fate thatensures difficulty in the job market, and shuts the door on post-secondary education. The whole article is here: http://www.theprovince.com/news/Canada+flooded+with+Czech+Roma+refugee+ claims/1499804/story.html I have Hungarian parents who immigrated to Canada in 1967 - this makes me sick!
Fascists like Kenney have always held a particular loathing for Gypsies. No suprise to see them turning back minorities trapped in a violent racist crisis fleeing Europe; it's not like it's their first time turning them back.
It used to go hand-in-hand with their anti-semitism before they became violent Judeophiles.
Well, if eastern Europeans would stop voting for ther CPC there would be none of these issues arising!
Remind - it's hard to tell online, but are you being satirical? It's not a question of which political party is in power in Canada - the Liberals have rejected countless refugee claims from Roma. My parents vote NDP, have for many years. In my opinion, even the NDP would bow to pressure. The Roma have no friends at all. I do agree with you on the "Eastern European" issue. It is true that whole parts of the world (not just EE) are nearly 100% racist towards Roma. It is a difficult task, indeed, to find a Hungarian, for example, who will even begin to consider Roma as victims of systematic racist policies and actions. When I see Canadian immigration officials, refugee appeals board members, politicians, judges, lawyers, etc. with names of EE origin, I know the Roma at their mercy are almost certainly dead ducks. The hate towards Roma is unalloyed, utterly irrational, and passed on through generations (and new locations in the case of immigrants).
What is of relevance to this board is that this irrational stereotyping and character assassination goes unquestioned in Canada.
Roma-haters of EE origin act as though they are doing the naive Canadian a favour when they "confidentially" tell someone what "gypsies are really like". This is how the stereotyping spreads. They play the "we suffered under Communism" and "we lived it - we know" cards to hilt to solicit an empathetic hearing of their views, which would be utterly unacceptable if they concerned any other identifiable group.
Daedalus - I love your passion, but please refer to the Roma as Roma, not "gypsies". It is the express wish of Roma throughout the world (including Canada) to be addressed this way. Romanticizing these people fuels the indifference towards their real-life, ongoing plight. Your heart is in the right place - please don't be offended.
As for myself, I am a Canadian of Hungarian origin who utterly rejects all forms of oppression towards my Roma brothers and sisters - yes, they are my brothers and sisters - take that, bigots!
The board defines refugees as "people who have left their home country and have a well-founded fear of persecution" based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.
Actually, not just the [Immigrant and Refugee] Board, but the entire world, uses this definition:
http://www.unhcr.org/protect/PROTECTION/3b66c2aa10.pdf (see article 1)
Jason Kenney is a disappointing choice for a Minister of Immigration, since he seems to be openly hostile to the people within his portfolio, regularly expressing a lot of ignorant comments concerning immigrants and refugees. I suppose he plays to a specific portion of the Conservative Party demographic, and his posturing and "strong positions" obviously serve some political purpose -- probably to send a message to racist and paranoid white-Canadian rural and small-town constituencies that the Harper government is "protecting" their interests. Harper has obviously decided to give Kenney a long leash, which suggests that the Conservatives think a "get tough" attitude in this portfolio is good for them politically. Kenney's irresponsible, prejudical comments are starting to constitute political interference, in my opinion, and I'd be surprised if this doesn't start having an effect on matters before the Immigration Division and Federal Court: Whether he realizes it or not -- and from what I've heard about him, he probably doesn't -- Kenney's big mouth may end up contributing to claims of institutional bias, which should end up working against his agenda.
Kenney represents a HUGE difference from the last minister, Diane Finley, who seemed to more or less be a caretaker minister. I don't ever recall reading anything overtly or openly bigoted coming from her office. Every time Kinney makes some new prnouncement about immigrants, I have a pang of nostalgia for the days of Ms. Finley and her bland semi-invisibility. His "get tough" attitude and veiled racism is tedious when it's not offensive, however, I've never heard Kenney call for a one-party militaristic state that abolishes personal freedoms and subordinates individuality to collective strength.