Czech Romanies satisified in Canada

Czech Romanies who recently emigrated to Canada do not want to be photographed and refuse to disclose their names, but they say they are generally satisfied there, daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) writes today.

They say they do not trust the Czech media that have painted the picture that they live on welfare at the costs of their new homeland, MfD writes.

In 1997, Canada imposed via requirements on Czechs due to a wave of Czech Romany migrants seeking Canadian asylum.

It abolished them last November. The number of Czech asylum seekers has been increasing since.

According to Dzamila Stehlikova (Greens), Czech minister for human rights and minorities, 466 Czech Romanies asked for Canadian asylum from last November to mid-July 2008.

If the number exceeded 500, the quota set by Ottawa would be broken and Canada could reintroduce visa requirements for Czechs, Stehlikova said.

Czech representatives have indicated that the renewed exodus was caused by the Romanies’ seeking the rich welfare system in Canada, which has been fiercely denied by Romany activists who cite racism as the reason.

"We do not beg any of our people in the Czech Republic to come here," Ladislav Hlavac, chairman of the Association of Czechoslovak Romanies in Canada, told the paper.

"Life on welfare is difficult everywhere," Hlavac said.

A couple of asylum seekers obtain 1300 Canadian dollars a month, but the lease of an apartment costs some 800. After the rent and fees are paid, a Romany couple has a mere 400 dollars a month, MfD writes.

"Let Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek and Local Development Minister Jiri Cunek come and try to live here for six months," a Romany is quoted as saying.

Lawyer Paul Sinclair who helps immigrants in Toronto says that the percentage of Romanies who abuse the welfare benefits given by the Canadian government is small. Crime among them is all but nil, he adds.

The Romanies complain about the health care in Canada, worse than in the Czech Republic, MfD writes.

The ambitious among them are not satisfied with elementary schools provided to their children.

However, all of them praise absence of racism in Canada.

"No one has looked askance at me in any shop or at any office," Hlavac said.