Canada

Canada grants asylum to former MEP who faced death threats in Hungary due to her Romani origin

16.5.2018 17:53 Viktória Mohácsi, a Romani activist and former MEP from Hungary, has finally been awarded political asylum in Canada. She requested asylum in 2012 after seeking police protection over death threats she received upon returning to Hungary when her EP mandate was over.
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Canada removes plaque from its first National Holocaust Monument after backlash

9.10.2017 15:01 The Guardian reports that Canada’s first National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa was opened on September 27th. Designed by a team led by Gail Dexter Lord, the son of Holocaust survivors, the monument takes the shape of the yellow star that Jews were forced to wear in Nazi Germany and the territories under Nazi occupation.
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American and Canadian embassies in Prague display Romani flag for International Romani Day

8.4.2017 8:02 The Ambassador of Canada to the Czech Republic, Barbara Richardson, put up the Romani flag yesterday afternoon at the embassy. "On April 8, International Romani Day is celebrated all around the world. Ambassador Richardson supports this international day and is happy to display the Romani flag here at the Embassy! International Romani Day celebrates Romani culture and raises awareness of the economic and social issues facing Romani people. There are approximately 250,000-300,000 Roma in the Czech Republic. Canada recognizes the importance of promoting understanding between Roma and non-Roma people and Roma integration in the Czech Republic. For Canada, inclusion and diversity are part of our fabric and a source of openness, acceptance, progress and prosperity," the embassy's Facebook profile reads.  full story

Czech Republic: Canadian Ambassador attends International Romani Day event, embassy displays Romani flag

12.4.2016 7:09 On Friday 8 April 2016 Canadian Ambassador Otto Jelinek displayed the Romani flag on the building of the Canadian Embassy in Prague to mark International Romani Day. He was joined by David Tišer of the nonprofit ARA ART organization and Adriana Trejtnarová, an intern working on Romani projects at the embassy who is a student at the Czech Agricultural University.  full story

Inclusive education in Canada is a reality

5.12.2015 20:29 When Harland Sanders began selling fried chicken, he was no different from anyone else. What turned his efforts into the famous KFC restaurant was a few small details, among them the secret ingredients of his spice mix.  full story

Canada: High percentage of indigenous people among murder victims

28.11.2015 0:40 Canada is increasingly becoming a safer country, at least when it comes to violent deaths. This year the number of murders in the state of 35 million reached its lowest level in half a century.  full story

Juan de Dios Ramírez-Heredia: Hunger and fear are stronger than barbed-wire fences

23.9.2015 1:32 The following opinion piece by Juan de Dios Ramírez-Heredia, former Member of the European Parliament and current President of the Spanish Romani Union, was first distributed through the Roma Virtual Network on 17 September 2015 and is reprinted here with permission.
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Canada now accepting more Roma asylum-seekers from Hungary as evidence of persecution accumulates

26.8.2015 20:50 Canadian newspaper The National Post reported on 23 August that Canada is beginning to accept more Romani asylum-seekers from Hungary after all but rejecting them across the board just a few years ago. The Conservative-led Government launched a much-criticized crackdown on allegedly "bogus" refugees in 2009-2010.  full story

Two Romani families not allowed to board flight from Prague to Canada, no explanation given

24.8.2015 17:34 During the past two months approximately 20 Romani people from the Czech Republic have not been allowed to board flights to Canada. They were informed that they would not be let on board by airline private security staff at Václav Havel Airport in Prague.
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Helsinki Agreement marks 40th anniversary

17.8.2015 0:01 Rudolf V. Perina, the U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia, has released an opinion piece that was reprinted by the Slovak daily Hospodarske Noviny on 29 July to mark the 40th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act, which concluded the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, a process that resulted in the creation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The piece explains how Helsinki became the basis for international criticism of various countries' human rights records.  full story

Roma in Denmark, Norway and Sweden not being "run" by organized crime

9.7.2015 22:06 News server west-info.eu, which reports on European welfare policies, say a new report from Fafo, a Scandinavian social research foundation, has found no evidence that Romani people in Denmark, Norway and Sweden are being managed by organized crime. The report contradicts claims that Romani people are being trafficked into those countries.  full story

Canada accused of racially profiling Roma travellers from Hungary at European airport

9.7.2015 0:28 In an echo of the approach taken by the UK toward Romani air passengers from the Czech Republic in 2001, Romani citizens of Hungary say Canadian border officials are stopping them in Europe from boarding flights to Canada, according to thestar.com. Romani author Eva Kalla (age 60), a citizen of Hungary, was stopped at the airport in Vienna and referred to a Canadian border official who refused to let her fly to Toronto - even though EU citizens need no visas to do so.  full story