On August 12, 2020, the Genocide of Roma and Sinti, which that took place during WWII was officially recognized by the Government of Canada following a unanimous consent motion in the House of Commons brought forward by Member of Parliament Sameer Zuberi. This official acknowledgement made possible by a successful “Act of Parliament” was the outcome of over a decade of determined work by the Canadian Roma community [...]
Flaherty McCarthy LLP commenced a class proceeding on behalf of the Roma families whose refugee claims failed while the families were represented by any of Viktor Serhey Hohots, Erzsebet Jaszi or Joseph Stephen Farkas. That class proceeding has settled, subject to court approval.
The notice forms and the settlement agreement are available online. The link to the documents is as follows […]
Honourable Minister:
The Refugee Lawyers Association of Ontario supports the recommendations submitted by the Redress for Roma Refugees Coalition, set out in the briefing it provided you dated February 14, 2017.
The RLA is a voluntary association of approximately 300 lawyers representing refugees. We have long advocated for appropriate and enforced professional standards in the representation of refugees, both with respect to the Law Society of Upper Canada's Rules of Professional Conduct and the standards of our provincial Legal Aid Plan (Legal Aid Ontario) [...]
Dear Mr. Salam,
Re: Support for the Redress for Roma Refugee Coalition
OCASI is writing to express our support for redress for the Roma refugee claimants who were represented by Viktor Hohots, Joseph Farkas and Elizabeth Jaszi. These three lawyers were found to have engaged in professional misconduct by the Law Society of Upper Canada and all three have been sanctioned.
OCASI-Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants is the umbrella organization for Ontario's immigrant and refugee-serving sector, and has over 220 member agencies across the province [...]
Dear Minister Hussen,
Re: Support for the Redress for Roma Refugee Coalition
The Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (CARL) would like to express its support for you to take action for Roma refugee claimants who were represented by Viktor Hohots, Joseph Farkas and Elizabeth Jaszi.
The Law Society of Upper Canada found that these three lawyers engaged in professional misconduct. Their misconduct is not limited to the clients who came before the LSUC. Rather, it represents a widespread pattern [...]
March 24, 2017
Dear Minister Hussen,
We are writing to express Amnesty International’s serious concern about the former clients of Viktor Hohots, Erszebet Jaszi, and Joseph Farkas: three lawyers whom the Law Society of Upper found guilty of professional misconduct in relation to their incompetent and inadequate work with Hungarian Roma refugee claimants.[1] Between 2009 and 2013, these lawyers represented hundreds of Hungarian Roma refugee claimants, many of whose claims were subsequently refused. As inadequate legal representation may have undermined the fair adjudication of these refugee claims, we urge you to offer impacted individuals a new chance to claim protection [...]
A community coalition has asked the federal government to grant permanent status to deported Roma refugees who were clients of three disgraced lawyers.
Ottawa is being urged to offer redress to the Roma refugees who were the clients of three disciplined Toronto lawyers and subsequently had their asylum claims rejected by Canada [...]
Co-Written by Julia Lovell; Romani civil rights activist and co-founder of the Canadian Romani Alliance and Amanda Shorr; Romanichal, activist, researcher, and genetic genealogist
Time and time again, Romani people are the targets of cultural appropriation, with various levels of offenders to tackle. On Etsy, Ebay, and Pinterest combined, one can find over 498,000 objects tagged “Gypsy” which includes items such as dangly jewelry, hippy/Boho skirts, colorful bedsheets, and even pet supplies with tags such as “ Vintage gypsy”, “Bohemian gypsy ”, and “Gypsy Junk” while fashion designers label their companies and collections using comparable terms and are relentless in their use of racially stereotypical themes [...]
CBSA statistics about which countries’ citizens Canada deports, and why, belie international perceptions of our warm embrace of foreigners. Matthew McClearn looks behind the numbers
"They fled Hungary because they were “scared that their home was going to be burned down. Tired of their children getting beaten up at school and put into segregated classes. Tired of being subjected to verbal, psychological, physical violence when they left their homes." - Gina Csanyi-Robah, Canadian Romani Alliance [...]
