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 [...]

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 10, 7-9PM
VIVO (2625 Kaslo Street, Vancouver)
FREE

 https://www.facebook.com/events/1140801832641709/

Art has long been a powerful vehicle of expression used to challenge and resist negative stereotypes. 

Join us for an evening of exploring how different ethnic and class communities - Romani, Indigenous, Black --  have utilized multiple art forms to resist systemic discrimination and oppression.

Romani Women in Canada: Spectrum of the Blue Water is grounded upon Romani women’s lived experience as writers, essayists, visual artists, and activists. Reflecting the panoply of women’s voices, the book links everyday experience and a social critique of the factors that enable and constrain women’s lives [...] 

The culmination of four years of ethnographic research at the Roma Community Centre in Toronto, Writing the Roma is the first book to provide an overview of the identities, origins, history and treatment of Roma refugees [...] 

Refugee rights advocates call on Federal government to take measures for former refugee claimants who did not receive adequate legal counsel

Toronto, Ontario, September 20, 2016

The Law Society of Upper Canada has found lawyer Joseph Farkas guilty of professional misconduct. 

In the long-awaited decision, which was released late last week, a  Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC) panel made findings of professional misconduct as alleged in the Notice of Application  [...]

The Devouring: Can there be a stronger word in the English language to depict sheer horror and utter helplessness? This is the translation of the Roma word, Porajmos. The Romani people, more conventionally known as Gypsies, use this word to describe the genocide they endured during the Second World War; a genocide yet to be recognized officially by either Canada or the United Nations [...]

The Toronto Roma Commumity Centre presents for Holocaust Remembrance

A People Uncounted
Free Admission

August 2, 2016
6 PM -8:30 PM

Roma asylum-seekers who were deported back to Hungary deserve to finally get a fair hearing in Canada, says Jennifer Danch, a Toronto law student and Roma refugee advocate. Danch made a five-month trip to Hungary to see what has become of the asylum-seekers, and she says they now face double discrimination [...]

In a major blow to the Harper government, the Federal Court has ruled that denying appeals to refugees from countries on Canada’s so-called “safe countries” list is unconstitutional [...]

Teachers rose to the challenge of helping spirited Roma kids shed a legacy of prejudice and embrace education, only to see Ottawa force them away [...]

Protests in 19 Canadian cities Monday urged the Canadian government to reverse cutbacks to refugee health care [...]

Photographer Chad Evans Wyatt, shocked by how Roma were portrayed in the Czech media, decided to find Roma who defied the stereotypes and present a different portrait [...]

On February 17, 2012, in Ottawa, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney was discussing the arrival of one group of refugee claimants, most of whom are Hungarian. He was not pleased. “Our government is very disturbed by the recent rise in requests from democratic countries that respect human rights,” he remarked. “The rising number of bogus requests from democratic states of the European Union just makes this problem worse.” Kenney first used the term “bogus” in 2009 to describe Roma claimants and has favoured it ever since. He inspired the Toronto Sun to run this headline on October 27, 2011: “Feds vow crackdown as Pearson flooded with bogus Hungarian Roma claims [...]

Roma children from three Parkdale schools celebrate their culture in song and dance.

Erika Pintyo is a child and youth worker at Parkdale Collegiate. She invited me to the school recently, to attend a Roma Day assembly [...]

OTTAWA - An advocate for Roma refugee claimants says "Gypsy fiction" is fanning the same kind of discrimination in Canada that her ancestors have faced for centuries in Europe [...]