T HE ROMA COMMUNITY CENTRE is committed to:

• Building community support for Roma in Canada
• Public education regarding multiculturalism and human rights
• Partnering with other organizations to work towards common goals

The Roma Community Centre (RCC) is a not-for-profit organization devoted to helping newly arrived and Canadian Roma. It is the only organization in Canada specifically for the Roma community. Large numbers of Roma refugees have sought asylum in Canada from Eastern European nations where they continue to face persecution and systemic discrimination.
 
The RCC works to raise awareness through public education about the ongoing abuse of human rights of the Roma people and the rapidly growing Nationalist and neo-Nazi movements that promote anti-Roma racism and hate.
 
In October 2011 the RCC opened an independent office to better serve the Roma community and to cultivate partnerships with other organizations.

Learn about us. Join us.

Current news and events...

• Ottawa – Bill C-31
  Brief presented by the Roma Community Centre to the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration
  • Gina Csanyi-Robah, Executive Director of the Roma Community Centre, appeared before the committee reviewing Bill C-31.
  • Poster on the implications of Bill C-31 for Roma refugees
     
    
• Working paper available from The Centre for European Policy Studies
  • The Incomprehensible Flow of Roma Asylum-Seekers from the Czech Republic and Hungary to Canada
    abstract (for PDF of 45-page report, use One-Click Download)
     
    
• euronews | talk: Human rights in Europe is getting worse, says Commissioner
  • Council of Europe Human Right Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg speaks frankly about the worsening human rights picture in Europe as his six-year term comes to a close. YouTube video (9:53)

• Major report on human rights released
  • Human rights of Roma and Travellers in Europe , a major report by Thomas Aammarberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, has been released. The Commissioner of Human RIghts website offers extracts from the full 250-page report in French , Italian , and Romani . A concise 10-page position paper on human rights is also available.
    
    

• Viktória Mohácsi: Confronting Hate Crimes Against Roma
  • Viktória Mohácsi , a Hungarian Roma human rights leader currently seeking asylum in Canada, is profiled by Human Rights First as it celebrates Inspiring Women for Women's History Month.
    
    

• Op-ed piece in the February 28, 2010 Vancouver Sun
  • It's wrong to shut the door on European refugees — "There is a race to the bottom in refugee law around the globe," comments Catherine Dauvergne, a UBC law professor, "We need not win it." She describes three things wrong with the immigration omnibus bill and how, in an attempt to avoid political costs, it imposes a cost in human rights.
    
    

• Just the Wind wins Amnesty prize and Silver Bear at Berlin International Film Festival
  • BERLIN - February 18, 2012 - Bence Fliegauf’s Just the Wind , a film based on the 2008-09 serial killings of Hungarian Roma including a young boy, has won the Amnesty Film Prize , awarded by Amnesty International for the best human rights film. The film was also runner-up for the Jury Grand Prix, taking the Silver Bear Award .
    
    

Recent and still relevant...

• Hill Dispatches - Rabble.ca - Tuesday, April 24, 2012:
  • "Never again!" (except for the 'Gypsies')
    Karl Nerenberg comments on recent statements by Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney. Important reading.
     
    
• Op-ed piece in the November 6, 2011 Sunday Star
  • Bigotry keeps Roma on the run - by Anna Porter, author of The Ghosts of Europe
    
    

• A People Uncounted (documentary film)

  A People Uncounted , a documentary produced by Canadians Tom Rasky, Len Binder and Marc Swenker (directed by Aaron Yeger) premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival in August.

  The film tells the story of the Roma, commonly referred to as Gypsies, a people who have been both romanticized and vilified in popular culture and who have endured centuries of intolerance and persecution in Europe (an estimated 500,000 were murdered during the Holocaust). A People Uncounted documents their colorful but often difficult lives, including how their present state has been shaped by the tragedies of the past.

  Filmed in 11 countries and featuring dozens of Roma – Holocaust survivors, historians, activists, musicians – the film brings Romani history to life through the rich interplay of their poetry, music, and compelling firsthand accounts. As ethnic intolerance flares up across Europe, A People Uncounted sheds light on a unique culture while presenting the Roma tale as emblematic of the world’s legacy of racism and genocide.

  The film has an original score by Robi Botos , and is edited by Kurt Engfehr (Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 911) .

  Read the Montreal Gazette review of A People Uncounted.

  
  
  
• Roma at risk — WikiLeaks (link to cable)
  • A new study by the think tank Political Capital concludes that intolerance is increasing in Hungary — there has been an increase in extremist rhetoric and violent incidents targeting the Roma community.
    
    

• The June issue of Columbia Law Review featured an article on Roma education.
  Report on Roma Education Today: From Slavery to Segregation and Beyond
  This in-depth report by human rights lawyer Jack Greenberg covers:
  • Demography and History
  • Visiting the Region (Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria)
  • The Lessons of US Desegregation
  • A Roma Rights Movement?
  • Summary of Segregation in the Region
  • What is to be done?
  You can download a PDF of the 83-page report . (right-click or control-click to save)
  
  

• Taking the law in their hands - World - Macleans.ca
  • A Macleans magazine article describes how the far-right Jobbik party is targeting the Roma. "Nine people, including two children, were killed in 49 attacks on Roma communities in Hungary between January 2008 and April 2011, according to the European Roma Rights Centre."
    
    

• Students win national anti-racism contest (news item and rap video)
  A group of Parkdate Collegiate Institute students who won a national anti-racism contest had a message for Jason Kenney MP about how they felt their ROMA friends were being mistreated by Ottawa.
  
  

Past news and events...

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Copyright © 2011 Roma Community Centre