Canada's acceptance of Hungarian Roma asylum-seekers is on an upswing after plummeting to record lows just a few years ago.
Canada’s acceptance of Hungarian Roma asylum-seekers is on an upswing after plummeting to record lows just a few years ago.
In 2009-10, only one to two per cent of refugee claimants from Hungary were accepted as the Conservative government initiated a crackdown on “bogus” refugees.
The Federal Court of Canada has rejected the refugee claim of a Hungarian man of Roma background by dismissing the portrayal of sweeping, generalized persecution against the Roma in his homeland.
The man’s credibility was also questioned over his reliance on a variation of a classic excuse: his dog ate his cellphone.
The case of Mario Gyula Varga is the latest clash over Canada’s reception of the diasporic Roma.
But data from the Immigration and Refugee Board show the acceptance rate has steadily increased: to 20 per cent in 2013, 35 per cent in 2014 and 68 per cent in the first half of 2015.
“The Canadian government designated Hungary as a safe country (for refugees) in 2012. These figures show that Hungary is not, in fact, a safe country for hundreds of recognized refugees,” said Sean Rehaag, an Osgoode Hall Law School professor specializing in immigration and refugee law.
Citizenship and immigration officials declined to comment on the apparent softening stance.
“Canada’s reformed asylum system continues to ensure that all eligible claimants — regardless of their country of origin — have access to a full, fact-based hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada,” spokeswoman Nancy Caron said in an email.
Refugee experts and advocates said one of many factors likely contributing to the rebound is the growing evidence of persecution of the ethnic Roma minority in Hungary.
A 2014 study by the Harvard School of Public Health found recent years have seen a “climate of increasing social and economic exclusion.” State officials often use racist public statements to incite hate against Roma, and paramilitary extremist groups have organized anti-Roma rallies, it added.
“Everyone grew up with this concept of Gypsies being this nomadic, bohemian subculture and they had a hard time connecting: who are these people coming from Europe claiming racially motivated violence and lack of state protection?” said Gina Csanyi-Robah, founder of the Canadian Romani Alliance.
“A lot of people have been educated about that now.”
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