Roma refugees play waiting game in quest for 'a better life'
Giuseppe Valiante, National Post
Glenn Lowson For National Post
As the Bohemians took to the soccer pitch before their fifth game of the season on Saturday, coach Tibor Lukacs pointed at them from the sidelines, "These guys are the real European Union," he said.
This young team, composed of Roma refugees from the Czech Republic who have arrived in Canada since 2008, symbolize the true spirit of the EU because their people are borderless, he said.
The Roma are scattered across Europe, where they say they face segregation, discrimination and often violent attacks. These cases are increasing with the rise of neo-Nazi groups and nationalist political parties with paramilitary branches composed of young men from the countryside.
The FC Bohemian jerseys are blue and green, the quintessential Roma colours. Mr. Lukacs explained by pointing to the sky and then to the grassy ground of the Hamilton first division, senior league soccer field.
"It's not political sh--, you know. It's because we don't have anything," he said.
"This is all we are; all we have is the sky and the Earth," Mr. Lukacs said.
And now many Roma hope to have Canada.
Since the end of 2007, when visa duties were lifted for Czech citizens, an increasing number of Roma have entered the country and applied for asylum status. Since January, 2008, almost 2,000 cases were referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada-- 404 in April alone.
Immigration board officials returned last week from a mission in the Czech Republic to discover why the Roma are fleeing. A report is expected soon. Social workers in Southern Ontario are also meeting with the provincial and federal government this week to see what extra money and resources can be freed up because their emergency shelters are reaching capacity.
The majority of the refugees have settled in Southern Ontario while they wait for a decision. The average wait time is 16½ months, and the refugee board, as of May 1, has a backlog of 1,687 cases.
For now, all the refugees can do is wait --and play soccer.
The FC Bohemians, named after the Czech province of Bohemia, had a couple of early chances but fell quickly behind 2-0 to the Dundas C. The wind pushed a corner kick from the opposing team into the top right corner for the first goal.
"It was the wind, but what can you do? You have to be prepared for that, too," Mr. Lukacs said.
Mr. Lukacs, 45, who immigrated to Canada from the Czech Republic in 1997, speaks six languages and is the lifeline for many of the newly arrived Roma. He works as a translator for the Hamilton Urban Core Community Health Centre and is usually one of the first people these refugees meet once they arrive.
He has salt-and-pepper slicked-back hair, which reaches down to his neckline. A gold earring dangles from his left lobe and he sported light beige, leather pointy shoes with a faux-alligator print. He speaks with a thick accent that sounds like a mixture of Eastern European and Persian.
He said he used to be in a "huge" metal rock band in the '80s and '90s in the Czech Republic called Merlin, but the fame and money couldn't keep him there.
"Everyday somebody telling you that you are sh--. Everyday. If you went anywhere, they always made you feel that you didn't belong. How long can someone listen to this?" he said. He joked that maybe if he dyed his hair blond and got blue eyes he would be able to fit in.
His soccer players haven't won any of their four previous games. Sometimes when a mistake is made, the Bohemians stop playing and yell at each other in Roma while the ball escapes. Mr. Lukacs said they'll soon get to where they need to be.
At halftime, Mr. Lukacs walked over to the bleachers and translated the story of Rudolf Zajda, a former advisor to the Czech government for Roma issues. He came to Canada nine months ago and is learning English so he can try to use his social working and psychology degrees to find work.
Mr. Zajda, 48, said he constantly received threatening letters in the mail and faced discrimination at work. But what finally made him decide to leave was the day he was followed in his car by Czech men who screamed out the window that they were going to kill him.
"They were threatening my life and the police didn't do anything," he said.
Mr. Zajda said he heard about coming to Canada from the Czech media, which often talks about how welcoming and easy it is to get in.
In the second half, the Bohemians got a goal but lost the game 5-1.
After the game some of the players relaxed with family in their apartment complex in downtown Hamilton.
Jakub Penicka, 20, his legs still a little red and bloody from the match, said he's been here for 18 months and is in school learning English. He hopes to open his own business.
"It's not good [in Czech Republic] because we were different. They are always watching you. You look for jobs but people don't give it to you," Mr. Penicka said.
David Kroscan, 26, speaks five languages and came here six weeks ago. He held up his baby girl and said Canadians "speak to you really nice," in a way that made you understand that was an anomaly back home.
His father, standing next to him, turned his pockets inside out.
"If my father goes into a shop [in the Czech Republic] they make him show his pockets," David said. "The Roma come to Canada because they need a different life, a better life."
Mr. Lukacs and many of the Roma in Hamilton, whose numbers are estimated at between 1,500 and 3,000, are trying to build a community. Mr. Lukacs said they don't have a lot of money, but events are being planned, such as a Miss Roma pageant.
And Mr. Lukacs said he's finishing a book, which he said has taken him the better part of a decade, on the history of the Roma.
"People say we're all from Egypt [where the term 'Gypsy' comes from] or from India; it's all bullsh--," he said. From his research, he's learned that the Roma hail from at least 20 regions around the world and settled in Europe in the eighth century.
"It's like if in 500 years people ask where Canadians came from," he said.
He's learned that Roma language comes from Sanskrit, and borrows heavily from the Persian language.
"I'm trying to find out who our real ancestors are," Mr. Lukacs said.
A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said the government is monitoring the increased number of asylum claimants closely, but Mr. Kenney doesn't believe that the Czech Republic is "an island of persecution."
Mr. Lukacs said he understands that Canada can't open up the borders and bring in all of Europe's Roma. The Roma population of Czech Republic alone is estimated at between 250,000 and 300,000.
He said the only solution is for Canada to work with European governments to make life better for their Roma minorities.
"What are they waiting for?" he asked. "For ethnic cleansing?"