CALL FOR SOLIDARITY: ROMA FAMILY FACING DEPORTATION

Gilda and KatalinGilda and Robertne (Katalin) Lakatos are facing deportation on Thursday, May 12th (see background below).

Please support them in the following ways:

1. Come to show your support at a press conference on Tuesday, May 10th at 10:30am at 1500 de Maisonneuve West, #204

2. On Tuesday during the day, please call:

* Minister of Immigration of Canada, John McCallum (613-954-1064), and ask him to accept the humanitarian application of the Lakatos family.
* Minister of Immigraton of Quebec, Kathleen Weil (514-873-9940), and ask her to intervene to stop their deportation.
* Minister of Public Security of Canada, Ralph Goodale (613-991-2924), and ask him to stop the deportation until there is a response on the humanitarian application.

In your calls, refer to Gilda and Robertne Lakatos, UCI 6461-5666

3. ORGANIZATIONS are asked to send a letter of support to the three ministers before noon on Wednesday. Here is a model.

to: john.mccallum@parl.gc.ca, ralph.goodale@parl.gc.ca, kathleen.weil@assnat.qc.ca
cc: solidaritesansfrontieres@gmail.com

RE: Stop the deportation and regularize the status of Gilda and Robertne Lakatos, UCI 6461-5666

[letterhead]

[date]

Dear Minister McCallum, Minister Weil, and Minister Goodale,

[NAME OF ORGANIZATION] is a [brief description of your organization].

We are writing to ask you to urgently intervene in the case of Gilda and Robertne Lakatos, who are scheduled for deportation on Thursday, May 12.

The Lakatos family filed an application for permanent residence on humantiarian grounds eight months ago. Please stop the deportation until the file is duly considered.

Sincerely,
[signature]
[name]

BACKGROUND

17-year old Gilda Lakatos and her mother Katalin Lakatos are facing deportation on Thursday. The family left Hungary in 2011 because of the racism they experienced as Roma, which lead to the suicide of Katalin’s oldest son and near fatal medical neglect of her younger son, and included sexual threats and insults to the two women.

The Lakatos family hoped to find a better life in Canada. Unfortunately, they arrived during the anti-refugee and specifically anti-Roma climate fomented by former Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. A study of over 10 000 Hungarian refugee claims published last year found that racist streotypes about Roma people had become “enshrined” in Canada’s refugee determination process. The Lakatos family’s application was refused and they were ordered deported as refused refugees in October 2015. Because Hungary is on the so-called “safe country list”, they will not be eligible for a pre-removal risk evaluation until 2018.

Determined not to return to Hungary, the family remained in Canada, joining the ranks of Canada’s estimated 500,000 undocumented migrants, highly vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. When Gilda’s father and brother were detained on their way to work in February 2016, and then deported, the two women turned themselves in. They now face deportation on Thursday, despite the difficulties the two men have had since their return to Hungary.

The family applied for permanent residence on humanitarian grounds 8 months ago, but Canada is proceeding with the deportation before responding. Applications on humanitarian grounds are almost never accepted after deportation.

NOT ONE MORE DEPORTATION! STATUS FOR ALL! SHUT DOWN CBSA! STOP THE VIOLENCE!