After 24 years, a Roma Refugee's Happy Victory and Request for Support

 

Happy News! And a request for support.

We are thrilled to say that after living in Canada for 24 years in the shadows without status, an intensive campaign has finally won permanent resident status for Roksana Hajrizi, a tireless Roma refugee rights activist who led the campaign to get her Mama Celina granted PR status as well.

While this is good news, as always with Canadian immigration, it is one step forward, two steps to the side or back. In June, 2020, despite the significant risk to him, Roksana Hajrizi's father was wrongfully deported after living here for 23 years. As he awaits a possible return to Canada under a sponsorship (another lengthy process), he must live in the face of the virulent anti-Roma racism in Eastern Europe, where finding housing and employment is impossible.

The Rural Refugee Rights Network is collecting donations to assist Roksana and her father with some of those expenses. Imagine living in a country where your identity prevents you from obtaining the most essential basics to survive. That is where her father is trying to survive now. If you can contribute something, anything, please send an etransfer to tasc@web.ca or a cheque to Homes not Bombs at 2583 Carling Ave., Unit M052, Ottawa, ON K2B 7H7 (memo: Roksana). Meantime, congratulations to Roksana!