Monday, August 3, 2020

Call/Write to Stop Mama Celina’s Deportation: Permanent Residence for Ottawa Roma Refugee Now!



Celina Urbanowicz with some of the thousands of free face masks she has made and distributed during the pandemic for front-line workers and long-term care residents. 

(Sample email/phone message below!)       On, Tuesday, August 4 (or whenever you receive this), please write/call Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino (IRCC.Minister-Ministre.IRCC@cic.gc.ca, Marco.Mendicino@parl.gc.ca , 613-992-6361, 416-781-5583) to demand that he save the life of Ottawa Roma refugee Celina Urbanowicz, who faces deportation to what Amnesty International says is persecution, discrimination, violence, and the threat of death.

It is disturbing that the Canadian government is trying to deport her when they have already recognized that two of Celina’s daughters face the same risks as Roma women and, as a result, have been accepted in principle for permanent residency. It is unacceptable that this threat of family break-up hangs over their heads. (The intended country of deportation, Poland, is notorious for its violations of women's rights and LGBTQ rights. A third of Polish communities have declared themselves “LGBTQ-free zones,” and the Polish government has indicated it will withdraw from The Istanbul Convention, a treaty aimed at ending violence against women. Celina is a survivor of male violence against women from her first marriage.)

Even as she faces the bleak cloud of deportation, Mama Celina spends every night working late to make free face masks for front-line workers and seniors' home residents affected by the pandemic. She isn’t doing this for any special favours. This is just who she is. You can see her being interviewed here: https://globalnews.ca/news/7058588/coronavirus-immigration-refugees/  and https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/making-cloth-masks-is-a-family-affair-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-1.4938230

Mama Celina is helping save other people’s lives. It is time we step up to help save hers.

(The family fled the war zone of Yugoslavia and came to Canada as refugees in 1997. Because of paperwork problems, legal errors, and other systemic barriers faced by refugees – in other words, things they had nothing to do with – they have lived in Canada for 23 years with no status.)

Sample email (feel free to personalize this as well!)

Subject Line: Permanent Residence for Celina Urbanowicz Now: Stop the Deportation

To: IRCC.Minister-Ministre.IRCC@cic.gc.ca, Marco.Mendicino@parl.gc.ca
Cc:   Bill.Blair@parl.gc.ca, tasc@web.caps.ministerofpublicsafety-ministredelasecuritepublique.sp@canada.ca,

Dear Ministers Mendicino and Blair,

As the Government of Canada marks the August 2 Roma Genocide Remembrance Day, Roma people (Europe’s largest ethnic minority) continue to face significant levels of persecution, discrimination, and direct violence. Last year, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland marked this day by noting both that "Romani women, especially, still face significant discrimination and social exclusion,” and vowed "to never again let such atrocities be committed against anyone, anywhere.”

I am writing to urge you to live up to the pledge of “never again” and immediately grant permanent residency to Ottawa Roma refugee Celina Urbanowicz, a mother of five who has lived in Canada for 23 years. I ask you to end the threat of deportation to the cauldron of violence that is Eastern Europe today for Roma people. 

Amnesty International writes that a woman of Celina's profile “would face multiple risks on account of their intersectional vulnerabilities stemming from their identity as a Roma woman, wife of a Muslim man, and as the mother of a lesbian woman.” An expert on Roma history and culture writes  "she will face severe discrimination, extreme persecution and be under imminent fear for her life because she has been condemned as gonime po trajo (‘shunned for life’).”

Canada has pledged itself to respect everything from family reunification to LGBTQ rights and women's rights. All of these commitments would be violated with this deportation. 

The limbo in which Celina and her family live is devastating. The emotional and psychological pain of living with grave uncertainty – never knowing if one morning there will be a knock on the door and government agents will whisk Celina away to deportation – is damaging beyond words. No one should be forced to suffer such cruel conditions.

I urge you to immediately end the deportation proceedings and grant permanent residency for Celina Urbanowicz.

Thank you.

Name, address

 
Sample phone message (leave one if you get the answering machine)

Hi, my name is XXXXX and I'm calling from TOWN, PROVINCE. I’m calling to ask that you stop the deportation of Ottawa Roma Refugee Celina Urbanowicz and grant her immediate permanent residency. When Amnesty international recognizes that Celina will face persecution, discrimination, violence, and the threat of death, the government of Canada needs to listen and act appropriately. Your government has granted permanent residency in principle to two of Celina's daughters, who face the same threats if deported. You need to do the same for their Mama Celina as well. Thank you."

Facebook event to share: https://www.facebook.com/events/701794977036405/


Thanks for your support!

Matthew Behrens
Rural Refugee Rights Network

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