Law Times

Law Times • December 2, 2013 Page 7 COMMENT Ontarians to get lump of coal despite new cleaner air act W ith the legislature breaking for the holiday season, maybe it's just as well Premier Kathleen Wynne is banning coal in Ontario. The introduction of bill 138, the ending coal for cleaner air act that effectively outlaws coal, will also serve to spare the Liberals from finding nasty surprises in their Christmas stockings. On the other hand, the Liberals' gift to Ontario voters this year will be debt and more of it in 2014 because everything they've gambled on has failed to materialize. One of the big bets of Wynne's predecessor, Dalton McGuinty, was that the Ring of Fire project in northern Ontario would be up and running and creating much-needed jobs in the region by next year. Instead, the chromite mining development looks to be all but dead with the lead company, Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., pulling out. Certainly, Cliffs Natural Resources' own fiscal struggles and depressed commodity prices play a role, but the bigger roadblock has always been the lack of leadership in bringing all parties to the table to hammer out an agreement on sharing the spoils. Former premier Bob Rae is still at the table holding talks on behalf of the local but kicking local tomato farmers First Nations to spell out what training and assistance they'll get Queen's in the wallet, too. Those better times just never seem to materito be ready to participate in the Park alize, nor do the revenues needed development while other players to offset the government's proflibicker over how to open the area gate spending. up, whether by road or rail. The Progressive ConservaRoad is more affordable at a tives have taken great delight in mere $1 billion while rail would pointing out that under Wynbring other benefits but is clearne's watch, jobs are hemorrhagly more expensive at $1.5 billion ing at small plants and factories or more. That's on top of anothacross Ontario. er $1 billion or so to build other Ian Harvey "We've lost 38,000 manuinfrastructure and a smelter. facturing jobs under Premier The problem, however, is the province has no money to invest either Wynne alone," thundered Opposition way. But don't worry. Wynne has a plan: Leader Tim Hudak during question pemake the feds pay. Why not? Kick the fi- riod. "We've lost 300,000 manufacturing nancial burden upstairs to the federal gov- jobs under the McGuinty-Wynne government. This is our middle class." ernment and demand it pony up. But Finance minister Charles Sousa The debacle underlines Ontario's precarious position. It needs money and jobs. Sadly, threw his own numbers at the opposition. however, the Liberals have consistently bet "The fact of the matter is there is investbetter times were just around the corner ment coming to Ontario. We have over over the last decade as they let the deficit rise 470,000 net new jobs since the recession." He noted investments in skills training and the debt balloon. So here we are again. There are no jobs would create another 100,000 jobs in the at the Ring of Fire and the news gets worse. future. But again, that's a gamble because More recently, H.J. Heinz Co. of Canada said the province needs those jobs today. The battle for votes in what almost cerit would close its ketchup plant in Leamington, Ont., killing not just the 800 factory jobs tainly has to be a spring election based on the next budget will be for that fabled middle class. With that in mind, the Liberals can't stop promising more spending despite a lack of clarity as to how they'll pay for it. Wynne has already promised $35 billion in infrastructure investments over the next three years and in its recent financial statement, the government noted its willingness to abandon its pledge to eliminate the deficit by 2017 if the economy remains weak. It's evidence of crafty politics. Infrastructure, of course, is like apple pie. Everyone wants a slice and it always plays well with the electorate. At the same time, it starts to paint the future governments into a corner given the looming rise in debt-servicing costs when interest rates rise. As we close out 2013 and look ahead to 2014, I'll make a bet of my own here. I believe the deficit and financial disarray former premier Mike Harris' government found on taking office in 1995 are going to look like mere spillage compared to the revelations that await the next government.LT Ian Harvey has been a journalist for 35 years writing about a diverse range of issues including legal and political affairs. His e-mail address is ianharvey@rogers.com. Time for lawyers to confront anti-Roma stereotypes BY GINA CSANYI-ROBAH AND SEAN REHAAG For Law Times A u SPEAKER'S CORNER s students at Osgoode Hall Law School embarked on the most recent academic year, its library hosted an exhibit called Roma Rising/Opre Roma — Portraits of a Community (romarisingCA). The exhibit was a collection of photographs of Canadian Roma from various walks of life, including artists, teachers, business leaders, medical professionals, and even a law student. The purpose of the exhibit was to highlight the many important contributions Roma Canadians make on a daily basis. The exhibit also aimed to challenge misinformed negative stereotypes about a community outsiders sometimes refer to as Gypsies but that calls itself Roma or Romani. At best, these stereotypes reflect a romanticized understanding of the Roma as carefree musicians travelling in nomadic caravans. At worst, they reflect racist views about the Roma being unwilling to work, preferring instead to live off charity and petty crime. These stereotypes are, of course, inaccurate as the images of Canadian Roma in various professional occupations at the exhibit so poignantly demonstrate. They are also offensive. And they are frequently drawn upon to justify the continued mistreatment of the Roma in central and eastern Europe. Consider, for example, comments earlier this year by Zsolt Bayer, a founding member of Hungary's Fidesz party: "Most Gypsies are not suitable for cohabitation. They are not suitable for being among people. Most are animals and behave like animals. They shouldn't be tolerated or understood but stamped out." Anti-Roma stereotypes have also figured in recent attacks on the Roma community in Canada. For example, Canada has recently revised its refugee determination system with the explicit aim of reducing abuse of the system. The group most commonly singled out as an example of this alleged abuse were Hungarian refugee claimants, the vast majority of whom are Roma. In fact, former immigration minister Jason Kenney often derided all Hungarian refugee claimants as bogus. Similarly, a 2012 Canada Border Services Agency report drew heavily on racial profiling to argue in favour of the mass detention of Roma refugee claimants. "While no evidence of organized crime has been found regarding the Roma movement into Canada, a criminal element amongst the claimants is present," the report stated. "They are known to engage in petty theft, break and enter, possession of property obtained by crime, fraud and forgery, and assault, and many engage in similar activities while in Canada." High-profile legal professionals have also made negative public remarks about the Roma. For example, former Ontario Crown attorney Toni Skarica (now an Ontario Superior Court judge), testifying on behalf of the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General before a parliamentary committee, argued Roma refugee claimants come to Canada to abuse the welfare system. "They're coming here because in Hungary they're told . . . we have the most generous welfare package for refugees in the world. That's why they're coming here, because they get the best deal here." A complaint to Ontario Attorney General John Gerretsen by the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, the Canadian Council for Refugees, and the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants about Skarica's comments went unanswered. Others have gone even further. "Gypsies [are] synonymous with swindlers," Ezra Levant, a Sun News political commentator and a member of the Law Society of Alberta, has said. "The phrase Gypsy and cheater have been so interchangeable historically that the word has entered the English language as a verb: he gypped me. Well the Gypsies have gypped us. Too many have come here as false refugees. And they come here to gyp us again and rob us blind as they have done in Europe for centuries. . . . For centuries, these roving highway gangs have mocked the law and robbed their way across Europe. Now, because of our broken refugee system, they're here in Canada by the thousands and they've brought a Gypsy crime wave with them." While the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council found these comments violated broadcasting standards, deputy attorney general Patrick Monahan declined to proceed with hate-speech charges against Levant on the basis he had offered a belated on-air apology and that "a criminal prosecution would not be in the public interest." More recently, the Canadian Bar Association National magazine's student 2013 edition included an article, "Surviving Progress," by Mitch Kowalski about the future of the legal profession. In that article, Kowalski suggests tomorrow's lawyers will inhabit a world with few clear career paths. Instead, tomorrow's lawyers will need to continually adapt to professional disruptions stemming from globalization and www.lawtimesnews.com technological innovation. Unfortunately, Kowalski was careless with the language he used to describe one type of flexibility required by the next generation of lawyers. "You will also have the chance to become gypsy lawyers — lawyers who don't work full time but rather, work on a project-by-project basis — giving greater flexibility for those who want a different work/life balance." To refer to Gypsy lawyers in this way both reflects and reinforces anti-Roma stereotypes. While we are confident Kowalski did not mean to offend, it is disturbing that neither he nor the editors at the magazine caught his problematic language. Equally disturbing is the fact this language appeared in a piece written for law and pre-law students in a magazine published by the leading professional organization for lawyers in Canada and yet no one took a moment to imagine how it might sound to Roma law and pre-law students. Worse yet, when we brought this matter to the attention of the magazine as well as senior officials at the CBA, they failed to take steps to ensure this would not happen again. Instead, they defended the language used, suggesting Kowalski "used the meaning set out in the second edition (2005) Oxford English dictionary which defines a gypsy as 'a nomadic or free-spirited person.'" They maintained this stance even after learning the Oxford English dictionary lists offensive secondary definitions for other ethnic groups as well. For example, the dictionary includes a secondary use of the term Jew as a verb: to "bargain with someone in a miserly or petty way." It goes without saying that this secondary usage is completely inappropriate. It's disappointing that the leading professional organization of lawyers in Canada condones this kind of language. Roma communities around the world have long struggled against negative stereotypes. It is time for the legal profession in Canada to confront its own role in perpetuating these stereotypes. Osgoode's decision to start its academic year with the exhibit is cause for hope. Unfortunately, anti-Roma comments and problematic language used by some members of the legal profession and the ongoing failure of important legal institutions to adequately respond suggest there is still much work to do. LT Gina Csanyi-Robah is the executive director of the Roma Community Centre and a teacher with the Toronto District School Board. Sean Rehaag is an associate professor at Osgoode Hall Law School specializing in immigration and refugee law. Both are recipients of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers' advocacy award.

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