Canadian delegates to talk visas

A Canadian delegation is on a weeklong visit evaluating whether to lift visa requirements for Czech citizens that were re-imposed in 2009 after authorities cited a disproportionately high number of Czech applicants seeking asylum.

A rift between the two countries emerged after Canadian officials said a flood of Czechs from the Roma minority seeking refuge were compromising immigration policy.

"In addition to creating significant delays and spiraling new costs in our refugee program, the sheer volume of these claims is undermining our ability to help people fleeing real persecution," Jason Kenney, Canada's immigration minister, said in 2009.

The delegation now in Prague includes policy analysts, a representative from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, a representative from the Canadian Mission to the European Commission and a liaison officer for the Czech Republic at the Canadian Border Services Agency in Vienna, as well as four Embassy officials based in Prague.

According to an agenda provided by the Embassy, the visit runs through Feb. 4 and includes meetings with government officials and NGO representatives about integration of the Roma minority.

"The aim of the visit is to obtain as much information as possible for a potential future revision of the visa duty," embassy spokeswoman Petra Šedinová said. A statement from the Canadian Visa Bureau said the visa requirement for Czechs "may be lifted in the near future."

Another wave of refugee requests is likely if the visa requirement is lifted, according to Roma rights activist Gwendolyn Albert, who said "push factors" remain.

"Those factors are neo-Nazi violence targeting the Roma, politicians playing the anti-Roma card, high structural unemployment in the Roma community and the failure to desegregate schools," Albert said.

Nonetheless, Albert and other human rights organizations have condemned the visa requirements.

"Unfortunately, the Canadian visa policy is really just about right-wing posturing for the domestic Canadian electorate," she said.

Canada reintroduced visas on Czech citizens in 1997 after lifting them in 1996, similarly citing the high numbers of Roma asylum seekers. The requirements were then lifted in 2007 only to be re-imposed in 2009. After this latest policy shift, Czech citizens were initially required to apply for visas at the Canadian Embassy in Vienna, but in the wake of a backlash, the Prague Embassy began processing visas in December 2009.

Between 2007 and the first months of 2009, the number of Czech asylum seekers shot up to 3,000, making the volume of Czech requests second only to Mexico.

After the reintroduction of visas, the government temporarily recalled their Ottawa ambassador, and the European Commission threatened to require visas of Canadian diplomats, though the measure was never implemented. The Chamber of Deputies' Foreign Committee has blocked an Air Transport Agreement between the EU and Canada, and failure to resolve the visa issue could potentially sidetrack a free-trade pact, worth $12 billion annually, now being negotiated between Brussels and Ottawa, which requires approval by the Czech government.

Cat Contiguglia can be reached at
ccontiguglia@praguepost.com