He added that he was outraged that the embassy had allegedly suggested that he was personally responsible for the wave of Czech Romanies currently vying for a new life in Canada. Nora Jurkovicova, a spokeswoman with the Czech Embassy in Canada, said the embassy categorically rejects Kubes' statements, CTK reported. Huguette Shouldice, a spokeswoman for Canadian Citizenship and Immigration in Ottawa, said she could not speak about individual claims for refugee status in Canada. Shouldice did say, however, that asylum can be denied only when claimants have had jail sentences of 10 or more years, have been convicted of a crime in Canada or are fleeing a court case in their home countries. Statistics from Canadian Immigration show that 38 Czechs were deported in the first half of 1997.
Reasons range from simple denials of claims to overstaying visas.
Ninety Czechs arrived in Canada between Aug. 22 and 26 of this year. Shouldice said most of these new arrivals were Romanies, but she declined to comment on how many would likely be granted asylum.