August 2nd, 2021
NDP Statement on the Annual Commemoration of the Roma and Sinti Genocide
Jagmeet Singh, Leader of Canada’s NDP, issued the following statement:
"On August 2nd, 1944, during the Second World War, every Roma and Sinti, 4300, who remained imprisoned in the Nazi ‘Gypsy Camp’, were systematically killed in the gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
During the war, it is estimated that 500,000 Roma and Sinti were killed by the Nazis. It wasn’t until 1979 that Germany officially recognized that the persecution of the Roma people during WWII was racially motivated.
After centuries of discrimination, Roma and Sinti communities in Europe continue to face segregation, persecution and violence.
On this day, New Democrats stand together with our Canadian Roma and Sinti neighbours in remembering the Roma and Sinti genocide. To change the present, and to fight discrimination and racism, we must acknowledge this dark history.
We stand for the dignity and human right of Roma population everywhere in the world, and of the thousands Roma and Sinti people in Canada. Both federal and provincial governments must work together to end the discrimination of Roma people in Canada. We must fight hate and racism wherever it is."