FOR SOME, A RUSH TO THE EXIT
As anti-EU protesters scuffle with police in Athens, members of Ottawa’s Greek community are divided on Greece’s prospects if it parts with the European Union.
As Greece teeters on the economic brink, Ottawa’s Greeks are watching, waiting — and talking.
“Everyone is waiting to see what happens,” says Chris Pezoulas, outside west-end souvlaki restaurant Cozmos. “You can’t help but talk about it.”
There are about 14,000 people in Ottawa’s Greek community, including the children of immigrants who came to the city, mostly in the 1950s and ’60s.
And as the crisis in Greece deepens, many Ottawa Greeks are worried about family back home — and the future of the country where many still have strong ties. Greece has failed to meet a 1.5-billion-euro payment (about US$1.7 billion) to the International Monetary Fund.
On Sunday, it faces a snap referendum on whether to accept the terms of a bailout deal. The results will likely affect whether the current government stays or goes, whether to stay with the euro or return to the drachma, and what European finance ministers decide to do next.
Meanwhile, in Ottawa stories are circulating about hard times in Greece. Seniors get meagre pensions. Government jobs are disappearing, and jobless people are returning to their ancestral homes and farming the land. The banks are closed. Fearing an exodus of cash, Greek account holders are limited to withdrawals of 60 euros a day, about $84. Lineups are long, and ATMs run out of cash.
“Nobody knows what’s going to happen,” says Anna Papadopoulos, one of the co-owners of The Nutty Greek, a family-run restaurant and bakery in Little Italy.
“There’s a lot of mixed emotion. Some people empathize. Some say ‘Too bad, so sad. They got themselves into this situation.’ ”
Papadopoulos was born in Canada — her father came to Ottawa more than 50 years ago with a suit and $25 in his pocket — but she still feels an attachment to her parents’ homeland.
“People are scared. If it collapses, there will be turmoil,” she says. “I feel bad for them. But sometimes you have to figure out when you’re going to take responsibility.”
Soula Burrell’s cousins are currently on a trip to Greece to visit family. When they heard about locked banks, long lineups outside ATMs and limited withdrawals, they opted to carry cash with them — in their shoes.
Pezoulas, his wife and three children will head to Greece on July 28 for the first time in 15 years. They planned the trip in February.
“The only red flag for me would be not to get robbed or mugged. There’s a lot of poverty,” he says. “But I spoke to some family members, and tourists don’t have much to worry about because Greece depends on tourists and takes care of them.”
He says the situation in Greece won’t prevent his family from making the trip. “This makes us want to go even more, to offer support and help the economy.”
The biggest concerns are for people who are elderly or disabled.
“The worst is my grandparents,” says Burrell. “They can’t go the bank. They can’t buy a loaf of bread. A neighbour who bakes bread is bringing them bread.”
If Greece decides in the referendum to return to the drachma, the country will spin into a deep recession. But Greeks will be up to the challenge, says Pezoulas.
“They will persevere, and they will succeed,” he says. “If it goes to the drachma, it will get worse before it gets better. And it will get better. They will get over this on their own terms. “
Papadopoulos agrees. The Greeks are a resilient people — thousands of years of history are proof of that, she says.
“The Greeks will always rise. They’ll come back.”