Media Advisory

Canadian delegation to attend 10^th anniversary remembrance ceremonies in Rwanda

April 2, 2004

A nine-person delegation will attend 10^th anniversary remembrance ceremonies in Kigali between April 6^th and 8^th.  The delegation will include Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire (ret.) and his wife Elizabeth; Marc-André Brault, Canadian Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region, Department of Foreign Affairs; Robert Fowler, Personal Representative of the Prime Minister for Africa and Canadian Ambassador to Rome; Col. Tremblay, military attaché, office of the Canadian Embassy in Rwanda; Jim Wall, Canadian Ambassador credited to Rwanda; and Hon. David Kilgour, Member of Parliament for Edmonton Southeast.

“It is a great honour to represent Canada at these ceremonies, in particular as a member of the delegation led by Roméo Dallaire, who through his profound humanity and remarkable valour has earned the admiration of peacekeepers and peacemakers worldwide,” said Kilgour. 

The genocide of 1994 in Rwanda has been one of the most horrific atrocities of the past century, indeed one of the greatest tragedies any time in world history.  In his remarks at the “Memorial Conference on the Rwandan Genocide,” organized by the governments of Canada and Rwanda in New York on 26 March 2004, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan stated: “Some brave individuals tried to stop the killing, above all General Roméo Dallaire of Canada, the force commander of the small UN peacekeeping force that was on the ground at the time.  They did all they could.  They were entitled to more help.”  The international community, indifferent to the Rwandan people, didn’t heed the General’s pleas.  As Dallaire put it in his award-winning book, Shake Hands with the Devil, the entire UN system and governments across the planet must never again opt to rank some people ‘as more human than others, a mistake that the international community endorsed by its indifference in1994.’  “I feel honoured to be able to stand with Lt-General Dallaire during the remembrance ceremonies next week in Kigali,” said Kilgour.

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For more information contact:

Herb Davis 
Office of Hon. David Kilgour, M.P.
(613) 995-8695 / Kilgour@parl.gc.ca