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EDITORIAL

Too little too late

Fabruary 3, 2003

The Order of Canada, with respect, is losing its luster.

Among 106 people honoured this year are the usual actors, activists, business and community leaders, a pro hockey coach and a British theatre designer.

Well meaning stuffed shirts on Parliament Hill have gone from the ridiculous to the sublime with this year’s grouping of comic actor Leslie Neilson, filmmaker David Cronenberg, statesmen Stephen Lewis and--retired general Romeo Dallaire.

The worlds of comedy, celluloid film and statesmanship are eons away from the reality of genocide, and retired General Romeo Dallaire whose courage was born in a nightmare dating back to a Rwanda of 1994 has been left languishing on the sidelines for almost a decade.

"General Romeo Dallaire is one courageous Canadian. And his tormented pleas--never answered--will ring forever in the hallowed halls of the United Nations," Canadafreepress.com wrote in an Oct. 7, 2002 cover story.

As the former head of the U.N. Peacekeeping Force, General Dallaire witnessed unspeakable horror in Rwanda, as extremist Hutus massacred more than 80,000 Tutsis and Hutus in the space of a few terrible days in 1994.

According to Canadians.ca, the ABC of Famous Canadians, "General Romeo Dallaire did everything he could pleading for 2,000 more peacekeepers to be added to his insufficiently equipped 3,000-man force.

"If they had answered General Dallaire’s pleas, the U.N. could have stopped the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Rwandans. Instead, following the deaths of 10 Belgian Peacekeepers assigned to protect the President, his forces were cut down from 3,000 to a mere 500 men, who had to watch as one of the most horrible genocides in human history took place before their very eyes."

As CFP wrote, "Imagine a deaf U.N. ear being presented to a full-fledged general calling for help from the reality of the trenches."

Then on Oct. 12, 2001, citing among others, Annan’s emphasis on the U.N’s obligations with regards to human rights, the Norwegian Nobel Committee decided that Annan and the U.N. organization should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

On April 12, 2000 Dallaire announced he was retiring from the army for health reasons.

Forgotten by the international community--and his own country--sadly a depressed Dallaire was spotted by a reporter inebriated and in tears on a park bench.

Pretty blue ribbons, medals and politically correct citations are not likely to impress a man who once said: "I know there’s a hell. I shook hands with the devil."

The Order of Canada is nine years too late on recognizing the exemplary courage of Canadian Romeo Dallaire.



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