Michaelle Jean Apologizes To Rwanda For Canada’s Inaction During Genocide
Posted April 21, 2010 7:00 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean has delivered an official apology on behalf of Canada for its failure to act during the Rwandan genocide.
Jean made the apology today after becoming the first top-level Canadian official to visit Rwanda since the 1994 atrocity. Jean delivered her solemn message on behalf of the Canadian government.
Jean says the international community, including Canada, failed to heed warnings about the horrors taking place in Rwanda.
She credited Canadian Gen. Romeo Dallaire, however, for trying to warn the world about what was happening.
The Governor General’s visit to the country began with an emotional pilgrimage to a genocide memorial.
She laid a wreath on an open grave, and toured rooms that tell the story of one of humanity’s greatest horrors.
There are videos that show how Hutus and Tutsis were driven apart, and how the genocide began.
There are more gruesome scenes – like a pile of children’s fractured skulls, and stories about the child victims.
There are also pictures of Dallaire, who led the UN peacekeeping mission in the country and later struggled to deal with the emotional toll of what he saw and experienced.
One mural explains how his pleas for help were ignored.
Rwanda’s capital today is a clean, modern, stable city compared with others in the region. Even asking someone whether they are Hutu or Tutsi is considered a social faux pas.
Jean delivered her apology after a meeting with President Paul Kagame in his cabinet chamber.
