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October 2012 Honorary Degree Recipient

Doctor of Laws (honoris causa)

When you mention the name Rom茅o Dallaire, there is instant recognition and respect. And then the words start to come: Rwanda. General. Courage. Child soldiers. Activism. Humanitarian.

Lieutenant-General Dallaire, who was appointed to the Canadian Senate in 2005, is truly remarkable. He has shown extraordinary bravery and leadership in the face of atrocity and challenged us to respond to the plight of child soldiers. He has also shared his personal experience with post-traumatic stress disorder and been an advocate for those who suffer from it. 听

It is a privilege to have him with us today. I should note that it鈥檚 not his first time on campus. The university is proud to be the home of the Child Soldiers Initiative, a research, training and advocacy organization founded by Lieutenant-General Dallaire and directed by 鲍鱼tv鈥檚 Dr. Shelly Whitman.

Lieutenant-General Dallaire, a graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada, served in the military for more than three decades in various capacities. He was Force Commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda where his warnings of the massacre to come went unheeded and the 1994 genocide claimed an estimated 800,000 lives in 100 days.

His courage and on-the-ground efforts in the face of such horror earned great respect, but he was deeply troubled by what he could not do, and by what was not averted.

In a PBS Frontline interview for the documentary Ghosts of Rwanda, he said, 鈥淩wanda will never ever leave me. It鈥檚 in the pores of my body. My soul is in those hills, my spirit is with the spirits of all those people who were slaughtered and killed....鈥�

Lieutenant-General Dallaire鈥檚 book, Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, earned the Governor General鈥檚 Literary Award for non-fiction in 2004. It was also the basis of an award-winning documentary and film.

More recently, his efforts on behalf of child soldiers have inspired many. On the jacket of his book, They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children: The Global Quest to Eradicate the Use of Child Soldiers, is this quote:

鈥淭he ultimate focus of the rest of my life is to eradicate the use of child soldiers and to eliminate even the thought of the use of children as instruments of war.鈥�

In addition to founding the Child Soldiers Initiative and heading the General Rom茅o Dallaire Foundation, he is the distinguished senior fellow of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies and co-director of its Will to Intervene Project. Senator Dallaire is founder and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity and served on the United Nations Advisory Committee on Genocide Prevention. He was a fellow at Harvard Kennedy School鈥檚 Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.

Senator Dallaire is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec, a Commander of the Order of Military Merit and an Officer of the Legion of Merit of the United States. He received the Meritorious Service Cross, the Pearson Peace Medal, the Aegis Award for Genocide Prevention and Harvard University鈥檚 Humanist of the Year award. He has been granted honorary degrees from institutions in Canada and the United States.

Senator Dallaire, having shared his experience, his insights and his passion for human rights, invites all of us to join him in the cause. He speaks directly to Canada鈥檚 youth with these words from his senator鈥檚 home page:

鈥淚 want to encourage you to engage with the world. Go and get your boots dirty in the field. Now is the time to take up the cause of the advancement of human rights for all and the moment is yours to grasp.鈥�

For all he has courageously done and continues to do, and for the inspiration he provides, I ask you, Mr. Chancellor, in the name of the Senate, to bestow upon Lieutenant-General The Honourable Rom茅o Dallaire the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.

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