鈥淎s a retired general and apprentice politician, brevity is not my strength,鈥� Lieutenant-General The Honourable Rom茅o Dallaire told Dal graduates assembled in the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium on Wednesday afternoon.
In fact, General Dallaire鈥檚 address, which followed the receipt of his honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Dal, wasn鈥檛 all that long, but the sharp power of his words was electrifying.
He was introduced by Lloyd Fraser, chair of the 鲍鱼tv Senate, with a look at his remarkable past: heroic warnings, unheeded, about the genocide in Rwanda that claimed 800,000 lives; advocacy on behalf of post-traumatic stress disorder sufferers; leading the cause against the use of child soldiers and his founding of the Rom茅o Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative, hosted here at Dal; harrowing, award-winning books about his experiences; Canadian senator; too many awards to reasonably list.
Leadership for the future
But rather than discuss his inspiring, heroic life story, Dallaire looked to the future in his speech, addressing the hopes, aspirations and potential of the graduating class seated in front of him 鈥� as he put it, 鈥渢he newest members of the leadership strata of this incredible nation of ours.鈥�
He threw out the year 2017 as an example: a year which will mark not only the 150th anniversary of Canada鈥檚 confederation, but also the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, one of the defining moments in the nation鈥檚 history.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 the plan?鈥� he asked. 鈥淲hat are we going to culminate in 2017 that is going to rally the incredible potential of this country and move us beyond that date? . . . What strategic guidance are we providing you, who are entering that leadership role, in order that you can focus the extraordinary energy and potential of this nation?鈥�
He鈥檚 concerned that there鈥檚 a lack of vision in celebrating and defining Canada for the future.
鈥淟eadership is not surviving the future. It鈥檚 not surviving the environmental changes. It鈥檚 not surviving the plight of conflict and . . . massive abuses of human rights, of letting nations implode and go into catastrophic failure. That is not the future. That is not shaping it.鈥�
The credibility of dirty boots
General Dallaire argued that this generation鈥檚 ability to shape the future may be greater than any before it, as a 鈥渁 generation without borders.鈥� He discussed how the revolution in communications technology offers an extraordinary moment for this generation to coalesce political and social movements and shift global discussion around issues such as poverty, war and genocide.
And the best way to start leading that charge, General Dallaire said, was for students to look outwards, and to get their boots dirty in the world around them.
鈥淭he rite of passage in this country, after the undergrad degree, or maybe after high school, [should be] that you have underneath your bed a pair of boots that have been soiled in the earth of a country that is trying to pull itself into the era that we are in . . . So that you see, feel, hear, taste, touch what is happening to 80 per cent of humanity, and that you bring that passion back in your eyes. And with the credibility of those dirty boots, you change our perspective of who we are: not being local, or provincial, or even national, but being internationalists of our era of revolution where there are no more borders.鈥�
Learn more about , and watch General Dallaire鈥檚 full remarks below.