1994 Remembered

Rwanda genocide commemoration week hosts speakers, films

Chelsea Moore Staff

Memories of the 1994 Rwanda genocide were shared last week at the University of Manitoba, and the woe of millions was felt. April 7, 2006 marked the 12th anniversary of the ruthless bloodbath — a conflict that saw over a million die in under six months.

Christian Butera, a Rwandan student at the U of M who survived the genocide and incoming UMSU vice-president (advocacy), spoke to an audience on Thursday night at the university.

“The million Tutsis and moderate Hutus,” said Butera, “were our fathers, our brothers, our cousins, our mothers, our loved ones — the people you know from close, and those from afar.

“We will always remember them,” added Butera. “They live with us, they walk with us.”

As part of the Rwandan genocide commemoration, a candlelight ceremony was held at the Arthur Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice.

“Every first week of April,” said Butera, “Rwandans everywhere . . . go through a range of emotions — sadness, and moments of happiness.”

Butera also noted that these are “sacred moments that remind us of the tremendous weeks and months that we endured between April and July of 1994.”

Justice was also discussed during the week, and a law professor at the U of M, David Matas, author of Justice Delayed, gave his take on how Canada has been handling criminal refugees.

According to Matas, “Canada is a prime destination for international criminal refugees.”

In the last year, Leon Mugesera, a former university lecturer in Rwanda, was ordered deported by the Supreme Court of Canada for being involved in the incitement of genocide.

In 1992, a couple of years before the genocide broke out, Mugesera delivered a speech to a group of militant Hutus in Rwanda — one that blatantly involved incitements to murder, according to Matas.

“Basically what it did was call the Tutsis “cockroaches” and call for their extermination,” said Matas. “It was explicit, it was direct, and it was awful.”

Mugesera arrived in Canada under false representation in 1992 — after having fled from Rwanda to Spain.

Following the Rwanda genocide, his identity became known to the Canadian government, and with many witnesses, deportation proceedings began against him in 1995.

Mugesera was ordered deported on the grounds of misrepresentation, incitement to murder, incitement to hatred, incitement to genocide, and for crimes against humanity.

He lost his first appeal to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, and his second to the Federal Court of Canada, the latter of which found him to be complicit in incitement to murder, hatred, genocide and crimes against humanity.

Mugesera’s third appeal — this time to the federal court of appeal — found him “in favour on all counts,” said Matas, adding that “it defied reality.”

“It was legally amazing and factually astounding,” said Matas. “It denied basically the principles and denied the reality of what was happening in Rwanda.”

“The government then appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, and the Supreme Court of Canada reinstated the original judgments, overturned the Federal Court of Appeal, and ended up with Mr. Mugesera again being ordered deported,” added Matas.

However, Mugesera is still in Canada, which illustrates the discrepancy between “getting a deportation order, and enforcing it,” according to Matas.

“The case is a good example of the problem that Canada faces dealing with refugees — international criminal refugees from around the world,” said Matas.

Other insights into justice and the Rwanda genocide were offered throughout the week, and the U of M’s student union hosted several films, including Mere Courage [Mother Courage], Sometime in April, and Shake Hands with the Devil.

According to Butera, “it’s moments like these, when we are gathered to remember them, that their sacrifice is given meaning because some of us, someday or even now, manage to make something of their very lives.”