25 years after deaths of 1 million Rwandans, these advocates say Canada can do more to fight war crimes

MONTREAL -- Dozens gathered at the Montreal Holocaust Museum on Sunday to mark the 25^th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide.

That tragic chapter of history saw 1 million lives claimed in just 100 days. Among those present was former Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler. An acclaimed human rights attorney, Cotler has spoken and written extensively on the topic of the genocide and Canada’s role in preventing such atrocities from taking place.

“The genocide of the Tutsis occurred not simply because of the machinery of death but because of demonization of the other,” he said.

Laval University International Law Professor Fannie Lafontaine said that in the wake of the genocide Canada enacted the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act in 2000.

“It allows Canada to investigate and prosecute acts committed anywhere in the world before or after the act coming into force,” she said. “It’s a really strong piece of legislation which gave a lot of hope to victims of international crime.”

In 2009 Rwandan native Desire Munyaneza became the first person found guilty under the act. He was convicted of seven counts related to genocide and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

“We’ve prosecuted one other person since then so in 19 years we’ve basically had only two criminal prosecutions for genocidal crimes against humanity,” said Lafontaine. “We only extradited one person so it’s a very small record.”

Lafontaine said that while some may object to Canada investing resources into prosecuting criminals for crimes committed far away, doing so is Canada’s duty.

“If Canada doesn’t do it and then Switzerland doesn’t do it and Argentina doesn’t do it, the war criminals have places they can escape to,” she said.

Cotler said changes to the system are necessary to ensure war criminals don’t escape justice.

“We have to make the bringing of war criminals to justice a priority in Canadian government principals,” he said. “(We have to) make it a priority and sure it will be a priority. We have to allocate the necessary resources for that purpose.”

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  In this Aug. 20, 1994, file photo, Rwandan refugee children plead with Zairean soldiers to allow them across a bridge separating Rwanda and Zaire where their mothers had crossed moments earlier before the soldiers closed the border, in Zaire, now known as Congo. Twenty-five years ago Rwanda descended into violence in which some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred by the majority Hutu population over a 100-day period in what was the worst genocide in recent history. (AP Photo/Jean-Marc Bouju, File)