Retired lieutenant general and senator touring new book
Roméo Dallaire, retired lieutenant general and Canadian senator, spoke in downtown Guelph for Café Philosophique’s speaker series sponsored by the College of Arts, The Bookshelf, and the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival.
The Café Philosophique events invite an author of a newly released or topical book to have a discussion about their work. On Sat, Oct. 29, Matthew Hayday, a history professor at the University of Guelph, facilitated a conversation with Dallaire about his new book, Waiting for First Light: My Ongoing Battle With PTSD at the Lakeside Hope House.
Waiting for First Light narrates Dallaire’s struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder since his release from the military in 2000 and revisits his time in Rwanda.
Following introductions by both the dean of the College of Arts, Donald Bruce, and Prof. Hayday, Dallaire read a few paragraphs from the newly released book.
During the discussion period, Hayday asked Dallaire about how society deals with PTSD, PTSD in a broader societal context, Canada’s role in global peacekeeping, Canada’s role as a middle power, and ways to prepare Canadians for the reality of PTSD. Dallaire’s answers delved into a range of topics from the importance of educating youth and the importance of the humanities, to mental illness stigma and misplaced governmental military spending.
Dallaire served in the Canadian military from 1960 until 2000. He became a household name in Canada in 1994 when he served as force commander for the United Nations forces in Rwanda prior to and during the Rwandan genocide.
It was in Rwanda where Dallaire famously denied orders to leave and kept his UN force in the country to protect as many lives as they could.
Over the course of 100 days more than 800,000 people were killed.
Upon being medically released from the Canadian Army in 2000, Dallaire has served on the UN Advisory Committee on Genocide Prevention, as Special Advisor to the Minister of Veterans Affairs Canada, as Advisor to the Minister of National Defence, and as Special Advisor to the Minister responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency on matters relating to war affected children. He served in the Canadian Senate from 2005 until his voluntary resignation in 2014 at which point he chose to spend more time public speaking and researching PTSD. Dallaire stepped down due to his own struggles with PTSD and due to his frustration with the ongoing Canadian Senate expenses scandal.
At the end of the interview portion of the talk, questions were accepted from the audience. Questions were asked from a variety of attendees, including a citizen concerned about demilitarizing Canada, a retired Gulf War veteran, a police officer living with PTSD, and a Rwandan genocide survivor. In response, the crowd heard from Dallaire about the need to demilitarize police; the injustices that Gulf War veterans still face due to a misunderstanding of mental injuries; the continuing need for counselling; the importance of peer support; and a heated statement about the injustices the world imposed on Rwanda in 1994.
Dallaire closed out the event with a statement saying, “I don’t think there’s a more significant time to serve.”
“We need young people to have, underneath their bed, a pair of boots that they’ve soiled on the earth of a developing country to see what is happening with 80 per cent of humanity.”
Dallaire’s message was one of hope, but also contained a plea to treat veterans who—no matter what may have caused the conflicts—volunteered to serve their country “with respect.”
Photo by Mariah Bridgeman.