“For us veterans, it’s a day where we relive what we experienced on the front. It’s going back to hell, but it’s also seeing our chums in the difficult conditions of the weather,” he tells Soleil on the sidelines of the Quebec Liberal Party convention, Sunday, at the Lévis Convention Center.
General Dallaire gained international fame when he acted as commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda during the 1994 Tutsi genocide. He tried to denounce the crimes being committed in the country. , but in vain… These horrors still haunt him.
He later wrote the book I shook hands with the devil which recounts the events of this dark period of Rwandan history. A film adaptation of his work was made in 2007.
Respect them
The man who was also a Canadian senator still wants to emphasize the importance of Remembrance Day for both veterans and their families. He is also delighted with the youth momentum that November 11 is experiencing, which is leading many young people to become interested in the subject.
On November 11, General Dallaire relives the hell of war and sees his “friends” again in the difficult conditions of the weather. (Caroline Grégoire/The Sun)
“The star of Remembrance Day began to fade in the 1990s. Many veterans of the Second World War and the Korean War were passing away. But there is an incredible revival, more and more people want to see November 11,” says General Dallaire.
Although veterans’ issues are being highlighted more today, there is still work to be done to recognize them for their true value in civil society, believes his wife, Marie-Claude Michaud, who is running in the riding of Côte- du-Sud for the Liberals at the request of Denis Coderre.
Marie-Claude Michaud is running in the Côte-du-Sud riding for the Quebec Liberal Party in the next general election. (Caroline Grégoire/The Sun)
“We must continue to open our doors when they are looking for work. When they suffer from mental health problems, we must listen. Many of them have young families, they are not the veterans of yesteryear, we also have to understand these new realities,” she says.
“I would like veterans to know that they are not alone, even before and after November 11.”
— General Roméo Dallaire
And as his father told him so well: “When you join the Service, you don’t expect to be thanked, you only expect to be respected”.
Military families put forward
General Roméo Dallaire and Marie-Claude Michaud have just returned from a two-week visit to the Ukrainian front.
“We saw the families torn apart, the people who died and the soldiers who were amputees. This year, for me, Remembrance Day takes on an international dimension,” says Ms. Michaud.
“It is impossible for a country of our size not to get involved in preventing conflicts. Because there is not a conflict on Earth that does not affect us. Whether through economic, migratory impacts, etc.,” continues Mr. Dallaire.
The lovers were in Ukraine to help the government build a program for soldiers’ families, like what Marie-Claude Michaud did in Canada.
The one who was at the head of the Valcartier Military Family Resource Center from 2001 to 2019 succeeded in formally integrating soldiers’ families into Canada’s new Defense policy.
“Families no longer just support deployed people, but are now part of the army’s operational capacity to succeed in the mission. They are all as essential as the equipment,” says the general proudly.
