York Centre for Refugee Studies
Film Screening of Educators' Rwanda Visit Brings Plight of Orphans Home to Canadians

TORONTO, October 17, 2000 -- The plight of almost half-a-million children orphaned by the 1994 genocide in Rwanda spurred a group of Canadian teachers and community workers to travel to the sites of the massacres this year and witness the tragic aftermath. The film documenting this journey, Rwanda: In Search of Hope, will be shown at York University, Thursday, October 19, at 7:30 p.m., sponsored by the York Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS) and the Hope for Rwanda's Children Fund (HRCF).

"This film reminds us that we must constantly be aware of the continuing tragedy of the Rwandan genocide and of what could have been done to prevent it, given the danger of a repetition," said Howard Adelman, professor of Philosophy at the CRS and a specialist on international ethics. He noted the tendency of genocide to spread and the potential for it to happen again in Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Canadian trip was inspired by York Region District School Board teacher and HRCF member LČo Kabalisa, a Rwandan-Canadian who lost most of his family in the genocide. During their visit, the Canadian group took part in Rwanda's first Walk in Support of Rwandan Children and its Days of International Solidarity for the Children of Rwanda, a week-long series of events, visits and workshops on the situation of children after the genocide. Kabalisa and the award-winning film maker who documented the trip, Peter Raymont, will join Adelman in a discussion with the audience after the screening.

Adelman co-authored the first international report on the genocide entitled, Early Warning and Conflict Management: Genocide in Rwanda in 1996, and co-edited The Path of a Genocide: The Rwandan Crisis from Uganda to Zaire in 1998. He also wrote three of the working papers for the African-led inquiry on the genocide sponsored by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) that reported in July. That report was a stinging condemnation of western nations' failure to intervene to stop the killing of more than one-million Tutsis and Hutu moderates by Rwanda's Hutu-led government.

The OAU panel of international experts, which included former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, Stephen Lewis, accused France and the United States of undermining the effectiveness of the UN peacekeeping operation in Rwanda, which was under the command of Canadian lieutenant-general RomČo Dallaire. Lt.-Gen. Dallaire, who suffered post-traumatic stress from memories of his command of UN forces during the genocide, has recently been appointed to return to Rwanda as an advisor to the Canadian government.

The HRCF is a registered Canadian charity founded in September 1994 to provide financial and educational support to children in Rwanda. The organization's scholarship program has sponsored the studies of 130 students across the country, with support from Canadian schools, community organizations, corporations and individuals who have made donations or organized their own fund raising events, such as the annual Walk for Hope at Toronto's High Park each spring.

The film was produced by White Pine Pictures in association with Vision TV and with participation from the Canadian International Development Agency and the Canadian Auto Workers union. It will be shown in Curtis Lecture Hall I, Ross Building, York University, Keele Campus, 4700 Keele St. A donation of $5 is suggested.

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For further information, please contact:

Prof. Howard Adelman
Centre for Refugee Studies
York University
(416) 533-5012 (h)
(416) 875-9737 (cell)

Colleen Burke
Centre for Refugee Studies
York University
(416) 736-5663
cburke@yorku.ca

Susan Bigelow
Media Relations
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22091
sbigelow@yorku.ca
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