The 2023 annual Shewfelt Memorial Lecture welcomed The Honorable Roméo Dallaire, a former Canadian senator, for Thursday’s presentation at Albert College
The sold-out lecture hall was packed with 200 attendees.
Dallaire is a retired Lieutenant-General in the Canadian Armed Forces, who led the UN intervention in the Rwandan civil war and genocide. More recently he has taken on the role of humanitarian with the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security.
During the lecture, Dallaire spoke about several topics, but with a focus on the importance of proactive humanitarian work, not only helping to resolve conflicts but also working to stop them before they boil over into violence.
One of the topics he touched on was how the world keeps moving faster and faster. He noted that everything from science and technology to geopolitics moves faster now than it did when he was young.
“We are moving so fast, things are shifting so fast, that we’re not in an era anymore that permits us to get a warm fuzzy feeling that we’ve got a grip on things,” Dallaire said.
Despite how long it can take to build stability in a region, he advocated for early intervention and remaining involved through the long term.
“We have to go to where the source of the rage is, and sort it out there,” said Dallaire. “Preventing that friction from escalating to becoming conflicts that have impacts, massive loss of life, catastrophic wars where the civilians are the ones who are paying the price.”
Dallaire also spoke about how children are affected in unstable regions, getting drawn into conflicts that deny them shelter, education or food, and that growing up in those environments leads to them carrying that burden into adulthood.
“Child soldiers do not win wars,” said Dallaire. “They just keep them going. Those that survive become the generation for the next war.”
He ended his speech with a call to action for today’s young adults. He mentioned how many eligible young voters aren’t turning out to elections, and said that if the young started voting in great numbers, they would cause serious change.
Earlier in the day, Dallaire also spoke in two other lectures to groups of students at Albert College.
Two hundred attendees packed the auditorium to hear Dallaire’s presentation. Photo: Quinte News
