Lieutenant-General Roméo A. Dallaire
Commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide

"Lt. General Dallaire who, as the former head of the U.N. Peacekeeping Force witnessed unspeakable horrors in Rwanda, as extremist Hutus massacred over 800,000 Tutsis and Hutus in the space of a few days in 1994. General Romeo Dallaire did everything he could, pleading for 2000 more peacekeepers to be added to his insufficiently equipped 3000 man force. If they had answered Gen. Dallaire's pleas, the U.N. could have stopped the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Rwandans. Instead, following the deaths of 10 Belgian Peacekeepers assigned to protect the President, his forces were cut down from 3000 to a mere 500 men, who had to watch as one of the most horrible genocides in human history took place before their very eyes. Gen. Romeo Dallaire, frustrated, and disheartened by the U.N.'s passive attitude, nonetheless stood for his beliefs, repeatedly confronting his superiors who did nothing to prevent the horrific events from unfolding.

"In 2002, he was honored as the first recipient of the Aegis Trust Award.

"Romeo Dallaire is now working on the problem of war-affected children, and has visited countries where children are used as soldiers or are being sold into sexual slavery."

Lieutenant-General Roméo A. Dallaire was born in Denekamp, Holland, on 25 June 1946. He enrolled in the Canadian Army in 1964 after four years in the Cadets and the Reserves. He attended College militaire royal de Saint-Jean and graduated with a Bachelor of Sciences in 1969 from Royal Military College in Kingston, ON. He also attended the Canadian Land Forces Command and Staff College and the United States Marine Corps Command and Staff College in Virginia.

Promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General on 3 July 1989, he assumed command of the College militaire royal de Saint-Jean. After studying at the British Higher Command and Staff Course, Camberly, United Kingdom in the spring of 1991, he was appointed Commander 5e Groupe-brigade mécanisé du Canada at Valcartier on 5 July 1991. He left Valcartier on 1 July 1993 to take command of the United Nations Observer Mission - Uganda and Rwanda (UNOMUR) and the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR). It is for this mission that he was awarded the Meritorious Service Cross.

He was promoted to Major-General on 1 January 1994. From September 1994 to October 1995, he assumed simultaneously the positions of Deputy Commander of Land Force Command in St. Hubert and Commander of the 1st Canadian Division. On 2 June 1995, he was presented with "The Vimy Award" by the Conference of Defence Associations. On 20 October 1995, he assumed command of Land Force Quebec Area.

On 9 January 1996, he was named an Officer of the Legion of Merit by the United States. On 2 July 1996, he assumed the position of Chief of Staff of Assistant Deputy Minister (Personnel) Group. Promoted to Lieutenant-General, he assumed the duties of Assistant Deputy Minister (Human Resources-Military) in April 1998.

On 5 February 1999, Lieutenant-General Dallaire was appointed to the position of Special Advisor to the Chief of the Defence Staff on Officer Professional Development. His duties there dealt with matters regarding the Reform of the Officer Corps, including the General and Admiral Senior Executive branch, and its Professional Development into the future. He remained in this position until medically released from the Canadian Forces on 18 April 2000.

He remains on the Canadian Armed Forces Mental Health Project, as well as the Veterans Affairs Canada-Canadian Forces Advisory Council. He is a visiting lecturer to a number of Canadian and US universities and he has written several articles and chapters on Conflict Resolution and Humanitarian Aid/Human Rights.

He is currently the Special Advisor to the Canadian International Development Agency on matters relating to War Affected Children around the world, as well as writing a book on conflict resolution based on his experiences in and after the United Nations Mission to Rwanda in 1993/94. He is also Advisor for the Minister of National Defence on the professional development and the education of the members of the Canadian Forces.

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He is a member of the Canadian War Museum Advisory Council, and he works with the Canadian Defense and Foreign Policy Institute. He has been named Fellow of Ryerson Polytechnic and received a doctorate Honoris Causa from Sherbrooke University, University of Western Ontario, the Royal Military College of Canada, McMaster University, University College of Cape Breton, York University, University of Ottawa, St.Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia and Queen's University of Kingston, and the Kroeger College Award for Public Affairs from Carlton University.

He is the first recipient of the Aegis Award on Genocide Prevention from the United Kingdom.

He was invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada in October 2002 by the Governor General of Canada.

He is married and is the father of three children. His book, " Shake Hands With the Devil ", an account of his experience as the Force Commander of the United Nations Mission to Rwanda during the genocide, has recently been published.