A Riveting Presentation

By Capt (Ret) Harry Rice

Lieutenant-General, The Honourable Senator Romeo Dallaire, gave a stirring presentation to some 170 guests in support of the Lodge at Broadmead Foundation. It can be truly said that the audience was completely riveted to most every word during the luncheon talk on Jan.18 at the Harbour Towers Hotel, Victoria. The audience was drawn completely by his articulate arguments for a “call to action” especially oriented as he stated, to the youth of this great country.

General Dallaire commenced by speaking of the Canadian Veterans he visited earlier in the day at the Lodge at Broadmead. In fact the Lodge was only one of many Veterans’ residences he has visited across Canada in the past few months. He was passionate about their importance, particularly now. He emphasized that we have a new generation of veterans in Canada from all services, the result of the Canadian Forces in several recent wars, or so-called peacekeeping operations overseas. This new generation is falling in behind those veterans of the Second World War and Korea. That is why The Lodge at Broadmead and all such establishments across Canada need support from all levels of government.

Another focus was the element of a new dimension on the battlefield. No longer, he noted using the Gulf War as an example, do we have an army of coalition divisions or brigades fighting an enemy with a similar basic military structure. We are now fighting Taliban or al-Qaeda insurgents, often in small groups or on individual or well coordinated suicide missions.

Clearly in Dallaire’s eyes, fighting our current enemies is a far different combat scenario and far more complex than of wars gone by. He spoke of the corporal on sentry duty in a current combat situation confronted with an instant decision. Is the young burnouse-clad girl approaching the sentry post, indeed pregnant or is she a suicide bomber intent on destroying the sentry post and his fellow soldiers? The decision in this case could have far reaching personal implications – both moral and psychological. Does he shoot first, or….?

LGen Dallaire did emphasize on a number of occasions that, in his opinion, the days of “peacekeeping” are essentially behind us and have been behind us for some years. The battles raging in far flung places such as Darfur, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan make it patently clear that highly trained combat forces will be required to bring peace to these unsettled regions. And, the UN will require hundreds of thousands of troops to make it so. Why it was not happening was, in his mind, a mystery.

However, the essence of Dallaire’s themes centered on “what do we want Canada to be?” We are not a super power but as one of the top nine industrial nations in the world we are a mid-power nation – and we can make a difference. The paradigm he espouses is to move away from our current focus on parochialism, provincialism, localism and regionalism and focus upon what Canada can be in terms of world affairs. Canada can have an impact to ensure our world enjoys a future free of the horrors of genocide. But we need the will of Canadians and government to make it so.

Throughout the talk, and in response to questions from the audience, LGen Dallaire’s deep and abiding respect for his fellow soldiers surfaced frequently. He acknowledged that there will be casualties, both killed or seriously injured and suffering the mental anguish of what they experienced in battle. He made it clear however, our Canadian troops have taken such casualties over many years in many theatres of operations. That is the price required of us and the price we will continue to pay.

Responding to a question, Dallaire noted that of his three children, two are in the Naval Reserve and one is in the Infantry, preparing for an operational tour in Africa.

It can be said that LGen Dallaire is not only a true Canadian patriot but has become a national icon, with both a superb national and international presence. He remains however, amazingly humble, genuine, and caring individual who spoke afterward to many individuals.

When it was suggested that his talk should be heard by every single Canadian across the land, he received a standing ovation.

That evening, he spoke to the four-day International Meeting of Church Explorations Symposium at the First Metropolitan United Church in Victoria. The 800 delegates from across Canada and the United Stated accorded LGen Romeo Dallaire three separate standing ovations during his talk.

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