Retired lieutenant-general Roméo Dallaire to receive Humanitas Award

A man whose integrity and courage in the face of unimaginable horror made him one of the country’s most admired citizens will receive the Faculty of Humanities’ first-ever Public Humanist award. The Honorable Roméo Dallaire, retired lieutenant-general, former Canadian senator and best-selling author, will accept the honour at a Humanitas Awards gala event in Victoria on March 15. 

Dallaire was the commander of the United Nations’s peacekeeping-mission during the Rwandan genocide. In 1994, Dallaire tried to protect the country's vulnerable minority Tutsi population even as world leaders ignored his warnings of the coming violence. Some 800,000 people were killed. He has since dedicated his life to humanitarian efforts and is striving to eradicate the use of children in conflict.

Dallaire, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, has also worked tirelessly as an advocate for veterans returning from combat. He has co-written three books, including Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, which won the 2003 Shaughnessy Cohen Award for Political Writing and 2004 Governor General's Award for nonfiction.

Dean Chris Goto-Jones said that the retired lieutenant-general embodies the ethos of the newly launched Humanitas Awards. "He’s well known as a humanitarian and a leader, but also as an accomplished writer, and a generous, honest observer of the human spirit," he says. "Through his cultivated commitments and his actions, Dallaire has sought to change the world for the better, which is precisely what we seek to recognize with these new awards."

Late American science fiction and fantasy writer Ursula K. Le Guin, who died last year at age 88, will be honoured with the Historic Humanist award for her visionary work as a novelist and thinker. 

UVic alumna Ashli Akins, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 2009 with a double major in Latin American Studies and Environmental Studies and a minor in Professional Writing, will receive the Emerging Humanist award. Atkins founded the non-profit initiative Mosqoy, which has collaborated with Indigenous Quechua communities of the Peruvian Andes since 2006 to support the post-secondary education of more than 70 students and promote the artisan work of 150 women through fair trade.

Tickets to the Humanitas Awards gala on Friday, March 15, at the Baumann Centre are now available.