Vancouver designates Will to Intervene Day
The City of Vancouver has proclaimed its support for the Will to Intervene Project.
LGen Roméo Dallaire (ret), a Senior Fellow at the Concordia-based Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS), met with Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson Vancouver City Hall last week. The west coast city officially designated November 12, 2010, as Will to Intervene Day.
Released in the fall of 2009, the Will to Intervene report makes recommendations for the governments of Canada and the United States to take leadership positions in preventing and responding to genocide and mass atrocities.
By endorsing the report’s recommendations to the Government of Canada, Vancouver has recognized the importance of integrating such measures into Canadian policy.
The proclamation stems from a Civic Dialogue – facilitated discussions amongst municipal government leaders and public intellectuals in major North American cities – the MIGS team held at Simon Fraser University in November, 2009.
Following the dialogue, Vancouver city councilor Geoff Meggs, the majority caucus leader, was instrumental in initiating discussion at City Hall to draft the new proclamation.
MIGS held similar discussions in Calgary in January and Edmonton in February, 2010. MIGS has shared a similar draft resolution with Montreal city council, and is currently planning a Civic Dialogue to further encourage the city to adopt the report’s recommendations.
Prior to his trip to Vancouver, Dallaire attracted over 800 people to a standing-room-only lecture and discussion on November 4 in the Henry F. Hall Building to mark the release of his book, They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children.
His first book, Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, is a critically-acclaimed first-hand account of his experience as a United Nations Force Commander during the Rwandan genocide.
Related Links:
• Vancouver Proclamation
• Will To Intervene Project
• Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies
• MIGS: One year later – Concordia Journal
• Romeo Dallaire