Genocide Deniers hold conference in Montreal

This past Thursday a French Canadian writer named Robin Philpot continued his quest to scrape the scabs off Rwanda's wounds and make the bleeding continue by holding a conference in Montreal with a number of other genocide deniers.

The conference, called "The Media and Rwanda: The Difficult Search for the Truth", is in reality a platform for those such as French author-journalist Mr. Pierre Pean, Spanish lawyer Mr. Jordi Palou-Loverdos, Belgian journalist Mr. Peter Verlinden and Canadian author Mr. Robin Philpot who have continually questioned facts surrounding the 1994 genocide, accused the current Rwandan government of mass atrocities, and questioned the integrity of former Canadian General Romeo Dallaire and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

The conference will start as Rwandans prepare to mark the 14th anniversary of the 100-day genocide where Hutu-backed militias led the massacre of Tutsis and Hutu moderates in 1994, killing between 800,000 and one million Rwandans.

If only these opinions were limited to a few crackpots. The sad truth is these ideas have been expressed to me personally on several occasion, and by none other then a leading Christian academic, who served in the Congolese refugee camps following the genocide, and told me that he does not believe what happened in Rwanda constituted a genocide.

This happens while evidence of genocide ideology still existing in Rwandan school classrooms has surfaced. It shows me just how important our work to transform cultural mindsets within Rwandan schools is. It makes me sad that people like Robin Philpot spend so much time and energy digging at Rwanda's wounds instead of working to help the country heal and rebuild. But then again, I guess separatism (Philpot belongs to the PQ) runs in his blood.