The Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, Leadership and Action to Prevent Mass Atrocities

"If we believe that all 

humans are human, then how are 

we going to prove it? It can only 

be proven through our actions. 

Through the dollars we are 

prepared to expend to improve 

conditions in the Third World, 

through the time and energy we 

devote to solving devastating 

problems, like AIDS, through the 

lives of our soldiers, which we 

are prepared to sacrifice for 

the sake of humanity.” 

– Roméo Dallaire, Lieutenant General (Retired)

"A modern understanding of the national interest requires a greater emphasis on the prevention of mass atrocities by leaders. In today’s unstable and interdependent global environment, the traditional national interest approach to foreign policy is no longer effective. The combined impact of poverty and inequality, rapid demographic growth, nationalism, and climate change drives deadly violence and threatens international peace and security. These underlying structural factors increase the risks of mass atrocities, and the chaos resulting from those atrocities poses credible dangers to Canadian and American national interests at home and abroad. If we continue to deal with looming genocides and other mass atrocities in a reactive manner, we will confront more than just the moral failure to save lives; inevitably, Canada and the U.S. will face threats to their own national security and prosperity." [source]