Rwandan-Canadians gathered in Toronto to connect with their community and learn about investment opportunities in their home country, as protesters loudly objected to the presence of President Paul Kagame.
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Rwanda's President Paul Kagame |
Hundreds
of Rwandan-Canadians gathered in Toronto on Saturday to connect with their
community and learn about investment opportunities in their home country.
But
there was a small but noisy presence from a couple dozen protesters at the
Rwanda Day event at Downsview Park, objecting to the presence of Rwanda’s
controversial President Paul Kagame .
This
was the first Rwanda Day held in Canada after previous versions in the U.S.,
London and Paris. Organizers said about 3,000 people attended, amid tight
security and a large contingent of Toronto police.
“The
main objective is to reconnect members of the community living abroad with
their mother country,” said Shakilla Umutoni, Rwandan chargée d’affaires. That
included updating them on developments in Rwanda and informing them of
investment opportunities back home.
About
15 Rwandan businesses and a few Canadian ones set up information booths at the
event, she said, before the event turned into a party featuring a performance
from Canadian rapper Shad, who was born in Kenya to Rwandan parents.
For
Elvira Rwasamanzi, a 21-year-old biotech student from Ottawa, the focus on
investing in Rwanda was one of the main draws of the day.
“It
was really motivating,” said Rwasamanzi, who came to Canada from Rwanda as a
young child. “It makes you want to give back because you’re proud.”
Kagame
used part of his speech to encourage Rwandan-Canadians to invest in Rwanda,
Umutoni said.
“He
said if you travelled all the way from your country and got to Canada, take
advantage of that . . . and do your best, not just for yourself but for your
country.”
But
it was the very presence of Kagame that brought protesters to the event, saying
that Canada shouldn’t have let him enter given his record on human rights.
Rwandan
opposition figures have been jailed and several countries suspended their aid
to Rwanda last year citing its military support for M23 , a rebel group
responsible for serious abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according
to the United Nations and human rights groups. Kagame has denied involvement.
Protesters
also cited a 2010 UN report implicating the Rwandan government in killing tens
of thousands of Hutus in the eastern part of what is now Congo, following the
1994 Rwandan genocide in which Hutus targeted Tutsis and up to a million people
were killed. (Kagame and many of today’s government leaders are Tutsis.) Rwanda
denounced the report.
“Paul
Kagame is a criminal financing a military movement in eastern Congo,” said Aime
Kabuya of the Congolese Citizen Movement. “He shouldn’t have the freedom to
travel that he does now. Why did Canada give him a visa?”
Perpétue
Muramutse of the International Women’s Network for Democracy and Peace also
raised concerns about Kagame’s pro-development message.
“The
Rwandese are very poor,” she said. “They say there’s development in Rwanda but
it’s development for just a small part of the people. When you go to the
countryside, you see people with nothing to eat.”
Umutoni
said she respected the right of protesters to express their views, but
questioned why they were raising those concerns at Rwanda Day.
“This
is purely a Rwandan event.”
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