Canadian High Commission
One thing that has stuck with me since our visit with the Canadian High Commissioner was the rhetorical question she posed: “when can we compromise and when can we not?” I know that this question was likely to encourage us to consider the complexities of diplomacy, however, beneath the open-ended phrasing was the implication that even human rights, visibility, and dignity might sometimes be negotiable.
There were many things left unsaid in this conversation—for example, Rwanda has not signed UNDRIP, and the country maintains a political commitment to national unity that discourages the recognition of ethnic or Indigenous identities. The Twa are the most affected by this ideological framework, yet were left out of the conversation entirely. Canada positions itself as a strong advocate of indigenous rights, yet in Rwanda their advocacy is conspicuously muted—in Rwanda, “compromise” seems to be avoiding politically sensitive topics.
I don’t think the high commissioner meant any harm by posing this question, but I believe that when we ask “when can we compromise?” we must also ask who is being compromised, and who is made invisible so that relationships between states can stay intact. This highlights Canada’s hypocrisy when it comes to foreign policy. The country is viewed by many as the ‘nice guys’ yet their position in Rwanda aligns more closely with upholding a narrative of development that allows marginalized communities to fall through the cracks.
Despite my critiques, it is difficult to say what exactly Canada should be doing differently in Rwanda. On one hand, it is hard to listen to COPORWA (Community of Potters of Rwanda) discuss their distant ‘dreams’, and to see how they are impacted by poverty and the government’s post-genocide narrative. On the other, is it really our place to try and impose our beliefs of what good governance should look like in a country we have only been in for a few days? Does the Canadian government have the right to comment considering the historic and current mistreatment of its own Indigenous population?
