Après le génocide (2009)

Every year, Canada receives up to thirty-five thousand immigrants with refugee status. These are people who have often witnessed and been victims of acts of a barbarity difficult to imagine, and this is only the beginning of a difficult path towards freedom and peace. The fundamental question is: do people want refugees in their country? If the answer is yes, we need to find ways to build bridges and open minds. But if the answer is no, if we don't want them, let's stop pretending. What is Canada's responsibility as a host country towards the refugees it accepts? Are we really in a position to understand and help them, and how can we ensure that they can truly begin a new life here? An examination of the Burundian and Congolese communities here reveals that the task is complex, and the journey is fraught with pitfalls, both for the host society, which must come to terms with the horror that drives them to us, and for the refugee communities, always grappling with the demons they are trying to escape, but unwittingly bring here with them.