Canada has been actively involved with the United Nations since its creation in 1945. Since then, Canadian peacekeepers have participated in almost every single peacekeeping mission. The role of Canadian peacekeeping was to bring peace and stability between countries. However, Canada's role is slowly starting to diminish because of its failure to prevent conflict in peacekeeping missions. Examples of this instance include the mass genocide in Rwanda, the civil war in Somalia and Yugoslavian crisis.
Through the months, April to July in 1994, approximately 800,000 to 1 million Tutsis and some moderate Hutus were massacred in the Rwandan genocide.1 More than 67% of women, who were raped during the genocide were infected with HIV and AIDS. In many cases, this resulted from a systematic and planned use of rape by HIV+ men as a weapon of genocide. Due to poverty, over half the children who survived stopped their schooling. 40,000 survivors are still without shelter, many whose homes were destroyed in the genocide. In July 1993 General Roméo Dallaire was provided with little information on the background of the conflict in Rwanda. When requested for current intelligence, he was denied and given little access to the information. Romeo went into the mission of Rwanda as what they call "a blind man". Due to the lack of information Canada was given, the mission was planned poorly as they were provided with inexperienced experts in economic, political and human rights operational planning. This came as a result of military operations that had ignored requirements for long- term addresses to the cause of the Rwandan conflict. The mission was also restricted with little funding, time, and force was prohibited except in self-defence. After the plane shooting, Dallaire called for reinforcements and was denied. By April 10, it was clear the non-battle pole strategy had failed to prevent the genocide.
