Roméo Dallaire - a man who has come to represent Canada's international leadership in the fields of peacekeeping and peacebuilding - is the 25th recipient of the Pearson Peace medal. The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, Governor-General of Canada, made the presentation in her capacity as Honourary Patron of the United Nations Association in Canada on Wednesday, March 9, 2005 at Rideau Hall.

Roméo Dallaire evokes humanity's conscience in the face of the failure of the global community to avert a genocidal disaster in Rwanda ten years ago. His own efforts to overcome his personal devastating sense of guilt has led him to speak and write extensively, bearing witness on behalf of the lost Rwandans - but also on behalf of those in places like Darfur, the Sudan, who are alive today, but may be dead tomorrow if we do not learn from the mistakes of the past. In his letter of nomination Peter George, President of McMaster University, noted that Dallaire has "put his own trauma on stage and brought a sharp, unwavering light to the politics and complications, but ultimately the hope, of peacekeeping".