Rwandans wishing to travel to Canada have to mention their ethnic group when applying for visas, The New Times has established.

The applicants must furnish a copy of their pre-1996 ID card which states the ethnic group of the holder.

"What are the number on your pre-1996 Rwandan ID card and the name of the ethnic group listed for you on this card? Please attach to this questionnaire photocopies of identity documents issued to you before 1996 (including your Rwandan ID card)," states question number 8 of the special "Rwanda questionnaire", exclusively reserved for Rwandans born before 1980.

Many prominent government and civil authorities in Rwanda have been denied visas for not furnishing the above information.

When the Genocide erupted in April 1994, thousands of roadblocks were erected all over the country to filter out Tutsi. Many victims of the Genocide were easily identified and selected for killing because the IDs mentioned their ethnic group.

The RPF-led government abolished ethnically ascribed identification cards when it took over power in 1994 preferring every citizen to be classified as Rwandan. Parliament made ethnic discrimination a crime.

A Canadian newspaper, La Presse last week reported that Theodore Simburudali, the president of IBUKA, an umbrella organization for genocide survivors’ organization, was refused a visa for that reason.

Simburudali had been invited to attend a seminar as part of events to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the Genocide. Canadian organizations strongly condemned what they termed as "ethic profiling" by the Canadian Embassy in Nairobi.

" It’s like Canada asking a South African whether he is Black or White, or asking a European whether he was Jewish and demanding to see a photo of his Star of David,", said Callixte Kabayiza, the president of the Canadian-based Relatives and Friends of Victims of the Tutsi Genocide.

Kabayiza was in the company of representatives of Page-Rwanda and the Canadian Jewish Congress.

When La Presse sought confirmation from the Canadian Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration whether they compel Rwandans to state their ethnic groups, the spokesperson of the ministry, Danielle Norris was evasive. "I can not give you an answer right now. We are going to contact the international department of Immigration Canada who will in turn contact the Canadian Embassy in Nairobi to find out whether it’s true," La Presse quoted her as saying

Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rosemary Museminali told The New Times that they were aware of the issue and had raised it with Canadian authorities.

Museminali added that they were going to bring up the matter again since it was obvious nothing was done.

Last year. The Canadian government refused to grant a visa to former Kigali City Mayor, Marc Kabandana for refusing to state his ethic group. Kabandana is the head of the Rwanda Institute of Administration and Management (RIAM) and a member of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission.

In his reply to the Canadian Embassy in Nairobi, Kabandana said that he had been to Canada several times in the past and that it was only now that he was being asked to "defend" his identity before "a jury of the Immigration Bureau in the Canadian Embassy".

"I find your questions offensive to any self respecting Rwandan proud of his country. They reflect a recurrence of the ideology that set this country on fire and shed blood in the worst Genocide in history," Kabandana wrote.

The Governor of the Central Bank, François Kanimba, also ran into the same problems in 2004 and had to postpone his trip.

When journalists from The New Times sister newspaper, Izuba, sought an appointment with the Canadian representative in Rwanda, she refused to receive them. When they phoned the office later, they got the same cold shoulder.

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