Minister condemns Canada’s visa policy

HUYE - Rwanda’s Minister for Culture and Sports, Joseph Habineza, has criticised the Canadian government for ethnic and political profiling of Rwandans requesting visas to visit Canada. Addressing students at the National University of Rwanda on Thursday, The youthful minister said that asking Rwandans their ethnic status and political affiliation is against Rwanda’s policy of unity and reconciliation.“It is ridiculous,” he said of the practice. “It is useless, it is just nonsense.” Rwandans wishing to travel to Canada have to state their ethnic group. Applicants must present a copy of their pre-1996 ID card which states their ethnic group. This is specified in question number 8 of the special “Rwanda questionnaire”, reserved for Rwandans born before 1980. Minister Habineza told NUR students that he was asked to mention his ethnic profile and political affiliation before 1994 when he wanted to fly to Canada for tourism. He was denied a visa after he refused. “It’s sad asking people what ethnic mentioning was in their IDs before 1994.Why do they need it?” he said. “Asking whether you were an interahamwe, whether you were in RPF, whether you were in RPA or Ex-FAR, It is nonsense and I responded no, no, no…” Habineza said that pre-1994 IDs were either lost or destroyed and Rwandans have since eradicated ethnic issues. If Canadians need ethnic and political affiliation to be able to track genocide suspects, they should start by those they have already on their land, he said. He gave an example of a genocide suspect, Leon Mugesera, who is in Canada despite many reports claiming his role in the 1994 Tutsi genocide. “I felt like I was returning back to the period of genocide,” said Vincent Ntaganira, who recently applied for a Canadian visa. “I felt unhappy in my heart and it made me remember being asked whether I am a killer or a survivor among Rwandans.” Ntaganira, 37, is a lecturer at the National University of Rwanda. He plans to go to Canada for a conference scheduled next month and he is waiting for a response on his visa application. He said that questions on the visa form for Rwandans are posed in a complicated way. “I don’t know if their questions aim at anything,” he said. Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rosemary Museminali, told The New Times last week that they were aware of the issue and had raised it with Canadian authorities. She said Rwanda was going to bring up the matter again since it was obvious nothing was done. Ends