Theodore Simburudari, the president of IBUKA, a Rwandan umbrella organisation representing survivors of the Rwandan genocide, was recently denied* a visitor’s visa for Canada to attend a conference on the grounds that he wouldn’t answer a question on a visa application about his ethnicity. “All citizens, residents and former residents of Rwanda born before 1980” wishing to visit or travel through Canada must respond to a questionnaire that asks, in detail, questions about the applicant’s political involvements, military activities, involvement in war crimes or genocide. Given that hundreds of genocidaires have moved to and are currently living in Canada, it is reasonable for Canada to ask for more information of visiting Rwandans than a regular visa application requires. This, however, does not cover question eight on the “Rwanda Questionnaire”:

8. 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)

It’s unacceptable in the first instance for Canada to ask about a visitor’s ethnicity. It’s especially unacceptable in this case given how loaded the question is. The ID cards were initially issued by Belgian colonial authorities and created firm racial categories where they didn’t previously exist. The cards were kept by post-colonial governments, and, in the 1994 genocide, producing a Tutsi ID card at a roadblock was a death sentence. References to ethnicity on ID cards were abolished in 1995, and public discussion of ethnicity was made illegal. Callixte Kabayiza, president of Page-Rwanda describes the question as being analogous to asking Europeans if they are Jewish and asking them to produce their yellow star. It isn’t just Simburudari who has been denied permission to visit Canada for refusing to answer this question either. The New Times (Kigali) notes that both a former Kigali mayor and the Governor of the Central Bank had likewise been denied visas for Canada for not answering this question. The Canadian Embassy in Nairobi knows how many others have likewise been rejected. They’ve been quiet on the matter. This is simply not acceptable. Canada has no business asking the question to begin with, but it’s even worse than that because the question contravenes Rwandan law and asks Rwandan citizens to break the law in order to get a visa, and beyond even that, it makes use of a profoundly racist document with a particularly gruesome history that hasn’t been valid for over a decade. The question must be dropped. It is scandalous that Canada is engaging in what amounts to racial profiling.

Page-Rwanda are mounting a public campaign on this issue, with the aim of pressuring Immigration to have the question dropped from the questionnaire and the organization has encouraged the circulation and publication of this information as widely as possible.

* Simburudari was later granted the visa after public protest, but it was too late for him to attend the conference.