Friends say a Gatineau man has disappeared in Rwanda and his children have been left there alone since federal officials deported him a month ago claiming he was an accomplice to war crimes.

Friends of Jean Bosco Rwiyamirira, including Johanne Despatie and Etienne Masozera, insist the former Rwandan diplomat is innocent of the alleged crimes.

They are trying to raise awareness of the case and have his children returned to Canada, where they grew up and where their mother died and is buried.

During his seven years in Canada, Jean Bosco Rwiyamirira became involved in a political group that pushes for free speech in Rwanda.
(Gouvernement du Québec)

Liberal MP Marcel Proulx, who represents Hull-Aylmer, says he has been getting piles of letters from friends and neighbours concerned about Rwiyamirira, a man who won municipal and provincial awards for his community service in Canada.

Deported with Rwiyamirira on Oct. 3 were his 14-year-old daughter Angel and 10-year-old son Patrick, who told Masozera's children over the phone that they haven't seen their father for three weeks and don't know where he is.

'We're fearing for Bosco's life, and we're fearing for what will happen to those children.'-Johanne Despatie, friend of Jean Bosco Rwiyamirira

Despatie said she is very worried that Rwiyamirira may have been punished by imprisonment or death because of his public political involvement in Canada with a group pushing for free speech in Rwanda.

"We're fearing for Bosco's life, and we're fearing for what will happen to those children."

Involvement in arts, politics

Rwiyamirira was posted to Canada as secretary to the Rwandan Embassy in Ottawa in 1999, and his refugee documents give a summary of his life.

He is an ethnic Tutsi from Rwanda, who studied in Belgium. There, he joined the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) — a group of Rwandan refugees around the world who later took power in Rwanda after 800,000 minority Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were systematically slaughtered in 1994, and who still rule the country.

Rwiyamirira later returned to Rwanda before being posted to various embassies overseas.

After arriving in Canada, he became very involved in the community.

'Now, to this day, it's very dangerous to oppose the regime in Rwanda...'-Etienne Masozera, member of Amaharo People's Congress

He started an arts group called DivArt, which helps immigrants tell their stories through visual arts and music.

For that work, he received awards from the City of Gatineau and the province of Quebec.

But his community involvement did not stop at arts — it also included politics.

He joined a group called the Amaharo People's Congress, which Masozera is also part of.

According to Masozera, the party advocates for free speech and peace in Rwanda, where ethnic tensions still run high.

"Now, to this day, it's very dangerous to oppose the regime in Rwanda, so no one in Rwanda is part of this group," said Masozera.

Rwiyamirira's involvement with the group has been very public, and he is listed on the group's website as the head of its information commission.

Made refugee claim after recall to Rwanda

Rwiyamirira applied for refugee status after being recalled to Rwanda shortly after his arrival in Canada.

In his refugee claim, he said that he refused to go back because he feared for his safety, and his refusal to leave prompted threats from Rwanda.

The refugee board that reviewed Rwiyamirira's claim rejected it.

Canada Border Services Agency and the lawyers involved in the case declined to be interviewed by the CBC.

However, according to refugee board documents, lawyers for Immigration Canada suspected Rwiyamirira of being an accomplice to war crimes in Rwanda because he was a sub-lieutenant in the Rwandan Patriotic Front's military.

According to Gerald Caplan, a Canadian expert on Rwandan history and politics, some Tutsi soldiers in the RPF's military committed war crimes as retaliation for the genocide.

"We don't know how much there was. We don't know how many there was. We don't know how widespread it was," Caplan said.

Rwiyamirara's children, who are in Kigali, say they haven't seen their father in three weeks.

But because some killings happened and because Canadian government lawyers argued Rwiyamirira's military rank was "high," the refugee board concluded Rwiyamirira likely knew about the killings and did nothing to stop them.

Masozera and the other members of the Amaharo People's Congress dispute the fact that "sub-lieutenant" was a high rank in the Rwandan army and said they are sure Rwiyamirira is innocent.

They say they carefully screen all members, and no one has ever heard of Rwiyamirira being involved in any war crimes, even though Rwanda is a small country of 8.4 million people.

Despatie says being an accomplice to such crimes would be very out of character for Rwiyamirira. "The man I've known always said he never did anything like that," she said.

Children alone in Rwanda

Rwiyamirira's friends have managed to catch the attention of a few Canadian politicians such as his own former MP, Proulx, and Bloc Quebecois MP Johanne Deschamps, who represents Laurentide-Labelle. Deschamps questioned Immigration Minister Monte Solberg about the case in the House of Commons this week, but Solberg had no specific response.

'People who are afraid for this person's well being have good reason to be afraid.'-Gerald Caplan, expert on Rwandan history and politics

Caplan said it may be too late for Rwiyamirira, since he is missing and in recent years the Rwandan government has cracked down hard on dissidents. As a result, those dissenters have been jailed or murdered or simply disappeared.

"From that point of view, people who are afraid for this person's well being have good reason to be afraid," Caplan added.

But Rwiyamirira's friends say they are also deeply concerned about the children, whom they want to see returned to Canada.

Despatie says she worries often about Rwiyamirira's 14-year-old daughter, Angel. "I would be scared if that girl was alone in the streets in Ottawa," she said.

"What's going to happen to her in a place that she doesn't know and she doesn't know the language and she has to take care of a little brother?"