Carleton associate journalism professor Allan Thompson received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal on Nov. 29 for his work in promoting journalism education and human rights.
The Canadian version of the medal is awarded to Canadians who have made a significant contribution to the country.
Roméo Dallaire, who served as commander of the United Nations mission in Rwanda in 1994, nominated Thompson for “his dedication to a free media within a nation reconciling with the horrors of civil war and genocide,” Dallaire said in his speech while presenting the medal.
Thompson worked as a reporter for the Toronto Star in post-genocide Rwanda in 1996, chronicling Dallaire’s work with child soldiers in Africa.
“Journalistically, it was a very powerful experience and certainly made me realize that I had simply not paid enough attention to the Rwanda genocide when it was occurring in 1994,” Thompson said.
After leaving the Star in 2003 to teach at Carleton, Thompson devoted his time to researching the role of media during the genocide, and has developed initiatives to promote journalism education in Rwanda and other African nations.
As the director of Carleton’s Centre for Media and Transitional Societies, Thompson developed a five-year program between Carleton’s journalism school and the National University of Rwanda, which fostered media education there.
“I think it’s that experience that was one of the things Dallaire wanted to recognize with the nomination for this medal – that sort of interaction with the journalism school in Rwanda,” Thompson said.
Last year, 24 Carleton journalism students were also sent on media internships across Africa through the centre.
In societies that are rebuilding and where the pace of change is fast, the re-establishment of a fully independent, functioning media is a critical step towards creating a democratic society, Thompson said.
Reporting in Rwanda is what spurred his “journalistic epiphany,” Thompson said.
“It made me realize that I think there is a particular sort of niche for trying to look at the role that media can play in these transitional environments,” he said.
Since 2003, Thompson has continued to write about Rwanda and document Dallaire’s work in addressing the issue of war-affected children.
“I think he deserves a lot of credit for what he did in Rwanda, but also for kind of clawing his way back from the breakdown that was caused by post traumatic stress,” he said.
To have Dallaire honour him with the medal was very special, Thompson said, adding the award also provides significant recognition to Carleton and to the genocide in Rwanda.
“It’s such an important instance, not just in the history of the twenty-first century, but in the history of journalism,” Thompson said.
“Anything that will draw people’s attention back to that will be worthwhile.”
