Prime Minister's Statement


February 2, 1997
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien today expressed shock and deep sadness at the murder of Canadian priest, Father Guy Pinard, who was killed in his church Saturday, in northern Rwanda.

The Prime Minister noted that Father Pinard had devoted himself to helping the people of Rwanda during these most difficult times. "It is a tragedy that such violence has been directed against one who had committed himself to assisting Rwanda with such dedication and personal commitment" he said. "The horror strikes Canadians even more deeply when the victim is one our own countrymen".

Father Pinard, 61, had been working in Rwanda with the White Fathers, an order of Catholic missionaries, since 1962. He came from Trois Rivières, Quebec.

The Prime Minister expressed condolences to Father Pinard's family and to the White Fathers and expressed the hope that the perpetrators of this barbaric act will be found and brought to justice.

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