- Robin Philpot
Robin Philpot (born in 1948) is a
Quebec journalist and electoral candidate for theParti Québécois .Background
Originally from
Thunder Bay, Ontario , where his father Roderick Philpot was an alderman of the city of Fort William, Philpot earned degrees in literature and history from theUniversity of Toronto . After working inAfrica , he established himself inQuebec in 1974. In 1999, he became director of communications for theSaint-Jean-Baptiste Society in Montreal.Public profile
He is notable for having called into question the testimony of
Roméo Dallaire on theRwandan Genocide ; his brother is the Montreal lawyerJohn Philpot , who representedJean-Paul Akayesu and other defendants accused of genocide and crimes against humanity at the trials conducted by theInternational Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda .Philpot is also notable for his role in attacking the former federal Liberal government over the
Option Canada program, a promotional enterprise funded by the federal government intended to promote federalism in Quebec and counter theQuebec sovereignty movement .Political career
Philpot was an unsuccessful candidate for the riding of
Saint-Henri—Sainte-Anne in the 2007 Quebec general election, representing theParti Québécois . During the campaign, certain of Philpot's remarks about the Rwandan Genocide from his book "" were widely republished and proved embarrassing to PQ leaderAndré Boisclair .These included the statement "In none of my writings have I denied that there were mass killings, some even of an ethnic character. However, I categorically reject the abusive use of the expression 'genocide,'". [cite news|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070308.wqueelection0308_1/BNStory/National/home|title=Boisclair under fire over candidate's genocide remark|first=Tu Thanh|last=Ha|publisher=Globe and Mail|date=8 March 2007|accessdate=2007-03-08]
Philpot claims never to have denied the existence of the genocide, but has been criticized by researchers
Pierre Trudel andCallixte Kabayiza for supporting the thesis of the double genocide.References
External links
* [http://www.robinphilpot.org Official website of Robin Philpot] fr
* [http://www.taylor-report.com/Rwanda_1994/ Rwanda 1994: Colonialism dies hard] by Robin Philpot, online e-book (english)
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
