Senator Roméo Dallaire didn't let a little bad weather stop him on Wednesday night. The retired general was more than two hours late for his presentation to students and faculty at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus, where he talked about getting youth excited about building Canada's future.

Seventeen years ago, Michel Chikwanine stood on a pile of skeletons. His favourite Superman shirt, once white, was stained red. Rebels in his African nation had just forced him to shoot and kill his best friend. He was five years old.