A retired Canadian Lieutenant General and devoted humanitarian made a stop in Lacombe Monday night to talk about some of Canada’s most social and political issues.

The Honourable Romeo Dallaire spoke to over 1,000 people at the Lacombe Memorial Centre as part of his International Conflict Resolution in this New Era lecture.

One issue, Dallaire talked about is the treatment of veterans in Canada.

Dallaire said the government needs to do more for those who served our country.

“I really don’t think fundamentally it's a money problem as much as a process and procedure and an attitude that we have a covenant with those people and their families,” said Dallaire.

“That is what should guide us, not any other contractual arrangement.”

Dallaire mentioned that young Canadians need to do more volunteer work in developing nations and said that’s how they’ll make a difference.

“Go into countries that are in development and get their boots dirty and get a pair of dirty sneakers where they’ve touched and they’ve tasted and they’ve heard and they’ve smelt what is happening to 80 per cent of humanity,” said Dallaire.

Dallaire was the force commander of a peacekeeping coalition tasked with stopping the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

Monday’s speech was part of the Herr Lecture series hosted by Burman University, which features presentations by highly qualified speakers on issues of public interest.