Attention!
Cette vidéo est disponible en anglais seulement.
Description
Mr. Gallant tells us how his postings in the Middle East changed his preconceptions.
Fred Gallant
Issu d’une famille acadienne de Mont-Carmel à l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard, M. Gallant s’engage dans l’armée et devient capitaine. Au cours des années soixante-dix et quatre-vingts, il sert deux fois à titre de Capitaine de batterie au sein de la Force des Nations Unies chargée du Maintien de la Paix à Chypre (UNFICYP). Ses méthodes de travail ont aidé plus d’un soldat et sauvé la vie aux siens ainsi qu’à plusieurs Turques et Grecs. Des années plus tard, en tant que major cette fois-ci, il est nommé Observateur militaire des Nations Unies au sein de l’Organisme des Nations Unies chargé de la Surveillance de la Trêve (ONUST) au Moyen-Orient. M. Gallant a des histoires fascinantes à raconter.
Transcription
When I found out I was going to the Middle East as probably most Canadians are, I was very pro-Israel and I went over there with that mind set. And because of the things that I saw and, of course, there are two sides to every story, I came back I was very, probably tainted against Israel and it took maybe 15 years since, you know, after I came back to bring it back into perspective because I saw so many things on one side and none of the things on the other side that it was unbalanced and it took a long time to realize there’s two sides to every story and there’s no right or wrong over there. They have been fighting for four thousand years and it probably will continue and the impact that we had basically might have made it better for a few individuals while we were there, but I don’t know if we did anything that solved anything.