The United Nations, then under Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold, and Canada played key roles in the assassination of popular Congolese Prime Minister and eminent African statesman Patrice Lumumba. To Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, Lumumba was a “major threat to Western interests”. Neither the UN nor Ottawa has ever accepted responsibility.

While Canadian companies exploit African resources for their own benefit, this country’s charities call on us to join Africa “hope” walks.

The Canadian mining magnate is just one in a long line of Westerners who ask the world to believe what they say but ignore the actual results of what they do — a “spin-sploiter” publicly professing humanitarian ideals all the while exploiting Africa.

Few Canadians are familiar with pre-colonial African cities, and even fewer know a Canadian military leader helped sack one of West Africa’s great metropolises. When the British and Canadians took part in the ‘Scramble for Africa’, they did so with impunity, a complete disregard for property, sacred forests and people. They only saw savages that needed to be tamed.

Paul Kagame has long been the darling of prominent liberals such as Bill Clinton, Samantha Power and Tony Blair. But it’s becoming ever more difficult to publicly back the bloodstained Rwandan dictator.

Self-described Africa scholar Gerald Caplan’s recent praise of Canada’s relations with Uganda is superficial and misleading. He ignores Canada’s support for imperialism in East Africa that goes back to the days of the slave trade.

Despite a long list of abuses by Canadian mining companies in Africa - and elsewhere - it’s very difficult to hold them accountable at home. Will the new government of Justin Trudeau defy the powerful mining industry and adopt legislation to constrain their abuses abroad?

Former Canadian prime ministers are appointed to the boards of powerful multinationals to assist them penetrate African markets – mostly corruptly. They use their links with rulers on the continent to cut multi-million-dollar deals often at the expense of the local people. Yet, Canada and the west generally never tire of accusing African leaders of corruption.

As colonial Britain unleashed terrible violence in Kenya, Canada strengthened the British military. It’s almost certain that some of the British pilots who dropped bombs on Mau Mau hideouts were trained in Canada. There were Canadian men on the ground in Kenya involved in the colonial violence. Should Canada apologise for its role?

Unlike the US or France, Canada is not a leading military force in Africa. But Ottawa exerts influence through a variety of means including training initiatives.

Canadian policy in Africa can be summed up in nine words: Do what is good for Canadian-owned mining companies.