Wednesday, June 10, 2026, TORONTO: It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that the Zoryan Institute announces the passing of one of its beloved and accomplished GHRUP graduates, Prof. Regine Uwibereyeho King.

As a Tutsi minority and survivor of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, her research at the time was dedicated to examining the impact of a community-based mental health model that could be used to heal individuals subjected to trauma and rebuild communities after genocide.

Prof. King (second row, fifth from the right) pictured in the 2008 GHRUP class photo. 

In her application to apply for the program, she stated that she was using the Genocide and Human Rights University Program as a launching board to formally study the phenomenon of genocide and analyze the many painful issues associated with it. After her participation in the program in 2008, Prof. King went on to receive her Ph.D from the University of Toronto, completed her postdoctoral studies at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba, and finished her accomplished career as a full-time Professor at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Social Work. Prof. King attended the Institute’s 2008 Genocide and Human Rights University Program as a second year Ph.D. student at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Social Work.

Prof. King remained actively involved in the Zoryan Institute’s scholarly and academic work relating to genocide after her participation in the program. Her academic paper, titled Healing Psychosocial Trauma in the Midst of Truth Commissions: The Case of the Gacaca in Post-Genocide Rwanda was featured in the Institute’s journal, Genocide Studies International. She also joined the Institute as one of the inaugural guests for the Institute’s first season of its Dispersion podcast, featured in the episode titled “Poutine in Portugal: The Return to the Homeland”, alongside Prof. Jao Sardinha.

In her interview with the Zoryan Institute in 2022 for the Dispersion podcast, Prof. King shared her story and offered some personal insights into the relationship with her own identity as a Rwandan living in Canada:

“As a Black woman, do I feel very, very Rwandan in Canada? Yes. Do I feel very, very Canadian in Rwanda? Not very much … I can’t shake off the colour of my skin to mingle and not to be noticed in Canadian society, so I just allow myself ‘to be’ …”

All of us at the Institute are offering our sincere condolences to Prof. King’s family. She will be deeply missed.