Canada must overhaul its foreign policy as it relates to genocide abroad, warns a new report, which says such atrocities should be considered a risk to national interests.

The report -- compiled by a panel of experts including retired General Romeo Dallaire, diplomat Robert Fowler, former NDP leader Ed Broadbent and a bevy of international relations experts -- says genocide and the resulting instability can pose a threat to countries thousands of kilometres away.

In one example, the report cites the squalid conditions in refugee camps, which can be a breeding ground for a number of health problems, including a pandemic.

"The chaos resulting from these atrocities poses credible danger to Canadian and American national interests at home and abroad," the report says.

"We need to redefine our national interest more broadly, not only to help failing states, but also to help and protect ourselves."

The report's authors say Canada should not rule out increasing its military presence, and using force when necessary, in regions where violence threatens to kill scores of civilians.

"If you're a leading middle power in the world and you have in the entrails of your ethos the belief of human rights and the belief in humanity and the moral strength to back up all those conventions you've signed, then you've also got to be prepared to not just throw cash at it afterwards, which usually ends up costing a lot more than preventing, but also sweat, tears and sometimes the blood of some of our youth," Dallaire said Tuesday during an interview on CTV News Channel.

The report recommends that Canada establish a cabinet position to monitor potential genocides and other human disasters around the world and co-ordinate an early response to prevent massive loss of life.

The new ministry would co-ordinate efforts with other government department and agencies, from the Canadian International Development Agency to the Department of National Defence.

The report also recommends the government establish a Commons standing committee on genocide prevention.

"We should not be doing it alone," report co-author Frank Chalk, a genocide expert from Concordia University, told News Channel. "But before we can co-operate with allies and a coalition of the willing, we have to improve our own domestic capacity to co-operate. That means we need more infantry, that means we need new doctrines for the Canadian military so that they're being trained to protect civilians and can interface with other armies doing the same if necessary."

According to Chalk, Canada will also have to learn to circumvent the UN Security Council if it does not support a mission, and instead work with regional organizations, such as NATO, or the African Union.

The report examined catastrophes such as the genocide in Rwanda, where the UN chose not to intervene as nearly one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered in 1994. Dallaire was leader of a UN force stationed in the country during the slaughter, and was powerless to order his troops to intervene.

But the report says diplomatic and economic sanctions should come first as an early preventative measure before military interventions in future crises.

With files from The Canadian Press