The head of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), General Jennie Carignan, gave a tearful apology Thursday in Ottawa, Ontario, for “systemic racism” officials claimed affected past and current military members.
Carignan said, “For way too long First Nations, Inuit, Métis, Black, Asian and other racialized members of the CAF faced systemic barriers that limited their ability to serve, contribute and thrive as equal members and too often mistreated and even abused at the hands of their fellow members,” according to CBC.
A video clip showing a portion of Carignan’s speech caught the moments she became emotional over the apology, stating officials were “confronting a painful truth”:
“I acknowledge we failed you… We didn’t create an environment where you could serve your country to the highest level with pride and determination and I’m sorry for the silence, indifference and that this went on for years,” she stated, per the CBC article.
Social media users responded to the apology, one person writing, “Very very weak. Showing ZERO strength and making Canada a easy target.”
“This is your highest ranking military officer? I wouldn’t trust her to defend my kitchen pantry,” another person replied, while someone else said, “This is the most embarrassing thing Canada has ever done.”
In a press release Thursday, the CAF addressed the alleged “systemic racism” and said, “This apology is not the end of the CAF’s work. It is part of a sustained institutional effort to dismantle systemic barriers, address biases at every level, and to create a healthy, respectful, and inclusive workplace for all CAF members.”
Canada’s leadership has long been pushing the country to the left. In 2017, the Canadian House of Commons passed a motion singling out the criticism of Islam as a form of “Islamaphobia,” per Breitbart News.
In 2023, Canada launched a “Black Justice Strategy” to combat perceived “systemic racism.”
Carignan’s apology is in stark contrast to the United States’ Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s speech in September during which he announced updated standards at the Pentagon, Breitbart News reported.
“From this moment forward, the only mission of the newly restored Department of War is this: warfighting, preparing for war, and preparing to win, unrelenting and uncompromising in that pursuit,” he stated, before acknowledging President Donald Trump’s administration and its efforts to root out leftism.
He stated, “This administration has done a great deal from day one to remove the social justice, politically correct, and toxic ideological garbage that had infected our department – to rip out the politics. No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship, no more division, distraction, or gender delusions, no more debris.”
“As I’ve said before and will say again, we are done with that shit,” he added.
