Report on racism in the Canadian military: Blaming the past to exonerate the present

Did the Charter of Rights and Freedoms indeed mark a break with the past? Is the Canadian Multiculturalism Act a break with racism, or is it a modernized declaration that the Canadian polity is made up of “two founding nations” and “others”?

The 121-page report, Final Report of the Minister of National Defence Advisory Panel on Systemic Racism and Discrimination with a Focus on Anti-Indigenous and Anti-Black Racism, LGBTQ2+ Prejudice, Gender Bias, and White Supremacy, purports to deal with racism in the Canadian military.

Insidious report on racism in Canadian military released

A racist outlook informs all the practices of colonial Canada and its institutions, including the military. The outlook and practice of racism must be discarded, along with the structures and chain of command based on preserving it.

By ANNA DiCARLO

The Liberal government recently released a report which purports to deal with racism in the Canadian military. The report, dated January 2022, was only made public on April 25. It bypassed the House of Commons, to whom all government ministries are said to be responsible and accountable.

A tale of two terrors

Eleven months to the day Michael Zehaf-Bibeau went hunting for targets in Ottawa – killing ceremonial guard Nathan Cirillo at the national war monument – another lone gunman was on the loose in Eastern Ontario, murdering three women as Renfrew County was set to host its annual Take Back The Night march |MATTHEW BEHRENS

Recolonization of Africa: AFRICOM’s imperialist culture and violence against Africans

For years, as U.S. military personnel moved into Africa in ever-increasing numbers, AFRICOM has effectively downplayed, disguised, or covered-up almost every aspect of its operations, from the locations of its troop deployments to those of its expanding string of outposts. NICK TURSE*

Six people lay lifeless in the filthy brown water.

It was 5:09 a.m. when their Toyota Land Cruiser plunged off a bridge in the West African country of Mali.  For about two seconds, the SUV sailed through the air, pirouetting 180 degrees as it plunged 70 feet, crashing into the Niger River.

Three of the dead were American commandos.  The driver, a captain nicknamed “Whiskey Dan,” was the leader of a shadowy team of operatives never profiled in the media and rarely mentioned even in government publications.

British Royal Navy sailors arrested and charged for alleged gang rape in Halifax

The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service commander ​admitted that the reports were “disturbing.” The substantive issue of the Rule of Law, the presence of foreign military forces in Canada, whether in the form of U.S. bases or “visiting” marines, troops and warships, and the culture of militarization is not addressed. It is enough to have disastrous social consequences for the people, particularly young women and girls. TONY SEED

Four British Royal Navy sailors have been charged by Canadian authorities for the alleged gang rape of a civilian woman at a military barracks at Shearwater in Eastern Passage, Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM). Joshua Finbow, 23, Simon Radford, 31, Darren Smalley, 35, and Craig Stoner, 24, all face sexual assault counts.