TORONTO —
Canada’s recently appointed Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Art McDonald says the senior leadership of the Canadian Armed Forces needs to better reflect Canada’s diverse populations after he was criticized online for a tweet about the importance of diversity featuring a photo that appeared to showcase a lack of racial diversity.
McDonald responded to the criticism in a series of follow up tweets on Thursday afternoon, saying he “hears” the concerns and takes them “to heart.”
“It’s true: the leadership of the CAF is, and historically has been, predominantly male and white. That needs to change,” McDonald wrote.
“We need to reflect Canada’s diversity at all levels. We must work to eliminate systemic racism & dismantle the barriers to career advancement that exist. We are there in mindset but know there is still a lot of work to do, and we are committed to doing it,” he added in a second tweet.
McDonald shared a photo on his Twitter account Thursday evening showing eight male staff members seated around a conference table. Another male and a woman appear on a video screen behind them.
“Conversations on diversity, inclusion, and culture change are not incompatible with our thirst for operational excellence. I count on my senior leaders to champion culture change. Diversity makes us stronger, inclusion improves our institution. We are #StrongerTogether,” McDonald wrote in the tweet.
After posting the tweet, social media users were quick to point out that everyone in the photo appeared to be white and nearly all of them were men.
“Did you not think this through? Did you not realize that this conversation can not be had by only white males? Do better, please,” one Twitter user wrote in part.
While some pointed out there appears to be one woman in the photo, others argued that a single female does not represent Canada’s diversity.
“I am always amazed when white people think they can not only solve, but also recognize the problems at hand solely amongst themselves. The irony here is that the reason this room is so white is due to the very problem they say they are addressing. But clearly are missing to see,” one Twitter user said.
Another user noted that one of the main issues with the photo is that it shows the lack of diversity of senior leadership, something they said needs to be addressed in order to make government organizations more inclusive.
“Yes, diversity makes us stronger. But sad that the photo that went out with this tweet – and presumably the meeting at which it was taken – does not illustrate diversity at the top,” the user wrote.
Conversations on diversity, inclusion, and culture change are not incompatible with our thirst for operational excellence. I count on my senior leaders to champion culture change. Diversity makes us stronger, inclusion improves our institution. We are #StrongerTogether – ArtMcD pic.twitter.com/y4piRhtW3N
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan responded to the criticism in a statement saying that despite the fact that leadership is “committed” to increasing diversity, unconscious bias still exists.
“Our Canadian institutions continue to deal with the legacy of systemic racism, discrimination and lack of inclusion for visible minorities, Indigenous Peoples, women and LGBTQ2 communities. This is something that we are committed to changing,” Sajjan wrote.
He says the government has created an independent advisory panel on systemic racism and discrimination that will make recommendations on how to move forward with the needed culture shift.
McDonald was appointed Canada’s new Chief of the Defence Staff during a virtual change of command ceremony in January after Gen. Jonathan Vance retired from the post.
McDonald used his first address in the new position to apologize to Canadian Armed Forces members who have faced any type of discrimination or harassment while serving in uniform.
He promised during the ceremony to continue the work launched during Vance’s five-year tenure as defence chief, including efforts to root out sexual misconduct and hate from the ranks.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
