Toronto (December 17, 2020) – Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) welcomes Canada’s Department of National Defence’s (DND) decision to launch an Advisory Panel to help combat hate and extremism in the military.

According to a news release from the DND today, the Advisory Panel “on systemic racism, discrimination with a focus on anti-Indigenous and anti-Black racism, LGBTQ2 prejudice, gender bias and white supremacy” will be made up of four retired military personnel who will provide recommendations on how the DND and CAF can ensure that those who hold racist or white supremacist beliefs are not allowed to enter into or remain in the military.

“We strongly support this decision by the Department of National Defence to launch an Advisory Panel and are pleased to see this growing effort to combat hate and extremism in the military," said Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, Director of Policy at FSWC. “Too many individuals who have ties to organized hate groups have managed to keep their membership in the military and this is completely unacceptable. This initiative is an important and commendable step forward in ensuring individuals who espouse racist or white supremacist ideologies are definitively rooted out of our armed forces.”

Kirzner-Roberts previously met with Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan as well as senior staff from the Canadian Armed Forces to urge for and recommend actions that can be taken to help combat and prevent hate and extremism in their ranks.