Louise Arbour derided soldiers as "white boys" who "don't like women"
Carney's pick to be the next Governor General disparaged Canadian soldiers as "white boys who like guns but don't like women or anybody who doesn't look like them."
Author: Cosmin Dzsurdzsa, with files from Clayton DeMaine.
Former Supreme Court of Canada justice and Prime Minister Mark Carney’s pick for Governor General, Louise Arbour, derided Canadian soldiers as “white boys who like guns and don’t like women” while overseeing an inquiry into the Canadian Armed Forces in 2022.
The comment appeared in a Maclean’s profile on Arbour published in July of that year.
In the interview, Arbour argued Canada’s military risks perpetuating a restrictive internal culture if it continues recruiting what she described as “white boys.”
She said the Armed Forces should rely more on external institutions, including human rights bodies and academia, to advance diversity within the ranks.
“The military could use external partners like the Canadian Human Rights Commission. It could also bring in experts from the civil corporate sector or send cadets to civilian universities, where diversity is years ahead of what we’ll ever see in military colleges,” said Arbour.
“If you just recruit white boys who like guns but don’t like women or anybody who doesn’t look like them, you’ll perpetuate that culture.”
Arbour was appointed in May 2021 to lead the Independent External Comprehensive Review (IECR), a major examination of culture, policy and leadership within the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and the Department of National Defence (DND).
The review followed decades of sexual misconduct and harassment allegations within the military. It produced 48 recommendations, which the federal government has pledged to implement.
Arbour’s push for institutional change has at times collided with operational realities inside the Forces. A leaked Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School report, obtained by Juno News, found that the introduction of permanent residents contributed to inter-ethnic tensions among recruits and incidents of disrespect toward female peers.
The document described one French-language Basic Military Officer Qualification platoon in Quebec, 83% non-citizens, many in Canada for only months, as experiencing internal breakdowns marked by conflict between Cameroonian and Côte d’Ivoire candidates, allegations of racism involving both staff and recruits, and a lack of respect for female members and superiors.
The report noted that for many recruits, it was their “first time they have been expected to treat women as their peers.”
“For many candidates it is the first time they have lived with members of a different sex, and for some it is also the first time they have been expected to treat women as their peers,” explained the confidential report.
Arbour’s broader record, including her tenure as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, reflects a sustained focus on what she has described as “dominant groups” who were to blame for opposition to globalization and migratory flows due to “their supremacy.”
On Jan. 16, 2008, speaking at the Madrid Alliance of Civilizations Forum, she said: “Managing cultural diversity is both a challenge and an imperative particularly against the backdrop and speed of globalization which is creating migratory flows and information exchanges of unprecedented scale and span.”
She attributed resistance to mass immigration and the refugee crisis to “dominant groups which have historically been able to perpetuate their supremacy.”
As Special Representative for International Migration, Arbour supported the UN Global Compact for Migration and argued for large-scale demographic change in Western countries. In 2018 remarks, she said Europeans and North Americans “will not be able to maintain their standard of living unless they can import part of their workforce at all skill levels.”
“The Western world is going to face demographic deficits that are such that Europeans, North Americans, will not be able to maintain their standard of living unless they can import part of their workforce at all skill levels,” said Arbour in an interview with France 24.
Carney announced Arbour as the Governor General in waiting on Tuesday. The largely ceremonial but symbolically powerful role represents the Crown and earns a salary of around $378,000 annually. Arbou will replace outgoing Governor General Mary Simon.