The Canadian Armed Forces issued an apology on Tuesday for an official social media post marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which made no mention of the Jewish people as the primary victims of the Nazis.
The post, published on January 27 — International Holocaust Remembrance Day — referred to “victims that suffered and died at the hands of Fascism for being members of marginalized groups,” and called for a society free of antisemitism and hatred. However, it did not state that the Holocaust was first and foremost aimed at the extermination of the Jewish people.
Following public criticism, the post was deleted. A military spokesperson said the organization “regrets the error and apologizes for the harm caused.” The spokesperson acknowledged that the wording “did not clearly and explicitly identify Jews as the victims of the Holocaust.”
The issue was brought to public attention by Professor Jan Grabowski of the University of Ottawa, who shared a screenshot of the post and expressed astonishment. “On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we commemorate the Jews who were murdered because they were Jews — not because they were ‘members of a marginalized group,’” he said. He emphasized that the Holocaust is defined as the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million European Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies.
Canadian Jewish organizations also criticized the omission. The pro-Israel watchdog group HonestReporting called on the military to issue a formal apology to the Jewish community, arguing that deleting the post was not sufficient.
Dara Solomon, CEO of the Toronto Holocaust Museum, said that omitting Jews from a day dedicated to their memory “harms the memory of the six million who were murdered.” In an era of rising antisemitism and troubling declines in public knowledge about the Holocaust, she said, “omitting the word ‘Jews’ is not neutral — it risks distorting history and inflicting renewed harm on the victims.”
Shimon Koffler Fogel, CEO of B’nai Brith Canada, stressed that while it is important to recognize all victims of the Nazis, “Holocaust remembrance requires explicit acknowledgment of the more than six million Jews who perished.” Failing to recognize the scale of the atrocities committed against the Jewish people, he said, especially while Holocaust survivors are still alive, undermines their legacy.
In its statement, the Canadian Armed Forces said that social media content undergoes an internal review process before publication, but in this case no consultation was held with representatives of the Jewish community. The post was removed “to prevent further harm,” after it became clear that the wording did not accurately reflect the historical reality of the genocide of the Jewish people.
The military said it will strengthen its oversight and approval mechanisms for content dealing with historically and culturally sensitive issues, including senior-level review and appropriate consultation when necessary, to prevent similar incidents in the future. It also noted that a meeting was held with the office of the military’s chief rabbi to update review procedures.