There is no easier form of virtue signalling from a world leader than offering an apology for an actual or perceived injustice that was perpetrated by past governments against a particular group of citizens. In Australia we had the apology to the so called indigenous stolen generations by the Rudd Government and to the victims of forced adoptions by the Gillard Government.

There is no actual policy implementation or strategy to improve the welfare of the group of citizens to whom the apology is aimed at, they are just empty words. Despite this the left and the media lap up such apologies and believe that symbolic gesture will magically fix current disadvantages.

Not many people deny that injustices have been perpetrated against particular groups in the past. But why should be people in the present apologize for something they are not responsible and add to that why should members of those groups today claim to be victims of injustices that were not perpetrated against them and they now have equality before the law?

The worst offender of this form of virtue signalling is Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. No past government action is too distant in the past for him to offer a formal government apology. In May 2016 he apologised for the Canadian Government in 1914 refusing to Sikh, Muslim and Hindu passengers from India arrive in Canada in what has been known as the Komagata Maru incident.

In the past 24 hours he has also made an apology for Canada’s own aboriginal stolen generation where it is claimed that 150,000 Indigenous children were removed from their communities and placed in residential schools operated by the government to assimilate them with Canadian culture, 3,000 of these children are said to have died in state care.

Many people might say this apology is warranted but it is actually an extra apology as a government apology was given in 2008 by Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. However, it was claimed this one was needed because not all residential schools were included in the original apology. Of course, Trudeau was only to eager to make an apology of his own.

Justin Trudeau has also got another apology in the works to Canada’s LGBT community on November 28th for them being persecuted out of the military and public service as well and the criminalization of their behaviour in the past. This is similar to apologies given by our state governments for previous sodomy laws.

Of course, Trudeau doesn’t just virtue signal to minorities via apologies, he gets out and about amongst them. He cried when being reunited with a Syrian refugee he had welcomed into Canada the previous year. Much was also made of the fact in 2016 he was the first Canadian Prime Minister to march in one of nation’s gay pride parades.

Justin Trudeau is not due to face an election until October 2019, one wonders how many more apologies he can make to actual or perceived victim groups, or what other types of virtue signalling he will engage in.

Author Details
Tim Wilms is the Founder and Editor in Chief of https://theunshackled.net. the Host of Tim’s News Explosion, the WilmsFront interview program and The Theorists with Andy Nolch. He based in Melbourne, Australia where he also conducts field reports.
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Tim Wilms is the Founder and Editor in Chief of https://theunshackled.net. the Host of Tim’s News Explosion, the WilmsFront interview program and The Theorists with Andy Nolch. He based in Melbourne, Australia where he also conducts field reports.