Canadian Liberal MP Apologizes For Offensive Ad In First Nations Newspaper
Canadian Liberal Member of Parliament Joyce Murray recently posted an ad in a First Nations newspaper called The Drum. The advertisement was an attempt at offering a form of congratulations to First Nations youth on graduating high school. However, the ad offended a lot of people – and for good reason.
The offending part of the ad was this sentence: “Sobriety, Education And Hard Work Lead To Success.” People who read the advertisement question why the word “sobriety” was placed in it, and why was it first. In true Canadian fashion, everyone apologized very quickly.
First, the Liberal MP issued an apology, where she stated that she actually had not approved the ad, and called it “inappropriate” and “deeply offensive.” The statement, posted on her Facebook page read: “Today I was made aware of a print advertisement published under my name, which included a completely inappropriate statement about Indigenous Peoples in Canada. I would like to apologize unreservedly for the deeply offensive language in this advertisement. I was not aware of this advertisement and did not approve of its content. However, I assume full responsibility for what has happened and I offer my most sincere apologies to all those who were offended.”
Later on, it was revealed that the ad was not written by the MP, but by the sales department at the newspaper itself. With this information being revealed, many people were touched by the heartfelt apology that Murray had issued, and with the fact that she had taken responsibility for something that wasn’t entirely her fault.
The newspaper then issued a public apology, taking full responsibility for the advertisement. They also apologized to MP Joyce Murray herself. Their statement read: “Liberal MP Joyce Murray is apologizing for a newspaper advertisement in which she appears to be feeding racial stereotypes about aboriginal people. But the newspaper, in turn, is apologizing to Murray for running the ad without noticing it contained offensive content that had been written, without the Vancouver MP’s knowledge, by one of its sales people.“
It really just sounds like an excessive amount of apologizing. Typical Canada.
