FOG BLOG CANADA NEWS LOG: TRUDEAU APPOLOGIZES TO DECENDENTS OF 1ST ALL BLACK CDN MILITARY UNIT!

Trudeau apologizes for racism faced by all-Black Canadian unit in First World War The federal government has apologized for the treatment that members of the No. 2 Construction Battalion -- Canada's only all-Black unit to serve in the First World War -- endured before, during and after their service to the country.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered the apology today as descendants of the battalion's 600 members gathered in Truro, N.S., on the same grounds where the unit formed prior to deployment overseas in March 1917.

Trudeau says he was there to apologize for the appalling way the patriots were treated. Hundreds of Black men in Canada were turned away when they volunteered to fight overseas in 1914 because they weren't wanted in what was considered a white man's war.

Following two years of protests, the Canadian military was granted approval in 1916 to establish the segregated, non-combat battalion and more than 300 of those who enlisted were from Nova Scotia.

Only a few of its members would see combat, mainly because the battalion was repeatedly told its help wasn't wanted on the front lines, and they received no public recognition when they returned home.

The unit supported three major forestry operations while overseas, working lumber mills and maintaining roads and railway equipment.

The Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces have said the systemic racism endured by the men of No. 2 Construction Battalion qualifies as hateful conduct.