Carney says Canada will speak “for justice” as UK considers apology over transatlantic slave trade

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Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada will continue speaking up “for justice” as the United Kingdom weighs whether to offer a formal apology for its role in the transatlantic slave trade.

Carney made the remarks during a one-day trip to Antigua and Barbuda and in advance of and during the Commonwealth leaders’ meeting in St. John’s, where he said the issue would be addressed in a joint statement.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham told leaders days before the summit began that his government would consider apologizing for the first time for its role in the transatlantic slave trade, while stating reparations were not on the table.

In his opening speech to the summit on Tuesday, Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne pointed to a previous Commonwealth meeting in Samoa in 2024 that included an agreement for “a meaningful, truthful and respectful conversation on reparatory justice.” Browne said leaders must now carry that commitment forward through structured, inclusive dialogue on the enduring consequences of slavery and colonialism.

Carney said Burnham raised the issue in the room during Tuesday’s meetings, and that it would be reflected in the summit’s final communiqué. “You will see in the final communiqué a reflection of the consensus, the impact of his words and the process being put in place to move forward amongst the Commonwealth,” Carney said. He also said Canada is “supportive” of the process and wants to hear “all voices” to move toward consensus.

The final summit communiqué welcomed the British government’s pledge “to engage in a structured, time-bound, inclusive and good-faith dialogue with affected parties addressing the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans and its historical harms.” Protesters demanding reparations set up outside the meeting.

Carney also spoke earlier in the day to Commonwealth leaders at a working breakfast about Canada and the Caribbean’s trade relationship, saying Canada has “more than a million people” with roots in the region and describing increasing trade as “$4 billion a year more broadly.”

The trip also included meetings with Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne and Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand at the working breakfast, with Carney’s office saying they discussed ways to do more in trade and investment, energy, climate resilience, youth, tourism and people-to-people ties, along with priorities of small island developing states.

Carney told reporters later that leaders discussed trade and investment opportunities, strengthening supply chains and fostering sustainable economic growth, and said his one-day visit was meant “to put in place some of the mechanisms that make that direction possible.”

The Commonwealth leaders’ meeting, held every second year, was described in the material as the first since Carney took office in March 2025, and it involves 56 member countries representing about 2.7 billion people. Carney was attending other events linked to the summit, including a lunch hosted by King Charles and a dinner hosted by the King before he returned to Ottawa late Tuesday.