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U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth posted an image from the Cadet Training Centre in Vernon, B.C., depicting two young women in uniform with the caption ‘this is real’ alongside a Canadian flag.Matias Delacroix/The Associated Press
A photo of a Canadian Forces cadet instructor and a young participant at a summer training camp made its way from the fringes of Canada’s online right to the account of U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, whose post featuring the image has drawn condemnation across the political spectrum.
The social-media episode is playing out amid an increasingly acrimonious relationship between the two countries, with trade talks stalled and tariffs escalating.
Mr. Hegseth has made military fitness a central theme of his leadership at the Pentagon, pushing tougher physical standards and testosterone testing while shaming “fat generals.” His post about the image included what seemed to be a derisive swipe at the physical appearances of the two women shown.
The image came from an Aug. 24 Instagram post by the Vernon Cadet Training Centre in B.C.’s North Okanagan, celebrating the conclusion of its 2026 summer program. It depicts a commanding officer of one of the Western Canada cadet squadrons in military camouflage handing a medal to a cadet wearing a scarlet beret.
The first woman, a Cadet Instructor Cadre officer, is paid by the reserve forces of Canada’s military to train young cadets.
On Monday, an account called Veterans for Freedom, which purports to be a Canadian veterans community group, posted the image in a reply on the social-media platform X, deriding the fitness of military members. Popular conservative Montreal-based streamer Nick Belanger, also known as the Pleb Reporter, posted the image a few hours later.
Mr. Hegseth shared the image with his two million followers later that night, along with a Canadian flag emoji and the words “This is real” in brackets. The post prompted a mix of ridicule and criticism in the replies, with some users piling on with further mockery and others scolding Mr. Hegseth for targeting a Canadian youth program.
The instructor’s family declined to comment on Tuesday.
Canada’s Department of National Defence said the cadet program provides youth aged 12 to 18 with opportunities to develop leadership skills, knowledge and self-confidence.
“We are proud of the professionalism and contributions of all our dedicated Canadian Armed Forces members,” it said in a statement.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, stood by Mr. Hegseth’s comment.
“The X post speaks for itself,” deputy press secretary Jacob Bliss said.
Mr. Hegseth’s post drew swift and bipartisan condemnation from political leaders across Canada. Asked about the post on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters on Parliament Hill that “it’s beneath their office.”
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B.C. Premier David Eby called the post an embarrassment.
“It tells you everything you need to know about the amateur-hour, distracted, bizarre leadership that Americans are being subjected to right now,” he said in response to a reporter’s question at a news conference in Burnaby on Tuesday.
“That includes a pointless, stupid, self-defeating trade war against Canada, of all countries in the world. I look forward to a change in that leadership. I’m astonished at the depths they continue to explore with their public rhetoric.”
Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney, who served as minister of national defence in 2015, also pushed back against Mr. Hegseth’s post.
“In the midst of a hot war against a mortal enemy of the United States, the Secretary of War of the world’s only super power finds time to troll folks at a cadet camp for teenagers in Vernon, British Columbia,” Mr. Kenney wrote. “To our many friends in the great United States of America: What’s going on?”
Dimitris Soudas, former director of communications to prime minister Stephen Harper, said the Canadian Cadet Organizations help young Canadians develop leadership, discipline, self-confidence and a commitment to their communities.
“Mocking these young people says far more about the person doing the mocking than it ever will about the young people wearing the uniform,” he wrote on X.
Conservative MP Garnett Genuis replied to Mr. Hegseth’s post saying that “cadets do great work, and are not members of the military.”
He continued: “158 members of the Canadian military gave their lives in Afghanistan after your country was attacked. Canada and the US have a great history of fighting together for freedom and justice. It’s history worth remembering.”
Mr. Belanger, the libertarian livestreamer who gained a substantial following while covering the last federal election campaign of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, told The Globe in an interview that he at times feels guilty for helping craft national news cycles despite having only a surface-level understanding of politics. This episode with Mr. Hegseth is not one of those times, though, he said.
“I posted my opinion and the Secretary of War agrees with me,” he said.
With a report from The Canadian Press