After the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia this past weekend the CFL made a statement by launching their Diversity is Strength campaign and several players were immediately on board.

The shirts feature the name of the campaign on the front, with players who represent the diversity of the league covering the back. They are available for sale, with proceeds going to the CFL Alumni Association and Purolator Tackle Hunger.

The campaign was launched on Sunday, so players in the BC Lions/Saskatchewan Roughriders games were decked out in the new gear, and they caught the attention of CNN. CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie joined the show to discuss why the league decided to launch their campaign when they did, because the original launch had been planned for the fall.

You can see the full interview above, but here is a snippet of what Ambrosie had to say:

“Diversity is such an important part of our league’s history and such an important part of being Canadian, maybe it’s time to send a positive message about the power of diversity…

For us, this felt like the right thing to talk about at this important moment in time.”

Clearly the players felt the same way.