Indigenous leaders want further action after Beyak removed from Tory caucus over ‘racist’ posts
Posted January 5, 2018 11:01 am.
Last Updated January 5, 2018 11:04 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA (NEWS 1130) – An ejection from caucus is not enough. That’s what Indigenous elders and leaders are saying after Senator Lynn Beyak was booted from the Conservatives.
Beyak was turfed for posting on her website letters of support from the public, many of which are being called racist.
The letters have prompted fierce backlash against the senator, who has already faced months of criticisms after defending the residential school system and suggesting Indigenous people pay for their culture on their own dime.
“There’s no tolerance for this kind of hatred,” says Alvin Fiddler, Grand Chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation. He’s hoping, “that she tenders her resignation.”
But Algonquin elder Claudette Commanda doesn’t think that will happen, and is calling on senators from all parties to expel Beyak from the Upper Chamber. “They have to stand with First Nations people against this racism.”
“She needs to be removed completely from the Senate. This is terrible. She’s promoting hate. She’s promoting racism,” she adds.
Commanda knows it is difficult to expel a senator, but says where there is a will, there is a way.
While she’s no longer a Conservative, Beyak can continue to sit in the Senate as an independent.
Calls to her office have not been returned.
