This Senator has got to go
- Details
- Published on Friday, 24 March 2017 12:45
- Written by editor
Kidnapping. Beatings. Sexual abuse. These are the horrors of Canada’s residential schools that stole Indigenous children away from their families in order to forcibly assimilate them. Now, there’s a Canadian Senator who actually wants to focus on the schools’ “good deeds”.[1-2]
Conservative Senator Lynn Beyak is a Harper-era Senate appointee who's sitting on the committee tasked with confronting the legacy of colonialism in Canada.
Senator Beyak’s comments that Canada should be focusing on the “good deeds” done by residential schools are totally unacceptable. They fly in the face of the spirit and goals of the committee, and show that she is unfit to serve on it. She has to go.
Residential school survivors, church groups, MPs, and even the Senate committee Chair are speaking out against Beyak’s terrible comments, asking her to resign. The committee’s also getting blasted with emails and calls from ordinary people demanding that it remove Beyak -- but according to the rules, only Senator Beyak can step down herself.[3-5]
Beyak’s already feeling the heat on this. One of us demanding she resigns might not make a difference, but if thousands of us come together to flood her inbox, it might be enough to get her to step down from the committee. Click to send her a message now.
The Senate Aboriginal Peoples committee is supposed to be listening to Indigenous people share their experiences with colonialism, and recommending ways to foster new relationships between Canada and First Nations, Inuit and Métis individuals.
This is what Beyak said at one of the committee hearings:
“I speak partly for the record, but mostly in memory of the kindly and well-intentioned men and women and their descendants whose remarkable works, good deeds and historical tales in the residential schools go unacknowledged.”[6]
These comments are shocking, damaging, and completely unacceptable.
It will do more harm than good if Beyak stays on this committee. Indigenous people must feel that they can trust the committee in order to engage with it, and the committee needs their participation to do its important work.
Even the Committee Chair is asking Beyak to consider resigning.
Loads of people are calling on the Committee to remove Beyak, but only she can step down herself. If thousands of us send her a message, it could be enough to pressure her to step down from the committee.
Send her message now: https://you.leadnow.ca/petitions/senator-beyak-step-down-from-the-senate-s-aboriginal-people-s-committee
Thanks for all you do,
Brittany, Lara, and Logan on behalf of the Leadnow team
Sources
[1] Residential school subjected students to disease, experiements, abuse: TRC report, http://globalnews.ca/news/2402492/residential-schools-subjected-students-to-disease-abuse-experiments-trc-report/
[2] Calls mount for Senator Beyak to step aside from Aboriginal committee after residential schools remark, http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/beyak-aboriginal-peoples-committee-1.4027716
[3] MP who survived residential school calls for senator's resignation, http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/mp-who-survived-residential-school-calls-for-senator-s-resignation-1.3318370
[4] 'Nothing good' about residential school system, Anglican Church tells Senator Beyak, http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/anglican-church-beyak-residential-schools-1.4033335
[5] Lynn Beyak, Conservative Senator, Asked To Leave Aboriginal Peoples Committee, http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/03/16/lynn-beyak-lillian-eva-dyck_n_15408234.html
[6] Conservative senator defends 'well-intentioned' residential school system, http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/residential-school-system-well-intentioned-conservative-senator-1.4015115
Leadnow.ca is an independent campaigning community that brings Canadians together to hold government accountable, deepen our democracy and take action for the common good. You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
Leadnow.ca - À l’Action est une communauté indépendante qui souhaite réunir les Canadiens afin de demander des comptes au gouvernement, approfondir notre démocratie et passer à l’action pour le bien commun. Suivre sur Twitter, Facebook, et Google+
Leadnow.ca, PO Box 2091, Stn Terminal, Vancouver, BC, V6B 3T2 — 1‑855‑LEADN0W | 1‑855‑532‑3609