SENATOR APOLOGIZES FOR USE OF RACIAL SLUR AT MEETING

Sen. André Pratte apologized Thursday for using a notorious racial slur during a Senate committee hearing, where he uttered the so-called “N-word” as an example of an epithet that should never be used. Pratte, pictured, said he was trying to make the point that there are limits to free speech when speaking about people. “In making that point, I mentioned black people, for instance, and that’s when I used the word,” Pratte said. If he offended people by using the word in that context, he apologizes unreservedly, Pratte said. “I accept it was an improper choice of example ... and I apologize for that,” he said. Committee witnesses at the Senate legal affairs committee were making free speech arguments while debating the Liberal government’s legislation to bar discrimination on the basis of gender identity or gender expression.