Beyak praises survey showing many favour Indigenous integration
‘Refreshing to read,’ senator says
Sen. Lynn Beyak is applauding an online survey that suggests a majority of Canadians believe the government apologizes too much for residential schools and that Indigenous people should integrate more even if it means losing their culture.
The controversial senator was ousted from the Conservative caucus in January after she posted letters on her website supporting her defence of residential schools — but that hasn’t silenced her on the subject.
She issued a press release Friday welcoming the results of an online survey from the Angus Reid Institute.
“It’s refreshing to read an unbiased article and poll that truly reflects what Canadians believe will help our whole country move forward and prosper,” Beyak wrote.
Carolyn Bennett, minister for Crown-Indigenous relations, said it’s unfortunate Beyak “continues to promote division and misinformation rather than use her public position to educate and help advance reconciliation.”
She called on Beyak again to listen to survivors and First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples and to remove the offensive materials from her Senate website that “espouse ill-informed and racist views.”
Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott called Beyak’s comments “disturbing” and said they show that “even senators have a way to go in understanding the importance of reconciliation.” And she said the survey results are contrary to what she’s heard from Canadians across the country.
“There’s a huge appetite among Canadians to understand what truth and reconciliation is.”
The survey sampled 2,443 Canadian adults as part of the Angus Reid Forum from March 20 to the 27 th and included large over-samples in regions with high Indigenous populations, which were weighted, according to the company.
The polling industry’s professional body, the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error as they are not random and therefore are not necessarily representative of the whole population.
Fifty-three per cent of respondents to the survey said Canada spends too much time apologizing for residential schools. And more than half said Indigenous people should have no special status and would be better off integrating into Canadian society, even at the cost of losing their traditions and culture.
Bennett pointed out that the majority of respondents admitted to having little to no knowledge about Indigenous issues.
Pollster Angus Reid said his team wanted to look at issues facing Indigenous people because it’s a topic that’s been “much debated in the country.”
“I’m sure the senator thinks it’s the best survey (she’s) ever seen on the subject and I’ve had hate mail from some people who think I should be tried and sent to jail because this is the worst survey he’s ever seen,” Reid said.
In January, Tory Leader Andrew Scheer said in a statement: “I demanded Senator Beyak remove this content from her website. She refused. As a result of her actions, the Conservative Senate Leader Larry Smith and I have removed Senator Lynn Beyak from the Conservative National Caucus.”
The controversy involves letters from people who support Beyak’s comments that not enough has been made of the positives that came out of residential schools, and that Indigenous people should give up their status cards and practise their culture on their own dime.
Their continued presence on her website prompted five members of the independent senators group to ask Senate ethics officer Pierre Legault to investigate whether the letters they said are commonly believed to be racist violated the upper chamber’s rules against promoting hatred. They also wanted the Senate’s administrative arm to decide if hosting the letters on a Senate website is a misuse of parliamentary resources.
Days later, a Nova Scotia university professor, Rick Mehta, freshened the debate, tweeting:
“Where is the evidence of racism? Are you saying that the Aboriginal people should have a protected status and therefore can’t be criticized?”, adding that Beyak’s ejection from the Tory caucus was a “bad move” for race relations.