Former Conservative cabinet minister resigns from Telus board, business law firm
A former Conservative cabinet minister resigned from both the Telus board of directors and a business law firm after comments he made on TV about racism in Canada.
Stockwell Day was on a CBC Power & Politics panel Tuesday discussing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s response to protests over the police killing of George Floyd, a black man in the U.S.
Day said systemic racism was not an issue in Canada and compared people’s experiences of racism here to him being mocked for wearing glasses as a child.
Wednesday afternoon, Telus released a statement announcing it had accepted Day’s resignation from the board.
“The views expressed by Mr. Day during yesterday’s broadcast of Power & Politics are not reflective of the values and beliefs of our organization,” Telus said in a statement. Day had been on the board since 2011.
Soon after, Teresa Dufort, partner and CEO at McMillan LLP, released a statement saying the law firm had accepted Day’s resignation as a strategic adviser.
“At McMillan LLP, we believe that systemic racism is real and that it can only be addressed when each of us — as individuals and organizations — commits to meaningful change,” she said. “Yesterday, Stockwell Day made comments during a televised interview that run counter to this view.”
Later, the CBC announced that Day had stepped down from his role as a commentator on Power & Politics.
Floyd, 46, died after Derek Chauvin, a white policeman, knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes on May 25.
Since then, protests over police brutality against black Americans have been held across the U.S. with many turning violent as police respond to vandalism and looting, but also peaceful assemblies, with tear gas, batons and rubber bullets.