Senator claims ‘serious threat’ to free speech
‘Good deeds’ from residential schools system
• Conservative Sen. Lynn Beyak says her party’s decision to sanction her for comments about Canada’s residential school history amounts to a threat to freedom of speech.
In a statement released Thursday, Beyak — who was removed Wednesday from the Senate committee on Aboriginal Peoples — says political correctness is “stifling opinion and thoughtful conversation.”
She also says a silent majority of Canadians agree with what she said — that there were “good deeds” and other positive elements that emerged from the country’s residential school system.
“For me to lose my posi t i on on t he Aboriginal Peoples Committee for complimenting the work of nurses, teachers, foster families and legions of other decent, caring Canadians — along with highlighting inspiring stories spoken by aboriginal people themselves — is a serious threat to freedom of speech,” Beyak writes.
“Too often, on a broad range of issues, a vocal minority cries foul and offence whenever a point of view is raised that does not align with their own.
“Meanwhile, the silent majority, who are contributing to this country by working, building and selling things, taking care of their parents and children, are left thinking they are alone.”
Free s peech does not apply to “people that celebrate genocide,” NDP indi genous affairs critic Romeo Saganash, a residential school survivor, said outside the House of Commons on Thursday.
Beyak set off a firestorm last month in a speech in the Senate focused on highlighting the need to track f ederal spending on i ndigenous issues.
“I speak partly for the record, but mostly in memory of the kindly and well- intentioned men and women and their descendants — perhaps some of us here in this chamber — whose remarkable works, good deeds and historical tales in the residential schools go unacknowledged for the most part and are overshadowed by negative reports,” she said at the time.
“Mistakes were made at residential schools — i n many i nstances, horrible mistakes that overshadowed some good things that also happened at those schools.”
The comments i gnited comment from inside and outside the upper chamber that divided her own caucus, which ultimately decided to remove her from the Senate committee on Aboriginal Peoples.
Late Wednesday, interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose removed Beyak from the committee, but stopped short of kicking her out of caucus.
Jake Enwright, a spokesperson for Ambrose, said: “Ms. Ambrose has been clear that Sen. Beyak’s views do not reflect the Conservative party’s position on residential schools.”
The Conservatives were in power in 2008 when the federal government delivered an abject apology in the House of Commons to families and survivors, a fact not lost on Enwright.
“It was Prime Minister Stephen Harper who made an historic apology to the victims of residential schools and launched the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” he said.
Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission spent six years examining the legacy of the government- funded, church- operated schools, infamous hotbeds of abuse and mistreatment that operated from the 1870s to 1996.
Last week, Beyak intensified her comments in a CBC interview insisting that she had no need for additional education about residential schools or indigenous culture, citing a long- standing friendship with an “aboriginal fellow” and her experiences in northern Ontario.
In the interview she described an outpouring of public support for her position.
Shortly after taking over as Conservative leader in the Senate last week, Sen. Larry Smith said: “I recognize that it is an important issue, it’s a dark part of our history in terms of what happened to the indigen- ous people, the children, but let us sit down and do our homework and discuss this properly so that we come out with a balanced approach.”
Indigenous l eaders in Manitoba and northern Ontario were unanimous and unequivocal in calling for Beyak to quit.
“Her unparalleled praise of residential schools and smears of all First Nation leaders is not acceptable in 2017,” said Sheila North Wilson, a grand chief of an organization representing First Nations in northern Manitoba.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler called Beyak’s comments a national insult and unacceptable coming from a member of the Senate.
In her statement Thursday, Beyak says she believes the experience has revealed to her how difficult it is to have a “balanced, truthful discussion about all issues affecting Canadians.”
Conservative leadership candidate Maxime Bernier says he’s happy to count Beyak among his supporters, despite the comments.
Bernier called the schools a dark part of Canada’s history, and said he stands by the decision to remove Beyak from the committee. But the former Conservative cabinet minister is defending her right to express her opinion.