A Senate Ethics Committee says Senator Lynn Beyak should be suspended again in the aftermath of racist letters being posted on her website.
Beyak has been under fire for denying the impact of the Residential School System. The Senator has been facing backlash since 2017 when Senator and Residential School survivor Romeo Saganash called for her to resign.
The latest report on the northwestern Ontario Senator says while the letters have since been removed, she didn’t adequately comply with certain recommendations.
The committee says Beyak attended educational programs on racism against Indigenous people but “failed to exhibit any willingness to learn.”
Beyak was also asked to make a formal apology but the Committee says it’s not satisfied with the one she submitted to the Senate in November 2019.
It says the brief apology doesn’t acknowledge the letters that led to her suspension, “nor does it acknowledge the adverse effects that her conduct had on Indigenous peoples, on Canadians who hold equality as a Charter value that they cherish, as well as on her colleagues, and on the institution of the Senate. ”
Beyak was previously suspended last May but that ended after the federal election in October.
The Committee will come back with a final report by June 30th of this year.
