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Senate committee urges renewed suspension for Ontario Sen. Lynn Beyak

Jan 31, 2020 | 3:53 PM

OTTAWA — The Senate ethics committee is recommending that Sen. Lynn Beyak be suspended again without pay.

Beyak’s colleagues ousted her from the upper chamber temporarily last spring after condemning as racist several letters she had posted to her website.

The Ontario senator had published letters supporting her view that some Indigenous people had positive experiences in residential schools, which the Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded caused generations of First Nations, Metis and Inuit children to suffer abuse and alienation.

Her suspension ended automatically when Parliament was dissolved for the federal election last fall.

The committee concluded in a report released today that Beyak did not meet the conditions set out for her return, calling an apology she delivered insufficient and her participation in educational programs on racism towards Indigenous Peoples in Canada incomplete.

In November, Beyak said she had met all the conditions to return to work.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 31, 2020.

 

 

 

 

The Canadian Press