5,000 signatures reached
To: Senator Beyak
Step down from the Senate's Aboriginal People's Committee
This campaign has ended.
As a member of the Senate committee tasked with confronting Canada's colonial legacy, you said that:
“I speak partly for the record, but mostly in memory of the kindly and well-intentioned men and women and their descendants whose remarkable works, good deeds and historical tales in the residential schools go unacknowledged... I was disappointed in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report in that it didn't focus on the good."
Further, when responding to criticism, you added that you've "suffered with them up there." and that you "don't need any more education."
These comments about the residential school system are shocking, damaging, and hurtful. They also show that you are unfit to serve on this committee.
I’m calling on you to step down from the committee.
Why is this important?
The Senate committee is tasked with listening to Indigenous people about their experiences with Canadian colonialism, and recommending ways to foster new relationships between Canada and First Nations, Inuit and Métis individuals.
Senator Beyak’s comments that Canada should focus on the “good deeds” done by residential school system - which stole children from their homes in an effort to forcibly assimilate Indigenous peoples - are totally unacceptable. They fly in the face of the spirit and goals of the committee, and show that Beyak is unfit to serve on it.
Beyak's continued presence on the committee will also do more harm than good. Indigenous peoples must feel that they can trust the committee in order to engage with it, and it in turn needs their participation to do its important work.
Residential school survivors, church groups, MPs, and even the committee Chair are speaking out. The committee has been getting an unprecedented number of emails and phone calls from people calling for Senator Beyak’s removal - but according to the rules, only Senator Beyak can step down herself.
Sign this to tell Senator Beyak that she should step down from the Senate Committee.
Source
Calls mount for Senator Beyak to step aside from Aboriginal committee after residential schools remarks, http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/beyak-aboriginal-peoples-committee-1.4027716