New controversy flares up over Lynn Beyak’s Senate-appointed anti-racism training

2020/08/19 Leave a comment

Hard to see this ending:

The “flames of negativity” that were stirred up by Lynn Beyak’s racist statements as a senator are being “reignited” by a controversy at the University of Manitoba, according to a residential school survivor.

Garnet Angeconeb questions the suitability of the man tasked with overseeing Beyak’s second attempt at cultural awareness and sensitivity training after Jonathan Black-Branch quietly left his post as dean at the University of Manitoba.

The university is not saying why. In an email to CBC news, a spokesperson said Black-Branch is no longer employed by the University of Manitoba and that his leave began on June 5, but would not elaborate.

Black-Branch was also removed from his position on the governing body of the Law Society of Manitoba, a position reserved for the dean of the law school.

Both moves speak to the need for a wider probe into the handling of Beyak’s discipline and the qualifications of the man tasked with educating her, said Angeconeb who is from Lac Seul First Nation in northwestern Ontario.

“The issue with Lynn Beyak continues to throw flames on a fire that was under control,” Angeconeb said of the harm the on-going saga is causing. “It stirs up unresolved trauma for survivors.”

Beyak, who has publicly praised residential schools as “well-intentioned”, was first suspended from the Senate in 2019. The move came after she declined to remove letters from her website that described First Nations people as lazy and inept and refused to apologize for posting them.

She was ordered to complete education and training to improve her understanding and awareness of Indigenous issues before returning to her senate seat.

Beyak failed her first attempt, when the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres said Beyak created an “unsafe learning environment” with false claims to a Metis identity and other comments. Beyak denied making those claims.

In May, the Senate appointed Black-Branch as an “eminently qualified” person to design and deliver a new training program for Beyak.

After delivering a total of 24 hours of training, by video, Black-Branch concluded that “Senator Beyak is now better equipped ‘for approaching her professional work and her personal beliefs'”, according to the report of the Senate ethics committee, in June.

Senators are set to discuss the report on September 22.

‘Racism is a disease’

“There are a lot of questions about how this training was delivered, how meaningful it was,” said Danielle Morrison, a spokesperson for the Coalition to Remove Lynn Beyak from Senate, of which Angeconeb is also a member.

Residential school survivors should have the final say when it comes to determining whether Beyak’s training was a success, she said.

“Racism is a disease. It is one of the biggest pandemics affecting our world right now,” Morrison said. “This is a moment when people should ask themselves ‘am I on the right side of history?’

“How do you measure someone’s success in being an anti-racist? That assessment has already been made by survivors.”

‘Political fluff’

Angeconeb said Beyak could show her training was a success through her actions. For him that means another apology, beyond the carefully scripted ones she gave in the Senate.

“It needs to come from somewhere in her home-town of Dryden, in front of Anishinaabe people,” he said. “Otherwise these are just apologies of convenience to save her Senate seat. It’s just political fluff.”

After decades of anti-racism work and advocacy on behalf of survivors, Angeconeb said he is heartened that residential schools are “at the forefront of the conversation” about reconciliation in Canada.

But he said “side-bar issues” such as Beyak’s behaviour and the on-going legal wrangling over compensation for survivors of St. Anne’s residential school are “really hurtful.”

“I continue to be upset and I continue to be angered by that,” he said.

Source: New controversy flares up over Lynn Beyak’s Senate-appointed anti-racism training

Filed under Aboriginal, Racism Tagged with ,

Senator Murray Sinclair responds to Lynn Beyak’s defence of residential schools

2017/03/31 Leave a comment

Eloquently stated, broad application:

“I spent all day telling people no comment,” Sinclair said, referring to reporters’ attempts earlier that day to elicit comment from the former judge on his fellow senator’s latest remarks. But offered an explanation to Tremonti as to how he responds to people who ask why Indigenous people don’t “get over” the residential school experience.

“My answer has always been: Why can’t you always remember this? Because this is about memorializing those people who have been the victims of a great wrong. Why don’t you tell the United States to ‘get over’ 9/11? Why don’t you tell this country to ‘get over’ all the veterans who died in the Second World War, instead of honouring them once a year?” he said.

“We should never forget, even once they have learned from it, because it’s part of who we are. It’s not just a part of who we are as survivors and children of survivors and relatives of survivors, it’s part of who we are as a nation. And this nation must never forget what it once did to its most vulnerable people.”

Source: Senator Murray Sinclair responds to Lynn Beyak’s defence of residential schools – Politics – CBC News

Filed under Aboriginal Tagged with ,

Harper senators hold McCarthyesque hearings: Siddiqui | Toronto Star

2015/03/06 Leave a comment

Not the Senate’s finest hour, particularly on the Government side:

[Liberal Senator] Mitchell accused [Marc] Lebuis for making “very, very sweeping allegations, based on anecdotal evidence,” without “any intellectual, academic, empirical evidence.”

But the Conservative senators thought otherwise.

Senator Beyak: “Thank you, Mr. Lebuis, for an excellent, well-informed and documented presentation.” Senator Stewart Olsen: “Thank you, Mr. Lebuis. What you are suggesting is that vigilance is necessary for the preservation of democracy and that our ancestors were extremely vigilant.”

Another witness was Shahina Siddiqui (no relation), head of the Islamic Social Services Association, Winnipeg: “Please do not treat Muslim Canadians as if they are the enemy because we are not … Don’t give in to fear and propaganda, otherwise, we will tear each other apart.”

Senator Beyak told her, thrice, to stop being “thin-skinned.” Canadians are “tired of hearing excuses. If 21 Christians were beheaded by Jews, they would be called ‘radical extremist Jews.’ And if pilots were burned in cages by a Christian, they would be called ‘radical violent Christians’ … What would you answer to people who are legitimately concerned” (emphasis mine).

So, this Muslim from Manitoba must answer for the atrocities committed by the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

But she remained remarkably calm: “Canadians are as concerned about the loss of innocent life, whether it is done by ISIL, Al Qaeda or by all other terrorist groups. The number one target of these groups are Muslims.

“It’s not about Muslim versus Canadians or Canadians versus Muslims; it is humanity versus terrorism.”

Liberal Senator Joseph Day told her:

“I have a grave, grave concern that we’re going to see more retaliation. We’re going to see more bullet holes in mosques and mosques burned …

“As soon as your community starts seeing this activity, which has been triggered by something happening way off somewhere else, more and more young people are going to join up to go fight for the jihad. It’s going to be more and more difficult for your community … We’ve got to stop it now or it’s going to get out of control.”

Siddiqui: “We have to stop it now because we have the experience of Japanese internment. We did that to Japanese-Canadians out of fear. I hope this is not going to go there.”

She told me later that the committee hearing felt like the “Tea Party was in action. It was a very charged atmosphere — more like an inquisition from her (Senator Beyak).”

Harper senators hold McCarthyesque hearings: Siddiqui | Toronto Star.

Filed under Radicalization Tagged with , , ,

How to prosecute radicalized Canadians a quandary, Senate group hears | Ottawa Citizen

2014/11/05 Leave a comment

The challenges of prosecuting radicalized Canadians and Government messaging of note from Senator Beyak:

“The legitimate investigation by the police of those individuals does not necessarily coincide at this moment in time to there being that many cases that are ready to go for charges.”

He and Saunders then detailed how seven Canadians, including five initial suspects in the Toronto-18 terror case, have been placed on peace bonds, court orders that restrict the movement of people not found guilty of an offence but deemed a risk to others. They also mean stiffer sentences for someone if later found guilty of a crime.

But even that power is limited, according to police. RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson, speaking before the committee last week, complained that the legal threshold for obtaining peace bonds needs to be lowered to a “reasonable suspicion.”

Saunders later added that gathering evidence against suspected Canadian overseas fighters who have returned to Canada is even more difficult.

“It’s a challenge the police face, to gather evidence for activities that people may have been engaged in while they’re overseas in countries where it’s difficult for our authorities to have access to,” he said.

He added: “We have to prove that somebody is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, that will not be changed.”

After more than an hour of committee questioning, Sen. Lynn Beyak’s frustrations boiled over.

Canadians “don’t want to hear us talk, they don’t want to hear 1,000 reasons why we can’t solve this problem,” she told the witnesses.

“They want us to put our collective heads together and find a way to protect the rights of 35 million Canadians instead of the rights of 90 or 93 or 130 individuals.

“There has to be a better way for Canadians then to just listen to us talk and the problem gets worse.”

Part of the trade-off with the rule-of-law that the Government so often cites as one of the key Canadian values along with freedom, democracy, and human rights.

How to prosecute radicalized Canadians a quandary, Senate group hears | Ottawa Citizen.

Filed under Radicalization Tagged with ,