Beyak is out. Accountability happened because we held the line. Thank you for keeping the pressure up until the end.
June 13, 2017
We demand the resignation of Senator Lynn Beyak and issuance of a formal apology.
Final supporters
NDP MP Romeo Saganash is calling on Conservative Senator Lynn Beyak to resign after comments she made about residential schools.
Saganash, the Member of Parliament for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, is a residential school survivor.
"It is clear that the schools have been, arguably, the most damaging of the many elements of Canada’s colonization of this land’s original peoples and, as their consequences still affect the lives of Aboriginal people today, they remain so."
—John S. Milloy, A National Crime
“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,” Beyak said Tuesday in the Senate.
Her statements minimize the experiences of thousands and thousands of aboriginal children who were ripped away from their families (many by police officers who had a duty to protect them from harm), forced to learn English (or French), not allowed to speak their own mother tongue, not permitted to participate in their culture and traditions, not permitted to practice their faith, raped, sodomized, beaten, underfed, and not provided proper medical care, to name just a few of the sins that were inflicted whether or not by “well intentioned religious teachers” or paedophiles without a single good intention. This forced integration and the denial of the child’s culture, language and customs was done under threat of torture and actual torture.
Beyak, who lives in Dryden, Ont., is a member of the Senate committee of Aboriginal Peoples. She was appointed to the Senate in 2013 by former prime minister Stephen Harper.
It's not the first time Beyak has made controversial remarks. On Feb. 28, she questioned the need to add protection for transgender people in the Canadian Human Rights Act and advised people in the LGBTQ community not to draw attention to themselves, citing friends of hers.
If you believe that it is unacceptable for a Canadian Senator to trivialize one of the darkest chapters of Canadian history, then sign the petition and contact her directly at [email protected] or phone the senate (1-800-267-7362) and demand her resignation.
Updates
Reached 1,000 supporters
March 28, 2017
Reached 100 supporters
March 12, 2017
March 11, 2017
We are approaching one hundred signatures. Keep pushing so we can demand accountability.
870 Comments
NO defense for white washing a recognized "cultural genocide", especially when holding a position of privileged power AND personally positioning herself as a supportive descendant of the perpetrators of the atrocities. Disgusting ignorance.
My mommwas in one of these prison camps,, i still cry when I of how lonely she was in there, and slave worker,, making clothes so the nuns could sell them to white people and baking too, and produce too, while the kids starved, you lady are sick ,,,
As a First Nations woman of Canada and daughter of resident school survivors I am amazed at how disconnected and unable to empathize with the Aboriginal experience senator Beyak is! She needs to resign and apologize for real Truth and Reconciliation to begin!!!
The sheer ignorance of Senator Beyak's comments compound the shameful legacy of the residential school system, and her dogged refusal to reconsider or apologize for her comments speaks to a sense of pride in that ignorance. She must resign.
Ms. Beyak clearly lacks both the education and attitude necessary to serve her fellow Canadians as a Senator. She is better suited to the role of student- subjects like remedial Canadian History and Trauma 101 would be good starting points.
Resign.
She is a disgrace to Canada, get useless ass out of the Senate!
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Beyak is out. Accountability happened because we held the line. Thank you for keeping the pressure up until the end.
June 13, 2017
We demand the resignation of Senator Lynn Beyak and issuance of a formal apology.
Final supporters
NDP MP Romeo Saganash is calling on Conservative Senator Lynn Beyak to resign after comments she made about residential schools.
Saganash, the Member of Parliament for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, is a residential school survivor.
"It is clear that the schools have been, arguably, the most damaging of the many elements of Canada’s colonization of this land’s original peoples and, as their consequences still affect the lives of Aboriginal people today, they remain so."
—John S. Milloy, A National Crime
“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,” Beyak said Tuesday in the Senate.
Her statements minimize the experiences of thousands and thousands of aboriginal children who were ripped away from their families (many by police officers who had a duty to protect them from harm), forced to learn English (or French), not allowed to speak their own mother tongue, not permitted to participate in their culture and traditions, not permitted to practice their faith, raped, sodomized, beaten, underfed, and not provided proper medical care, to name just a few of the sins that were inflicted whether or not by “well intentioned religious teachers” or paedophiles without a single good intention. This forced integration and the denial of the child’s culture, language and customs was done under threat of torture and actual torture.
Beyak, who lives in Dryden, Ont., is a member of the Senate committee of Aboriginal Peoples. She was appointed to the Senate in 2013 by former prime minister Stephen Harper.
It's not the first time Beyak has made controversial remarks. On Feb. 28, she questioned the need to add protection for transgender people in the Canadian Human Rights Act and advised people in the LGBTQ community not to draw attention to themselves, citing friends of hers.
If you believe that it is unacceptable for a Canadian Senator to trivialize one of the darkest chapters of Canadian history, then sign the petition and contact her directly at [email protected] or phone the senate (1-800-267-7362) and demand her resignation.
Updates
Reached 1,000 supporters
March 28, 2017
Reached 100 supporters
March 12, 2017
March 11, 2017
We are approaching one hundred signatures. Keep pushing so we can demand accountability.
870 Comments
Lynn Beyak's assertion residential schools may have contributed to any positive outcomes is absurd. Such stories of these outcomes illustrate the resiliency of these survivors and in no way provides support for these heinous institutions having existed.
NO defense for white washing a recognized "cultural genocide", especially when holding a position of privileged power AND personally positioning herself as a supportive descendant of the perpetrators of the atrocities. Disgusting ignorance.
My mommwas in one of these prison camps,, i still cry when I of how lonely she was in there, and slave worker,, making clothes so the nuns could sell them to white people and baking too, and produce too, while the kids starved, you lady are sick ,,,
As a First Nations woman of Canada and daughter of resident school survivors I am amazed at how disconnected and unable to empathize with the Aboriginal experience senator Beyak is! She needs to resign and apologize for real Truth and Reconciliation to begin!!!
The sheer ignorance of Senator Beyak's comments compound the shameful legacy of the residential school system, and her dogged refusal to reconsider or apologize for her comments speaks to a sense of pride in that ignorance. She must resign.
Ms. Beyak clearly lacks both the education and attitude necessary to serve her fellow Canadians as a Senator. She is better suited to the role of student- subjects like remedial Canadian History and Trauma 101 would be good starting points.
Resign.
She is a disgrace to Canada, get useless ass out of the Senate!
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Lynn Beyak's assertion residential schools may have contributed to any positive outcomes is absurd. Such stories of these outcomes illustrate the resiliency of these survivors and in no way provides support for these heinous institutions having existed.