Conservatives take ‘steps’ to address Beyak’s role after new comments on Indigenous rights<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nBeyak recently said she thought First Nations should give up their status cards, pursue a negotiated settlement to put an end treaty agreements\u00a0and become Canadian citizens. (Indigenous people born in this country are citizens.)<\/p>\n
“None of us are leaving, so let’s stop the guilt and blame and find a way to live together and share,” she wrote in an open letter recently posted to her website. “All Canadians are then free to preserve their cultures in their own communities, on their own time, with their own dime.”<\/p>\n
Beyak\u00a0has also defended the legacy of the residential school system, while criticizing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that conducted an exhaustive six-year study of the institutions.<\/p>\n
“A small number of Aboriginals found the schools bad,” she wrote in the open letter. “Only 1 in 3 Indigenous children ever attended them. Very few were torn from their parents arms, but rather were enrolled by loving parents who were away trapping and trading for months on end.”<\/p>\n
‘Stupid’ and ‘erroneous’<\/h2>\n
Beyak’s comments sparked outrage from at least one Conservative caucus colleague.<\/p>\n
In an interview with CBC North Monday, Nunavut Sen. Dennis Patterson said her comments are “stupid and “erroneous.”<\/p>\n
He said of course Indigenous peoples are citizens, and many more than a third of Inuit peoples forcibly attended residential schools throughout the north.<\/p>\n
![\"Senator](\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.3995060.1487806796!\/fileImage\/httpImage\/image.bmp_gen\/derivatives\/original_620\/senator-dennis-patterson-nunavut.bmp\")
<\/p>\n
Conservative Nunavut Sen. Dennis Patterson said Beyak’s latest comments are ‘stupid.’ (Vincent Robinet\/CBC)<\/p>\n
“This isn’t the first time Sen. Beyak has shot her mouth off indiscriminately, and I’m very upset that her remarks have reflected on the Senate\u00a0and on our caucus. Her remarks are a provocative, offensive and they’re misinformed. They’re not based on fact,” he said.<\/p>\n
Patterson said her views are “way off the mainstream” and that he didn’t know any senator who shares those views.<\/p>\n
“Most of them that I’ve spoken to, and I’m sure all of them, are embarrassed\u00a0and outraged by these comments she continues to make publicly,” he said.<\/p>\n
In a statement addressed to CBC News, and sent to the parliamentary press gallery, Beyak\u00a0said last week that she believes all survivors of the residential school system should be compensated.<\/p>\n
“I continue to advocate for them often and wonder what is taking so long.\u00a0As stated in my letter, the dollars are going to lawyers and red tape obstacles instead of the deserving individuals,” she wrote.<\/p>\n
However, in 2007, the former Conservative government did reach the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA) with some 80,000 former students.<\/p>\n
As of September 2017,\u00a0more than $3.1 billion\u00a0has\u00a0been\u00a0paid\u00a0to former students<\/a>.<\/p>\nAccording to the Indian Residential Schools Adjudication Secretariat, 98 per cent of all\u00a0claims have been resolved.<\/p><\/p>\n
Article source: http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/andrew-scheer-beyak-caucus-1.4295875?cmp=rss<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer\u00a0says Sen. Lynn Beyak’s recent remarks about First Nations people went a step too far, but he won’t remove her\u00a0from the Tory fold just yet. “I certainly don’t agree with her sentiments, she doesn’t speak for our caucus, our party. I certainly condemn the choice of words that she used,”\u00a0Scheer\u00a0said in an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-91741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91741\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}