Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer says controversial Sen. Lynn Beyak has been removed from the Conservative Party caucus after refusing to remove a “racist” comment from her website.
Scheer said in a statement Thursday that he learned on Tuesday that Beyak had posted approximately 100 letters from Canadians in support of her position on residential schools to her Parliamentary website.
Beyak was removed from the Senate Aboriginal affairs committee by former party leader Rona Ambrose last spring after she said more good than bad happened at residential schools and that people were focusing too much on the abuse rather than the positive impact the schools had.
Scheer said the vast majority of letters focused on the history of residential schools, while others contained comments about Indigenous Canadians in general.
“Promoting this comment is offensive and unacceptable for a Conservative Parliamentarian. To suggest that Indigenous Canadians are lazy compared to other Canadians, is simply racist,” he said.
“As a result of her actions, Conservative Senate Leader Larry Smith and I have removed Sen. Lynn Beyak from the Conservative National Caucus. Racism will not be tolerated in the Conservative caucus or Conservative Party of Canada,” Scheer said.
Source: Canadian Press
Ben O'Hara
