Lynn Beyak

Lynn Beyak (born February 18, 1949) is a Canadian politician, who was named to the Senate of Canada to represent Ontario on January 25, 2013.^[1] She was removed from the Conservative Party of Canada caucus on January 4, 2018.

Career

A business owner in Dryden, Ontario, Beyak worked in insurance and real estate.^[1] She co-owned General Motors dealerships with her late husband in Dryden and Fort Frances.^[2] Beyak was previously a candidate for the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party in the Ontario provincial elections of 1995 and 1999, and has served on the Fort Frances-Rainy River board of education.^[1] She was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 2013. One of her first notable acts was to be one of the first Conservative senators to support the suspensions of fellow Conservative senators Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin, and Patrick Brazeau because of their ethical indiscretions.^[3]

Residential schools stance

Beyak is critical of the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that the Canadian Indian residential school system was plagued with systemic physical, mental, and sexual abuse and directly resulted in the death of at least 6000 children from malnutrition and disease. Beyak said that those findings overshadowed the "good deeds" of "well-intentioned" residential school workers.^[4] Sen. Beyak's position was supported by Conrad Black stating that "Most of the teachers in those remote schools were dedicated people who believed in what they were doing and were trying to prepare their charges for full participation in Canadian life".^[5] She also received support from Lorrie Goldstein, who quoted the renowned Cree novelist, playwright, classical pianist and Order of Canada recipient, Tomson Highway who said "All we hear is the negative stuff, nobody's interested in the positive".^[6] Beyak's statement was repudiated by New Democratic Party Indigenous Affairs critic and residential school survivor Romeo Saganash, who called on her to resign for praising a system that amounted to cultural genocide, as defined by the United Nations; Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs and Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett, who called for better education on the subject matter; and Conservative Indigenous Affairs critic Cathy McLeod, who said that Beyak's praise did not reflect the views of the party, which under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, had made a formal apology for the residential schools. Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde also criticized the statement for defending a system that had deep negative effects on Aboriginal peoples in Canada.^[7] Beyak would later attack criticism of her speech as fake news.^[8] However, Beyak's thoughts were deemed out of line with the Conservative party's history on the subject matter by the party's interim leader Rona Ambrose, who stated it was untenable for her to keep her position on the Aboriginal people's committee due to the misalignment of Beyak's comments. On April 5, 2017, Beyak was removed from her Aboriginal people's committee Senate post.^[9][10]

After the Canadian government reorganized the Indian Affairs department August 28, 2017, forming two departments, for Indigenous and Northern Affairs and separately for Indigenous Services, each under its own minister, Sen. Beyak made another public statement: "Let's stop the guilt and blame and find a way to live together and share. Trade your status card for a Canadian citizenship, with a fair and negotiated payout to each Indigenous man, woman and child in Canada, to settle all the outstanding land claims and treaties, and move forward together ... All Canadians are then free to preserve their cultures in their own communities, on their own time, with their own dime. The emphasis should be on individual prosperity and responsibility, with more money in the pockets of the local people, and not just national leaders and bureaucracies." ^[11] According to Saskatoon StarPhoenix columnist Doug Cuthand, her comments indicated ignorance of history, as the indigenous peoples of Canada were extended Canadian citizenship in 1951. The mayors of Edmonton, Alberta and Winnipeg, Manitoba have called on her to resign.^[12] According to Brian Giesbrecht of the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, "Sen. Beyak has an abiding belief that the system we have in this country is not working, despite what the flabbergasted mayor and interviewer think of her." "When the senator says that status Indians are not true Canadian citizens, she is absolutely correct." "The fact is that status Indians living on reserves are legally very different from mainstream Canadians in many important ways."^[13]

Following the backlash regarding her controversial speech, Ms. Beyak published, on her senate web page, letters she received from Canadian citizens supporting her and her position. Towards the end of December 2017, Beyak faced considerable social media backlash regarding these letters. On January 4, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh demanded Senator Beyak's resignation.^[14] In a statement to the media, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, explained that while most letters focused on the history of residential schools, some letters had comments regarding indigenous Canadians in general.^[15] He pointed out a particularly troubling passage from one of the letters, that stated "I'm no anthropolgist but it seems every opportunistic culture, subsistence hunter/gatherers seeks to get what they can for no effort. There is always a clash between an industrial/ organized farming culture that values effort as opposed to a culture that will sit and wail until the government gives them stuff.",^[16] calling the comment "simply racist" and her promotion of such comments "offensive and unacceptable".^[15] In a media statement, Scheer said that he removed Beyak from the Conservative caucus after she refused his demand that she remove some of the comments.^[17] Scheer's spokesperson said this demand was made in a telephone call, but Beyak denied that Scheer or anyone from his office had asked her to take down a letter.^[18] A senior Conservative source confirmed Beyak's account, saying that the request had actually been made through the Senate leadership.^[18][19]

Personal life

She married Tony Beyak on November 28, 1970 and they remained married until his death on April 8, 2002. They have two sons, one of them, Nick Beyak is a city councillor in Dryden.^[20][21]

References