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Press Statement, Nishnawbe Aski Nation:
Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler has joined with Grand Council Treaty #3 (GCT#3) Ogichidaa Francis Kavanaugh to decry the failure by the City of Dryden municipal council to support a motion condemning embattled Conservative Senator Lynn Beyak and calling for her resignation:
“I stand with the leadership and citizens of Grand Council Treaty #3 as we ask all Canadians to join us in the fight against racism and bigotry. I am very disappointed that all members of Dryden City Council did not take Senator Beyak’s racist conduct seriously and declined to condemn her actions. As leaders we must seize every opportunity to support reconciliation and speak out against racism. NAN and GCT#3 agree that it is the duty of all Canadians to stand against racism and bigotry, and that hurtful comments that ignore our shared colonial history must be denounced. Senator Beyak’s words and actions must be recognized as insulting, hurtful and in need of condemnation by all Canadians.”
NAN and GCT#3 are united in their call for the removal of the Senator who hails from northwestern Ontario, an area spanning NAN and GCT#3 territory with one of the highest concentrations of Indian Residential Schools in Canada. It is unacceptable that a member of the Senate of Canada is willfully oblivious to the devastating legacy of these institutions, and the intergenerational effects they continue to have in First Nation communities.
A 2018 petition by NAN and GCT#3 calling for Senator Beyak's resignation received nearly 5,000 signatures.