March 10, 2017
Yvonne Jones, MP for Labrador, condemns comments made by Conservative Senator Lynn Beyak’s regarding Residential Schools. Beyak expressed that she “was disappointed in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report in that it didn’t focus on the good” that Residential Schools did. MP Joins her Indigenous Caucus collegues in calling for Senator Beyak to resign.
Our government is committed to moving past this sad and terrible chapter in our history and finding a new way forward with Indigenous Peoples in Canada through a renewed nation-to-nation relationship. There is no place in Canada for the attitudes that inspired the Indian Residential Schools system to ever again prevail.
“As an Indigenous person and a Member of Parliament for a region with so many Indigenous people that went through this terrible ordeal I condemn the careless and hurtful words of Senator Beyak. The Canadian government has apologized for its role in the residential school era, the fact that this Senator sits on the Indigenous Affairs Committee dealing with vital and sensitive Indigenous issues with this attitude is alarming. Canada needs to move forward with reconciliation, Senator Beyak wants to take us backward, she needs to apologize and resign from this committee immediately.”
Our government is committed to the vital work of reconciliation, the process of truth telling and healing for Indigenous peoples as laid out by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The government has committed to work, in full partnership with Indigenous communities, the provinces, territories and other vital partners, to fully implement recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, including the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
As the Prime Minister stated in his speech upon the release of the Commission’s final report, “Reconciliation will be the result of many jurisdictions, many sectors and many entities and communities working together, in a unified approach toward a common goal.”
APTN interview
