'Time has come' for Beyak to be expelled, says P.E.I. senator

Sen. Brian Francis of P.E.I. says he supports a recommendation from the Senate ethics committee to suspend Sen. Lynn Beyak after the committee found she failed to take her anti-racism training seriously.

But Francis, the former chief of Abegweit First Nation, said he believes it's time for Beyak's removal to be made permanent. Rather than being suspended, which would only remain in effect for the current session of parliament, he believes Beyak should be expelled.

"There has to be somewhere where you draw a line in the sand, and I think the time has come now," Francis said.

"There are 105 people that can sit in the Senate of Canada out of roughly 36 million Canadians. And in my opinion Lynn Beyak should not be one of them."

Beyak is facing removal from the Senate for a second time. She was suspended without pay in 2019 after she declined to remove letters from her website that were widely condemned as racist, and for refusing to apologize for posting them. Her suspension ended with the start of the last election. At the time, she told the Senate that she had done all they had asked of her.

Beyak was supposed to attend three days of Indigenous "cultural competency training" last fall. 

But according to a report from the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres, Beyak was asked to leave the premises after the first lesson because her "inflexibility and conduct made the learning environment unsafe." 

The report says Beyak claimed she was Métis because her parents had adopted an Indigenous child. On Wednesday afternoon, Beyak issued a short statement denying she had ever claimed she was Métis.

Lawyer disputes report

Her lawyer is also taking issue with the report. Donald Bayne said in his own letter to the ethics officer that reports saying she was asked to leave training are "untrue."

"Anyone who knows Sen. Beyak and her polite manner would immediately be suspicious of such an accusation," he wrote.

Bayne described the report describing her training sessions as a "dilatory personal attack." He said the OFIFC was "disorganized" and "unprofessional" in its dealings with the senator. 

In her letter to the Senate ethics officer, Beyak said the OFIFC staff dismissed many of her arguments because they saw her as benefiting from "white privilege" and were not willing to entertain debate on the role of Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada.

In 2017, Beyak chastised the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for not "focusing on the good" of the residential school system.

Francis said "as an Indigenous person" he finds that "totally insulting and hurtful."

"I've had family members that have gone to residential schools, from both sides, my wife and myself, and as families we're still feeling the effects yet of the residential schools, and the harm they've done to not only my family ... but to our whole community," he said.

"For her to take that position is just unbelievable."

While it's rare for the Senate to suspend a senator, it's never expelled one before.

Francis said based on the most recent report from the Senate ethics committee, Beyak hasn't used her time since her previous suspension as the committee had intended: "to gain further perspective on the privilege of serving in Canada's Upper House and the obligations of senators in the course of such service," according to the report.

While there's been no official move to expel Beyak, Francis said he'll be "looking very closely" to see what amendments may come forward during debate on the committee's report, expected to take place later this week.

He said he didn't know if he might introduce his own amendment.

"I haven't been around long enough to really be honest with you. You know there are other Indigenous senators as well. And maybe one of them will."

Beyak, from Ontario, was appointed to the Senate by Stephen Harper in 2013. She was removed from the Conservative caucus by Andrew Scheer in 2017.

CBC News reached out to Beyak but has not received a response.