THUNDER BAY - Students are joining the growing number of voices calling for the resignation of Senator Lynn Beyak.
The Lakehead University Student Union and the Lakehead University Native Students Association hosted the event, Let’s Sack Beyak, on Wednesday to educate the student body about Beyak and the comments she has made regarding residential schools and to collect signatures in a growing petition calling for her resignation.
“It’s letting students know that even though she was removed from the Conservative caucus that she is still a member at large on the senate and we find that hugely problematic, seeing as we fall under the Robinson Superior Treaty and there are a lot of students that were affected by the lateral violence of her words,” said Lindsey Kelly, vice president of advocacy with LUSU.
Kelly added there are a lot of students in the community and classrooms at LU who have been directly affected by the residential school system as survivors or family of survivors.
“I hope this can bring up a bigger conversation about freedom of speech and how those words, even though are spoken in a free way, are very much putting the shackles back on students who have worked years and years to get here and are still fighting a lot of lateral violence and oppression,” Kelly said.
Beyak first drew national attention early in 2017 when she said there were positive aspects of the residential school system. Early this year, Beyak was kicked out of the Conservative caucus after failing to remove letters on her website that many felt were racist and hateful. She now sits as an independent in the Canadian Senate.
During the event at LU, Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler spoke and encouraged a small crowd of students to keep this movement going.
“There is no room in this country for hatred and racism and it’s not about free speech, it’s about hate speech,” Fiddler said. “That is our view based on some of the content we are seeing on her website and for her to continue to use that platform in the senate is simply unacceptable.”
Shortly after Beyak was removed from the Conservative caucus, NAN and Grand Council Treaty #3 launched a website and petition calling for her to resign from the Senate.
According to Fiddler, the online petition has collected 4,400 signatures so far and he is hoping to have 10,000 when the petition closes on Feb. 24.
Fiddler said he was disappointed when Thunder Bay city council voted against calling for Beyak’s resignation, as well as other community leaders not denouncing her actions, but he hopes with students now taking up the cause that real change can start to happen.
“I think it’s the young people in this country that will begin to create a better future for all of us,” he said. “It’s great to see the young people of Thunder Bay and the students here stepping up and taking this action.”
Katelyn Fox, a third year outdoor recreation student, signed the petition on Wednesday, saying she has learned a lot about the residential school system in her program.
“I didn’t know there was still someone who was still trying to deny it,” she said. “I was really surprised to see that was still happening.”
Fox added that she thinks a lot of young people may not be aware of the situation or that Beyak remains as a sitting senator. But she hopes after events like the one at LU, more students will understand the situation and become more involved.
“It’s kind of insane to me that some people are still denying what happened there,” she said. “I don’t think a government official should be doing that of all people, so I thought it would be important to get this issue more out in the open to understand what did happen there.”
