Thursday 11 January 2018

Senator Lynn Beyak - Ottawa Canada Update on Free Speech


{Reproduced from Senator Beyak's website: http://lynnbeyak.sencanada.ca/p108260}

Free Speech


I have deep roots and years of experience with Indigenous people, through my own close family ties to their communities and decades of research on the truths of citizenship and inequality.

My quests for a wiser use of tax dollars, and a more hopeful life for Canada's Indigenous people, are often taken out of context or deliberately misconstrued to protect the status quo, or to create a negative story.

In February 2017 the CBC published an article on the policing of "fake news”, not my term, but CBC's own. http://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/government-fake-news-1.3993128. If "fake news" as referenced by the CBC, continues unchecked, free speech is in jeopardy in our great nation. In the past months there have been several key examples of stifled or maligned debate,  including Toronto Professor Jordan Peterson, McGill's Andrew Potter, Broken Pencil's Hal Niedzviecki, and teacher Lindsay Shepherd, to name only a few.

We must be able to have truthful dialogue on all sides of important issues.

Fortunately, most grass roots Canadians are intelligent and well informed, based on their own research. Their opinions, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, once again flooded into my office, supporting suggestions for a new course of action and asking when serious discussions could begin, for individual negotiations and for fair settlement proposals.
Many correspondents asked "what is reconciliation”? Is it endless years of negotiations, arguments, apologies and settlements, is it moving forward together for a better future or is it something else? Canadians recognize that what we are doing for Indigenous people is simply not working. There needs to be a way of making an investment at the grass roots level into the lives of the people where the challenges exist. With billions of taxpayer dollars involved, we need a solution to share them more equitably and effectively, with vision and cooperation from all sides
Together we can find answers. It is time for a “fresh start” for all Canadians on this important issue.


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