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Lynn Beyak should be suspended for refusal to remove ‘racist’ letters, ethics committee urges Senate

A picture of Senator Lynn Beyak accompanies other Senators official portraits on a display outside the Senate on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017. The Senate's ethics officer says Sen. Lynn Beyak violated the upper chamber's conflict of interest code by posting racist letters about Indigenous Canadians on her website. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick.

The Senate’s ethics committee is recommending that Sen. Lynn Beyak be suspended without pay for the duration of the current Parliament over what is and others have described as “racist” letters about Indigenous people she has posted to her website.

The committee’s recommendations include that Beyak attend educational programs at her own expense related to racism toward Indigenous people in Canada.

READ MORE: Lynn Beyak’s ‘racist’ letters are still online — a week after she was ordered to remove them

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The committee’s report also says the Senate administration should be directed to immediately remove five letters from her website if she won’t remove them herself.

The Senate ethics committee was tasked with recommending appropriate remedial measures or sanctions for Beyak based on findings from the Senate’s ethics officer.

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READ MORE: Lynn Beyak broke Senate’s code of conduct by posting racist letters online, ethics officer says

The officer reported in March that the Ontario senator posted letters on her Senate website that contained racist content and therefore breached two sections of a code of conduct for senators.

Beyak could not immediately be reached for comment in response to the Senate committee findings.

More to come 

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