Lynn Beyak said Wednesday she is not Métis and never claimed to be, despite a detailed report from her anti-racism trainer that documented her claims of Indigenous ancestry during Senate-mandated cultural sensitivity sessions.
Ontario Sen. Lynn Beyak said Wednesday she is not Métis and never claimed to be, despite a detailed report from her anti-racism trainer that documented her claims of Indigenous ancestry during Senate-mandated cultural sensitivity sessions.
In a statement, Beyak disputed the findings of the report — a five-page accounting of her ill-fated time in the program — and said she does not consider herself a member of the Indigenous group.
“Métis are a great people but to be clear: I am not now, never was, and never will be Métis. I have never claimed to be Métis at any time, in any way, to any one, in my life,” Beyak said.
The subject of her two-line statement to the media Wednesday was “Media is reporting I am Métis.”
It was the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC), the place where Beyak attempted to complete anti-racism training, that first documented her ethnic identity claims in a report card prepared on Beyak for the Senate Ethics Officer.
Beyak ‘consistently’ referred to her ‘Indigeneity’: trainer
The trainer who prepared the report, Nicole Meawasige, said she and other members of the anti-racism session heard Beyak say