Lynn Beyak, the senator who defended residential schools, is resigning

[steve from amherst]

Lynn Beyak, the controversial senator from northwestern Ontario with a long history of making inflammatory remarks about Indigenous peoples, is resigning from the Red Chamber.

Beyak, who was named to the Senate by then-prime minister Stephen Harper in 2013, is leaving just as other members of the upper house were preparing to consider a motion from Independent Sen. Mary Jane McCallum to permanently remove her from the upper house.

 

Beyak, 71, is leaving three years before her mandatory retirement date.

While Beyak has been suspended from the Senate twice — for questionable comments about the Indigenous residential school system and for posting racist letters on her taxpayer-funded website — an expulsion might have had financial consequences for her, since it would have allowed Parliament to curtail her lifetime pension.

Beyak keeps her pension

Having resigned, Beyak is entitled to her pension because she met the necessary contribution requirements.

"As per the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act, parliamentarians who have six or more years of pensionable service are entitled to receive a pension. Sen. Beyak will receive a pension upon retirement from the Senate," a spokesperson for the Senate's internal economy, budget and administration (CIBA) committee said in a statement.

"The act does not allow for a pension to be stripped in the case of a resignation."

When facing suspension last year, Beyak said she accepted that posting racist letters on her Senate website was "ill-considered" and she regretted the harm she caused by describing the residential school system in positive terms.