After ‘disgraceful’ remarks, First Nations leaders call on Quebec MNA to resign | 24CA News
The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) is looking on a Quebec politician to step down after his “contemptuous and disgraceful” remarks throughout a metropolis council assembly.
The demand comes after Coalition Avenir Québec MNA Pierre Dufour, who represents the Abitibi-Est driving, spoke when the problem of homelessness got here up throughout metropolis council final week in Val-d’Or, about 530 kilometres northwest of Montreal.
Dufour claimed Val-d’Or’s administration inherited a “pile of s–t,” partly on account of bombshell allegations in 2015 that law enforcement officials with the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) allegedly sexually assaulted Indigenous ladies in the neighborhood. Dufour went on to say the Radio-Canada investigation by flagship program Enquête — which first make clear the alleged abuse by the hands of provincial police in the neighborhood — was “full of lies.”
The investigation helped immediate a Quebec inquiry that examined relations between Indigenous communities and the provincial authorities. A remaining scathing remaining report by the Viens Commission referred to as on the province to apologize to First Nations and Inuit peoples for systemic discrimination as a part of 142 suggestions.
Ghislain Picard, chief of the AFNQL, stated Monday that Dufour’s feedback earlier than the council had been “totally unacceptable” and have precipitated harm.
“It really puts a lot of doubt into the apology by his boss, by the premier, back in October of 2019 after the tabling of the Viens Commission report,” Picard stated in an interview with Global News. “Whereby the premier (François Legault) has extended his hand to Indigenous peoples in this province, saying that the state has failed them.”
Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Ghislain Picard talking on the Grand Economic Circle of Indigenous People and Quebec in Montreal, Quebec, Friday, November 26, 2021.
THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Mario Beauregard
Dufour doesn’t deserve the form of privilege or accountability that comes with representing his driving in Quebec’s nationwide meeting, based on Picard.
“The most honourable thing for him to do at this point is to resign,” Picard stated.
In the times that adopted, Dufour did concern a short assertion to his Facebook web page — however stopped in need of apologizing.
“I expressed myself under the emotion and certain words went beyond my thoughts,” Dufour wrote, including that the scenario in Val-d’Or is “worrying.”
Global News reached out to Dufour on Monday, however he didn’t but reply to an interview request. But Picard stated Dufour’s preliminary remarks are nonetheless “inexcusable” and have eroded belief within the Legault authorities.
Nakuset, government director of the Native Women’s Shelter in Montreal, additionally stated she was sad with Dufour’s feedback throughout the metropolis council assembly. Dufour needs to be “walking into that community and making an apology to them,” she added.
“I think it’s really troubling that if you’re a person in political power to make these kind of blatant — and they are racist — remarks,” Nakuset stated. “It’s not helpful at all.”
Quebec Solidaire co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois referred to as on the premier to answer deal with the scenario and Dufour’s feedback.
“Those kinds of remarks are putting us backwards in our relationships with First Nations communities and those kinds of remarks are completely unacceptable in 2023,” he stated.
— with recordsdata from Global News’ Tim Sargeant and The Canadian Press
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
