By Canadian Press

Canada excoriated as racist failure during farewell speeches by departing MPs

Jun 15, 2021 | 6:57 PM

OTTAWA — Canada is being excoriated as a racist failure as MPs who don’t intend to seek re-election say their official farewells.

Mumilaq Qaqqaq, the New Democrat MP for Nunavut, says she’s discovered she doesn’t belong in Parliament, where she says she’s been racially profiled by security.

She says Canada was built on the oppression of Indigenous People and its history is “stained with blood.”

Bloc Québécois MP Simon Marcil, meanwhile, says Canada doesn’t live up to its billing as a progressive, environmentally friendly, egalitarian and democratic country.

He says Canada “stole” the 1995 referendum on Quebec independence, borrowed its symbols — the maple leaf and the beaver — from Quebec and has only a “fragile” national identity based on hockey.

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The speeches from Qaqqaq and Marcil are in marked contrast to those from other departing MPs, most of whom have spoken glowingly about the honour of serving Canada.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2021.

The Canadian Press