Straight Talk

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett apologizes to Vancouver Granville MP Jody Wilson-Raybould

by Charlie Smith on June 24th, 2021 at 1:13 PM
    1 of 1 2 of 1

      Once upon a time, Carolyn Bennett and Jody Wilson-Raybould stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the Liberal government cabinet.

      But today, Bennett issued a public apology to her former colleague in the wake of a one-word private message.

      It simply said "pension". And it was directed at Wilson-Raybould, the MP for Vancouver Granville, after she called on Trudeau to stop his "selfish jockeying for an election".

      MPs first elected in 2015, including Wilson-Raybould, will not be eligible for an MP pension until they've served six years in office.

      If Trudeau calls an election before then and Wilson-Raybould were to lose her seat, she wouldn't be able to collect a hefty retirement income for her years of service, even though she has won two elections.

      Wilson-Raybould characterized Bennett's private message as racist and misogynist.

      For her part, Bennett tweeted that she had earlier offered apologies to Wilson-Raybould, saying that she "let interpersonal dynamics get the better of me".

      Bennett's statement came on the same day that the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan revealed the presence of 751 unmarked graves near a former Catholic Church–run residential school.

      Earlier this month, Wilson-Raybould challenged Bennett's contention that the remains of 215 Indigenous children on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School was not a "mass grave".

      In Parliament on June 9, Wilson-Raybould pointed out that a discussion paper published by the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre indicated that it could very well be a "mass grave" under international criminal law.

       

       

       

      Comments