Jagmeet Singh said at a press conference that it was a “dismissive gesture” that sparked him.
Ottawa, Canada:
The leader of a Canadian political party was temporarily expelled from the House of Commons on Wednesday after refusing to apologize for calling another member a racist.
The leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), Jagmeet Singh, a devout Sikh and the first non-white leader of a Canadian federal political party, engaged in a lively discussion with a member of the Bloc Quebecois.
Singh asked the House to unanimously adopt a motion recognizing systemic racism in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and requesting a budget review.
He and Bloc Québécois leader Alain Therrien exchanged words on the Bloc member’s refusal to support the motion, according to a parliamentary video and confirmed by an NDP spokesperson to AFP.
After another member complained, Singh stood up and admitted to the House, “Yes, I called him a racist.”
For using unparliamentary language and refusing to apologize, the Speaker ordered Singh to step down for the rest of the day.
In a press release, the Bloc said that racism in policing should be studied by a parliamentary committee and that it was “inappropriate” for the NDP to come up with its conclusions.
Singh said at a press conference that it was a “dismissive gesture” that sparked him.
“With this simple gesture, (Therrien) rejected the experiences of indigenous communities and people who were killed and brutalized (by the police) in the same way as others have done for decades,” he said. -he declares. “And I got angry.”
He also said that it was now “sad” that legislators could not come together to support “simple changes” in policing in Canada.
“Someone can be racist in the House of Commons and not get fired. And someone can denounce him for doing something racist and get fired. You understand that,” he added.
All of this happened amid protests against racism around the world after the recent death in custody of a black man, George Floyd, in the US state of Minnesota.
Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that systemic racism exists in all Canadian institutions, including the federal police.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
