Mr. Speaker, last week the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations made a decision to reinstate David Ahenakew to its senate, in spite of his despicable and hateful remarks about Jews. The Minister of Indian Affairs appropriately expressed disappointment with the federation's decision to reinstate Mr. Ahenakew and stated that the government would be reviewing its funding commitments with the federation. The minister said:
The past comments by this person have been very hurtful and inappropriate and go against absolutely everything that this country stands for.
Past comments by many members of the government have been hateful, inappropriate and go against everything this House stands for, as we saw with one stunning story about the member for Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre regarding hateful comments he made about the gay community in 1991.
On Friday the government House leader said that he believes the matter is closed.
Why is there a double standard? As an article in the Regina Leader-Post put it:
At the end of the day, we must be consistent. We can't cherry pick our principles.