Senator Responds to Criticism
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 at 14:09
A Conservative Senator who was in the cross-hairs of a Saskatchewan chief is responding to the criticism.
Last week Sakimay Chief Lynn Acoose asked that Senator Patrick Brazeau not use people’s pain surrounding missing and murdered Aboriginal women
to advance his political agenda.
She was referring to comments he had made about Bill S4 on matrimonial real property.
Brazeau says it’s unfortunate to hear such comments particularly from a female chief, because he believes the bill will correct inequalities.
He says he has heard of many cases where women and their children from reserves end up on the street when a marriage ends, and he says that puts them in danger, which could perhaps lead to missing and murdered women.
Brazeau says Aboriginal women who live on reserve do not have the same rights as non-Aboriginal women or Aboriginal women living in urban centres.
The bill has gone through the Senate and is onto debate in the House of Commons when it resumes sitting in the fall.