Canada PoliticsSenator Patrick Brazeau mocks Chief Theresa Spence at Tory fundraiser
If you follow Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau on Twitter you know that he doesn't mince words.
The Aboriginal senator from Quebec has been very outspoken about the Idle No More protests and specifically about Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence's month-long 'hunger-strike.'
[ Related: Was Chief Theresa Spence's 'hunger strike worth it? ]
But this may be going a little too far.
According to the Toronto Star, Brazeau made some disparaging comments about Spence at a provincial party fundraiser in Ottawa on Tuesday.
"Sen. Patrick Brazeau referred to Spence’s “so-called hunger strike” in addressing about 80 people at a Legion hall in the Ottawa suburb of Orleans, and mocked her physical shape. “I was sick two weeks ago,” Brazeau said. “I had the flu and I lost five pounds.
“I look at Miss Spence, when she started her hunger strike, and now?” Brazeau added as a voice in the hall called out, “She’s fatter,” which drew laughter from much of the audience."
The Star notes that Tory member of Parliament, Royal Galipeau also addressed the crowd, and spoke of the time he went to visit Spence at her tepee on Victoria Island.
"“I stood in the circle around Chief Spence,” Galipeau said. “I noticed that manicure of hers. I tell you Anne can’t afford it,” he said, referring to his wife.
Galipeau said: “Most people in Idle No More are my skin colour and about my age. It reminded me of the 1960s and 1970s flower people who are now organizers for the NDP in Ottawa Centre. They are the same people I saw in the Occupy movement the previous summer.”
“Whether it’s Idle No More or Occupy or the pots and pans in Quebec, the labour movement can’t finance those things anymore because we’ve passed legislation to shine the light of day on that,” said the MP."
Ernie Crey, a policy adviser for the Stó:lō Tribal Council in British Columbia, says the 'jokes' weren't funny.
"It’s entirely inappropriate," Crey, who at times has been critical of Spence's hunger strike, told Yahoo! Canada News.
"As someone once told me: “If you want to be big, don’t belittle”. And there should be prompt apologies all around, pronto.
"It reminds me of something a bunch of mean spirited school boys would say on the play ground."
Certainly, others have made 'belittled' Spence: see Sun News' Ezra Levant.
But Brazeau's and Galipeau's public statements are unfitting for two members of the Harper government caucus.
[ Related: Trade, First Nations and Mali to top agenda as MPs return to Ottawa ]
Aside from getting a cheap laugh or two, how do their comments help anything?
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