OTTAWA – The Senate Ethics and Conflict of Interest for Senators Committee is recommending that Sen. Lynn Beyak be suspended without pay from the Senate for the remainder of this Parliament after refusing to remove racist letters about Indigenous people from her website.

“Your committee finds Senator Beyak’s conduct wanting in several ways, including: her failure to recognize – or decision not to acknowledge – that the content of the letters in question is racist,” says the committee report released Tuesday.

This does not mean she has been suspended. The Senate as a whole has to vote on this recommendation and the others made in the report before they are acted on. There are around eight weeks left before the end of this Parliament.

If Beyak decides to speak to this report, the vote on her suspension can be taken immediately afterwards, but if she does not speak a vote can happen within five sitting days, and must happen within 15 sitting days, Sen. Peter Harder’s office confirmed.

“Your committee is of the view that suspension is particularly appropriate where the breach of the Code is such that the Senator whose conduct is at issue would benefit from time away from the Senate to gain further perspective,” the report states. It also references their “profound disappointment” with Beyak’s conduct, “which reflects negatively on her, all senators, and the Senate as a whole.”

The recommended terms of her suspension include: not being reimbursed for any living or travel expenses; and that she not be able to claim any other services, telecommunications costs or benefits during her suspension. Though the committee is recommending that she be able to continue to access Senate resources in relation to life, health, and dental insurance.

The committee comprised of Beyak’s peers made the recommendations after the Senate Ethics Officer found that Beyak broke the upper chamber’s code and did not act with dignity or integrity in posting these offensive letters.

In addition to Beyak’s suspension, the committee is also recommending that:

Unless she does it herself, Senate administration remove the five letters found to have racist content;

Beyak attend educational programs about racism towards Indigenous people and the history of Crown-Indigenous relations, at her own expense;

The Clerk of the Senate brief her on her role and responsibilities as a senator and the limitations of that, at her own expense; and

That she apologize to the Senate in writing and that apology be made public on the main Senate web page.

Crown Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett is commending the Senate on its call for Beyak to be sanctioned. She’s been keeping a tally of how many days it’s been since Beyak was told to take the racist letters down, and tweeting about it with the hashtag #takedownthehate.

“She needs to apologize. She needs to take training on the issues around cultural safety and Indigenous awareness at her own expense. And it she doesn’t take the letters down then the IT department of the Senate will take them down for her,” Bennett said.

Indigenous Sen. Murray Sinclair, who prior to being appointed to the Senate chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said the recommended reprimands are “appropriate.”

“It’s now for the Senate to act,” he told reporters Tuesday afternoon. “I think it’s a reasonable report, reasonable set of recommendations and I think most senators are reasonable.”

In its report the committee noted that it considered “Beyak’s seeming unwillingness to understand or recognize that racism is unacceptable, that her actions fall far short of the higher standards expected of senators.”

The report also noted her “unwillingness” to participate in the committee’s review other than issuing a statement, and accept the remediation measures the Senate Ethics Officer recommended, such as removing the letters and issuing a formal apology.

Her letters have been a point of controversy for over a year, after facing considerable backlash from Indigenous groups and the broader Canadian public for declaring that “some good” came from Canada’s residential schools. She has also suggested that First Nations should “trade in” their status cards for Canadian citizenship. Indigenous people who were born in Canada are Canadian citizens.

The notes deemed to be particularly problematic are among around 100 letters Beyak posted in defence of her position on Indigenous history and rights. It appears that she has resumed her practice of posting similar material. Within the last week Beyak has added two new letters to her web page; one titled “Whiteout” is from a Winnipeg man who raises questions about “name changing based on hurt feelings.” The other, about Orange Shirt Day—focused on the experience of students at residential schools—thanks her for “drawing attention to the other side of the story of residential schools.”

She was removed from the Conservative caucus for refusing to remove the comments from her Senate-funded web page.

CTV News has reached out to Beyak’s office for comment.