Castor Charles Adler said he had sought a direct meeting with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and its chiefs after the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs called for Adler’s Senate appointment to be revoked for making “deeply offensive” comments about Indigenous communities 25 years ago.
“I take responsibility for my words and actions,” Adler said in a brief emailed statement Tuesday, adding that he looks forward to hearing from advocacy groups representing all 63 First Nations in Manitoba.
Adler, who spent decades in broadcasting, including as a longtime host of a flagship talk radio show on Winnipeg’s CJOB, a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment, was announced Saturday as one of two new appointees to the senate, along with Saskatchewan health-care executive Tracy Magri.
A few days later, the Council of Manitoba Chiefs issued a statement calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Governor Mary Simon, who appoints senators on the prime minister’s advice, to revoke Adler’s appointment to the Canadian Senate following a formal complaint the council filed with the Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council over comments he made on air in 1999.
Adler’s comments included describing Native American leaders as “barbaric idiots” and “mentally marginal”, as well as making what were described as “vile and racist comments” at the rally.
The Canadian Broadcasting Standards Board dismissed the complaint, saying Adler was making “fair political commentary,” noting in a 2000 decision that “people in positions of power on the reserve can rightly be described as ‘idiots’ and ‘intellectually marginal’ by opinion holders in the media because of their decisions.”
The council said that if Adler had taken the position that Indigenous people not in leadership positions were intellectually retarded, “the council’s attitude would likely have been different.”
WATCH | Senator Charles Adler responds to criticism of his Senate appointments:
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed two new senators to the Senate on Saturday, broadcaster Charles Adler and health care executive Tracy Magri. The Conservative Party said in a statement that the move proves that “Trudeau is appointing friends of the Liberal Party.” Adler, long considered a Conservative critic, said his appointment actually proves the Senate’s independence.
But the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said this week that Adler’s comments are still hurtful.
“This is a huge insult to Indigenous people and a blatant disregard for the respectful principles of equality and reconciliation that Canada claims to uphold,” Chief Cathy Merrick told CBC News after Adler’s appointment.
She disagreed with the Broadcasting Standards Board’s decision that Adler’s comments were limited to political leaders, saying he made broad references to Indigenous people in his discussion of unemployment.
“There is an appropriate solution that most people in mainstream society and many in Indigenous communities have found to address their anger about unemployment. It can be solved in three words: get a job,” Adler was quoted as saying in the Standards Board’s decision.
Liberal MPs criticise appointment
Before AMC released its statement, the only Manitoban in Justin Trudeau’s cabinet also criticized Senator Adler’s appointment.
“There are many highly qualified Manitobans who are better suited to represent our province than Charles Adler,” said Dan Vandal, Liberal member of the St. Boniface-St. Vital constituency, who has served in cabinet positions with Northern Affairs, Plains Economic Development Canada and the Canadian North Economic Development Agency.
VIDEO | Adler has previously said the Senate should be abolished.
Former newscaster Charles Adler has called the Senate “a sewer that needs to be abolished.” He is now Canada’s newest senator. P&P spoke to Adler about how the appointment came about.
While Adler worked as a talk show host in Manitoba’s capital city, Vandal served as a city councillor and even ran for mayor of Winnipeg.
The congressman’s office said it would not comment further on the senator’s appointment.
Born in Hungary, Adler, whose family came to Canada as refugees in 1957, has worked as a broadcaster and author for decades. According to his biography on the federal government’s website:The Emmy Award winner was a prominent political commentator throughout his career as a journalist, his biography states.
He was appointed along with five other Manitoba senators: one Conservative, one from the centrist Group of Canadian Senators and three independents.
New Senator Appointment Process
In 2016, Trudeau introduced a new appointment process based on an independent advisory committee under which 84 senators were appointed. The majority of senators belong to one of several independent groups within Parliament. In the Senate, several senators form the Conservative caucus.
The Liberals said their aim in revamping the appointments process is to create a more independent, less partisan and more diverse Senate.
Many independent senators say they have no ties to the ruling party and evaluate bills based on their own judgment, often pointing to the numerous amendments made to government bills in recent years.
The Conservatives have consistently argued since 2016 that the process leads to appointments that favour the Liberal Party. Number of recent appointees Senators do have strong ties to their parties.
The House of Lords recently debated a series of new rules that would give more powers to independents in the House of Lords. These changes have been heavily criticised by the Conservative Party.
Magri, also recently appointed to the senate, ran as a Liberal candidate in 2015 and 2019 and is a longtime donor to the party, but Adler has never run as a Liberal candidate and does not appear in federal donation databases, according to publicly available donation data.
He has long been considered a conservative commentator, but in recent years We discussed moving. Stop supporting conservative parties Policy shift And that’s the approach that’s happened over the last decade or so.
