A day after New Democratic Party leader and Canada MP Jagmeet Singh reportedly expelled from the the House of Commons calling a fellow MP racist, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has spoken out in support of Singh.
“It is disappointing that the Bloc Quebecois continues to refuse to accept that systemic discrimination, systemic racism exists within our country, in every part of our country and in all our institutions," Trudeau reportedly said, adding that the first step to addressing systemic racism was by identifying it.
On Wednesday, Singh was addressing the House over a motion recognising “systemic racism in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and calling for a review of its budget.”
According to reports, Bloc Quebecois house leader Alain Therrien and Singh got into a verbal argument over lack of support for the Bill.
Trudeau also said that it was not “his place” to criticise a racial minority’s ‘lived reality’ of racism.
Anthony Rota, speaker of the House of Commons, ordered Singh out of the House for “his use of unparliamentary language and his refusal to apologise”.
In a statement, the Bloc reportedly said that racism in policing “should be studied by a parliamentary committee and that it was "inappropriate" for the NDP to preempt its conclusions.”
"With that simple gesture, (Therrien) dismissed the experiences of indigenous communities and people who have been killed and brutalised (by police) in the same way others have done for decades. And I got angry," Singh reportedly said.
He also released a video testimony recounting what transpired.
(With inputs from NDTV)
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