Nunavik teachers union advises members not to vote BQ

The union representing Cree and Inuit teachers in northern Quebec says it questions how Abitibi-James Bay-Nunavik-Eeyou MP Yvon Lévesque can continue to represent the riding after a controversial remark he made March 31.

The Bloc Québécois MP, who is seeking re-election in the May 2 federal election, suggested that voters will not vote for the riding’s New Democratic Party candidate and Cree leader Romeo Saganash because he is aboriginal.

The Association of Employees of Northern Quebec denounced this comment in an April 6 news release, coming several days after Lévesque apologized for his comments.

“It would be contrary to the interests of our members to support the candidacy of Mr. Lévesque (under) the circumstances,” said AENQ president Patrick D’Astous. “It is unfortunate, but Mr. Lévesque’s actions and words in this campaign send us back to a bygone era in relations with native peoples.”

But the union will not endorse a different candidate in the May 2 federal election, D’Astous said.

Now the Liberal party has also come under fire for controversial comments one of its candidates allegedly made against aboriginal people in another northern Quebec riding.

Liberal party leader Michael Ignatieff said April 6 that the party is investigating comments allegedly made by Liberal candidate André Forbes in the riding of Manicouagan.

A posting on the NDP’s official website says Forbes made racist comments about local Innu and First Nations people in media interviews dating back to 2004.

Forbes has been quoted in different publications referring to aboriginal people as “featherheads” and “lazy” in his capacity as the former spokesman for the Association des Droits des Blancs (the association for the rights of whites) in Sept-Iles, Quebec.