ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — One year after the House of Assembly ground to a halt over allegations of bullying and intimidation, new allegations have ground it to a halt once again.
Speaker Scott Reid agreed with a point of privilege brought forth by Opposition House Leader David Brazil that there is reason to believe Fisheries Minister Gerry Byrne acted inappropriately during Thursday’s sitting of the House of Assembly.
On Tuesday, the House of Assembly did not debate any legislation. Instead, it began a debate on whether or not Byrne should be asked to withdraw his remarks, apologize to the House of Assembly verbally and in writing to Mount Pearl North MHA Jim Lester and St. John’s Centre MHA Jim Dinn, and undergo 20 hours of anti-harassment sensitivity training — a similar reprimand called for Eddie Joyce and Dale Kirby when complaints about their conduct were made last year.
As previously reported, Byrne accused Lester of “not always being on the side of the law himself” and Dinn of “a pattern of behaviour of marginalization of Indigenous” peoples.
Byrne contends that when a clerk of the Salmonid Association of Eastern Newfoundland (SAEN) made a comment about “kowtowing” to Indigenous peoples, Dinn, who was president of the association at the time, did not do enough to condemn the words.
“The removal of a perpetrator only to allow them to resurface in a similar capacity. There is truth to this." — Gerry Byrne
Dinn says the words were retracted and the clerk was dismissed from SAEN shortly thereafter.
Byrne says the individual who made the comments went on to take part in other consultations related to the fishery.
Dinn says the person did not do so on behalf of SAEN.
Byrne says not enough was done to condemn the statement and warn others of his actions.
“The removal of a perpetrator only to allow them to resurface in a similar capacity. There is truth to this. We have found that in the faith community, for example, sometimes there are transgressions that occur,” said Byrne.
“Instead of dealing with the transgression directly and openly, the transgressor is simply moved and the transgressor is allowed to continue to operate in a different place with no one expressing any concerns, nobody giving highlights, nobody giving a warning that the person has moved to a different role. They're allowed to continue that.”
Byrne withdrew his comments about Lester, but did not withdraw comments made about Dinn.
Earlier on Tuesday, Byrne released audio of the meeting in question. Chief Mi’Sel Joe of the Miawpukek First Nation issued a statement agreeing that the comments made in the meeting were racist.
In his comments on Byrne’s behaviour, Dinn questioned why it took Byrne so long to bring forward his concerns about the June 2018 SAEN meeting where the “kowtowing” remarks were made. The initial meeting took place in June 2018. Byrne first referenced the “kowtowing” comment on Nov. 7, 2019.
“It's a year-and-a-half later and it comes up when the minister is responding to some very intense questioning around the die-off of some 2.6 million fish on the south coast, a die-off that the minister had no answers to and that it was very clear that he had no control over,” said Dinn.
“Now, to be clear, I'm not questioning, rationalizing, legitimizing, justifying the comments that were made. They were inappropriate, they were unfortunate and they were racist. … No matter how hard the minister tries to associate with me as having said those words, I did not say those words. I did not make that comment.”
"No matter how hard the minister tries to associate with me as having said those words, I did not say those words. I did not make that comment.” — Jim Dinn
Byrne says he regrets not bringing forward his concerns about SAEN earlier than he did.
Byrne was unclear about when he first thought to bring forward his concerns about the SAEN meeting publicly, but says it goes back to September.
“There was no specific moment. It’s an evolving conversation. You learn facts as you learn them,” said Byrne.
“This is a conversation that began very early, in mid-September and it’s progressed ever since. It has elements of issues around management of regulation of salmon farming, it has issues and relevance to issues around Indigenous engagement and participation and full involvement. It has issues around, you know, is there a systemic or a pattern problem.”
The debate over whether Byrne should be reprimanded will continue Wednesday.
Twitter: @DavidMaherNL
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