TORONTO — Kiiwetinoong MPP and New Democrat deputy leader Sol Mamakwa was ordered removed from the house by the Speaker of the Ontario Legislature on Monday.
Mamakwa was speaking to Bill 5 and First Nations opposition to the legislation during question period on Monday.
“Speaker, First Nations in Ontario do not want Bill 5. I say no to Bill 5,” Mamakwa said.
“Last week, the government said that they respect First Nations, that they respect treaty rights. Speaker, we know that (the) Premier is telling untruths to First Nations about—.”
He was immediately interrupted by Speaker Donna Skelly. “We’ll ask the member to withdraw (his comment),” she said.
“But that's the truth,” Mamakwa responded, to which Skelly again asked him to withdraw his comment.
“That is the truth,” Mamakwa again said.
Again, Skelly asked him to withdraw the comment and again, Mamakwa didn’t change his answer.
Skelly then issued a warning and again asked for a withdrawal.
“Our rights are not being respected,” he responded.
Skelly then “named,” Mamakwa and he was escorted out of the legislature. NDP leader Marit Stiles went with him.
According to the procedures of the legislature, “if a member on being called to order for an offence against any standing order persists in the offence, the speaker may direct the member to discontinue, and if such member refuses to comply, the speaker shall name the member to the House.”
A “minor” infraction results in the member’s removal, “more serious” matters are referred to a vote on a longer suspension. That did not appear to happen in Mamakwa’s case as Skelly continued calling questions of MPPs.
In the province’s rules of debate, MPPs can be called to order for a number of offences pertaining to how they speak about another members, including charging “another member with uttering a deliberate falsehood.”
Skelly is the Progressive Conservative MPP for Flamborough–Glanbrook. Speakers of the Legislature are required to act as neutral, non-partisan arbiters of the rules of the legislature — they do not participate in debates and only cast a vote in the case of a tie.
Mamakwa’s opposition and subsequent removal comes as First Nations leaders and other opponents are slamming the Ford government over the ramifications of Bill 5, which the government says will reduce bureaucracy around resource extraction projects, but that opponents say tramples on environmental and Indigenous rights.
