Singh made accusations at the House of Commons after Alain Therrien, from the Québécois Bloc party, refused to support a motion calling for parliament to recognize systemic existence.
racism in the Mounted Royal Canadian police force.
The motion also stipulates that reducing escalation should be a priority for the police, that the use of police forces must be reviewed and that additional funding must be provided for health services.
However, while this motion won broad support from MPs, Therrien rejected it, which caused it to be destroyed.
Singh accused Therrien of being “racist.” When challenged for his comments, he multiplies, saying: “I do call it racist.”
The accusation violates parliamentary rules. Asked to apologize and withdraw his comment, Singh refused and was ordered by Speaker Anthony Rota to leave for the rest of the day. He will be allowed to return on Thursday.
Overcoming the incident in a video posted on Twitter, Singh, who has been a vocal critic about what he considers
“systemic racism” in Canadian police, said that he became angry when, he claimed, Therrien “made eye contact” with him and brushed his hands in a way that Singh interpreted as rejection.
“I’ll be honest, I’m angry,” he said in a video posted to his Twitter account. “But I’m sad now. Because why can’t we act? Why can’t we do something to save people’s lives? We can do something, and why does someone say no to that?”
In the video, he said indigenous and black people in the country were killed and “persecuted” and that there was a lack of government action.
Bloc Québécois
tweeted to discuss the exchange and urged Singh to apologize for his statement, which they said “tarnished” Therrien’s reputation.
In a Twitter statement, the party said recognizing racism was a big problem and had supported an investigation by the Public Safety Committee on systemic racism.
The party said it did not support the motion because doing so, he said, would inappropriately force conclusions on the committee before the investigation was completed.
CNN has sought to contact Therrien and Bloc Québécois for further comments.
