Adler has gained attention in recent years for his public split from the Conservatives
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OTTAWA — The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs is asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Governor General Mary Simon to reconsider the appointment of veteran broadcaster Charles Adler to the Senate in light of comments he made about First Nations leaders in 1999.
Adler was announced as an incoming independent senator for Manitoba over the weekend and Trudeau’s office lauded his accomplishments as a broadcaster, almost 20 years of which were spent delivering conservative commentary on CJOB radio in Winnipeg.
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On Monday, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, which represents the province’s 63 First Nations, pointed to commentary Adler gave in 1999 that the assembly had complained about at the time, calling his words “vulgar and racist.”
Adler declined to comment when reached by phone on Monday.
The chiefs’ group complained about comments Adler had made about First Nations protests taking place at the Manitoba legislature, where he directed specific criticism at the leaders involved and the decision to live on a reserve.
The Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council investigated the complaint, but found no ethical breaches in a 2000 decision. That decision contained some transcripts of the statements in question, including one where Adler used the term “boneheads” to describe chiefs.
According to the decision’s transcript, Adler used the term while outlining how he did not “believe in living on reserves” because he felt they lacked both “free enterprise” and “responsible government.”
“If the chiefs who are running dictatorships on these reserves haven’t figured out how to do free enterprise, what else is new?” reads the transcript of Adler’s comments.
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The document shows he went on to say it was “oppressive” to tell somebody to stay in a community where they cannot find work, adding how “nobody behind this microphone is trying to say there’s lots of jobs on the reserves.”
Ultimately, the council ruled the programming at the centre of the complaint was not in breach of the broadcasters’ ethics code.
It also determined Adler’s use of the term “boneheads” to be “fair political commentary.”
According the decision, it said “those who occupy positions of power on the reserves may legitimately be described, on account of the decisions which they make, as ‘boneheads’ or ‘intellectually moribund,’” which was another phrase Adler used.
The decision cited Adler’s response to the criticism at the time where he said, “I have never said the ordinary native is intellectually moribund.”
Adler also defended his handling of those calling into his show to comment on the issue by saying at the time that allowing a certain caller to have their say was a matter of individual freedom and “not a blatant attempt to stereotype anybody.”
As it did at the time, the chiefs’ group reiterated on Monday that it felt Adler’s comments perpetuated negative stereotypes about First Nations people and accused Trudeau of turning “a blind eye” to such “offensive” comments.
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“The appointment of Charles Adler to the Senate is a grave insult to all First Nations in Manitoba and across Canada,” wrote Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Cathy Merrick.
“How can any First Nation feel that his reviews of legislation impacting reserves, treaties, and inherent rights would be even remotely favourable to the original peoples of these lands? Did Canada not learn from the situation surrounding former Senator Lynn Beyak?”
Beyak retired from the Senate in 2021 after coming under immense scrutiny for comments she made about the residential school system and Indigenous peoples, which had resulted in earlier suspensions.
Neither Trudeau’s office or Rideau Hall has responded to a request for comment about Adler’s past comments, including whether they were made aware of them before his appointment.
In an interview on Saturday, Adler said he considers himself to be a small-c conservative and marvelled that a Liberal prime minister would choose to appoint someone with his political views.
The political commentator has, however, gained attention in recent years for his public split from the federal Conservatives, which he says was due to the party’s drift further to the political right.
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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s office has blasted his appointment as partisan, saying not only has Adler been a “cheerleader” for Trudeau, but a frequent attack dog of the Conservatives, including Poilievre himself.
Federal Norther Affairs Minister Dan Vandal, the only cabinet minister from Manitoba, also did not welcome the appointment.
“There are many eminently qualified Manitobans who are better suited to represent our province than Charles Adler,” he said in a statement.
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