Lillian Dyck

Lillian Eva Quan Dyck (born August 24, 1945) is a Canadian senator from Saskatchewan. She was appointed to the Senate on the recommendation of Prime Minister Paul Martin on March 24, 2005.

Upon appointment, Dyck wished to sit as a New Democratic Party senator, but NDP spokesperson Karl Belanger immediately indicated that the party would not recognize her as a member of the NDP caucus: as the party platform specifically favours abolition of the Senate, it refused to confer legitimacy on the body by accepting Dyck; additionally, Dyck's membership in the NDP was revealed to have lapsed.^[1] Under the rules of the Senate, senators are free to designate themselves however they see fit, and Dyck changed her designation to say Independent New Democratic Party.^[2] On January 15, 2009, she joined the Liberal Senate caucus.^[3][4]

On January 29, 2014, Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau announced all Liberal Senators, including Dyck, were removed from the Liberal caucus, and would continue sitting as Independents.^[5] According to Senate Opposition leader James Cowan, the Senators will still refer to themselves as Liberals even if they are no longer members of the parliamentary Liberal caucus.^[6]

Before being appointed to the Senate, Dyck was a neuroscientist with the University of Saskatchewan, where she was also associate dean. On March 12, 1999, Dyck, who is of Cree and Chinese heritage and was one of the first Aboriginal women in Canada to pursue an academic career in the sciences, was presented with a lifetime achievement award by Indspire. She continues to teach at the university as well as conduct research on a part-time basis.

She is a member of the Gordon First Nation.

In 2014 Dyck accused Conservative MP Rob Clarke, who is also native, of "behaving like a white man" by pushing the Indian Act Amendment and Replacement Act. She later said she recognized the comment could be hurtful.^[7]

References

External links

• Lillian Dyck
• Lillian Dyck – Parliament of Canada biography
• Liberal Senate Forum

Current members of the Senate of Canada
Presiding officers: Speaker: George Furey  • Speaker pro tempore: Nicole Eaton
AB	Black    McCoy    Mitchell    Tannas    Tardif    Unger
BC	Campbell    Jaffer    Greene    Martin    Neufeld    Woo
MB	Bovey    Gagné    McPhedran    Plett    Sinclair
NB	Cormier    Day    Hartling    Lovelace Nicholas    McIntyre    Mockler    Poirier    Ringuette    Stewart-Olsen    Wallace
NL	Baker    Doyle    Furey    Marshall    Manning    Wells
NS	Bernard    Christmas    Cordy    Cowan    Greene    MacDonald    McInnis    Mercer    Moore    Ogilvie
ON	Ataullahjan    Beyak    Boniface    Cools    Dean    Eaton    Eggleton    Enverga    Frum    Harder    Kenny    Lankin    Marwah    Meredith    Moncion    Munson    Nancy Ruth    Ngo    Oh    Omidvar    Pate    Runciman    Wetston    White
PE	Downe    Duffy    Griffin    Hubley
QC	Bellemare    Boisvenu    Brazeau    Carignan    Dagenais    Dawson    Demers    Dupuis    Forest    Fraser    Galvez    Gold    Housakos    Joyal    Maltais    Massicotte    Mégie    Petitclerc    Pratte    Saint-Germain    Seidman    Smith    Verner    Watt
SK	Andreychuk    Batters    Dyck    Merchant    Tkachuk    Wallin
Territories	NT    Sibbeston NU    Patterson YT    Lang
Conservative (C)    Independent (Ind.) or Not affiliated (N/A)    Independent Liberal (Ind. L)

Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples
Chair	Gerry St. Germain
Vice Chair	Lillian Eva Dyck
Members	Patrick Brazeau Larry W. Campbell Roméo Dallaire Jacques Demers Sandra Lovelace Nicholas Dennis Patterson Rose-May Poirier Nancy Greene Raine Nick Sibbeston Carolyn Stewart-Olsen

Senate Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology
Chair	Kelvin Ogilvie
Vice Chair	Art Eggleton
Members	David Braley Catherine Callbeck Andrée Champagne Jane Cordy Lillian Dyck Nicole Eaton Yonah Martin Pana Merchant Bob Runciman Judith Seidman