You can colour Jeanie McLean, the minister responsible for the Women’s Directorate, unimpressed with the recent behaviour of Yukon Party MLAs Stacey Hassard and Wade Istchenko.

And she’s not the only one. The Council of Yukon First Nations (CYFN) is demanding more severe punishment for the duo.

The political veterans were at the heart of an inappropriate and disturbing group text thread that made juvenile observations about the genitalia of all three party leaders last Friday. The Star is not publishing the two men’s sexually charged comments in detail.

Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon has not been made available to the Star this week to discuss his colleagues’ conduct.

Instead, he issued a statement saying the two MLAs would not be filling any official critics positions, nor would they be appointed to any committees.

McLean said Wednesday afternoon that “I was extremely disappointed and disturbed to hear of these very harmful text messages sent by elected Yukon Party members in a group chat that included the leader.

“It is these kinds of conversations that perpetuate dangerous misogynistic attitudes, which we know contributes to race- and gender-based violence in our communities.”

McLean pointed to a section of “In Changing the Story to Upholding Dignity and Justice: Yukon’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-spirit+ People Strategy” which reads:

“Systemic injustices supported by institutional lack of will to change was also identified by the National Inquiry as one of the four pathways to violence. Maintaining the status quo is not acceptable; especially when it comes to safety and justice. We must do better.

“As such, our actions need to seek systemic change to the structures that enact and enable violence.”

McLean added, “I echo these sentiments deeply. We must do better, and I expect better of elected officials who are looked to as examples.

“Mr. Dixon signed this document on behalf of the Yukon Party, but clearly his party has not taken this issue seriously.”

The minister said, “Additionally, the Members’ Services Board of the Yukon Legislative Assembly created a respectful workplace policy in July 2019. The policy applies to all members of the legislative assembly when conducting their duties as members and clearly lays out what constitutes disrespectful conduct, such as demeaning remarks, jokes, and displaying or circulating offensive materials.”

Everyone deserves a safe and respectful work environment, noted McLean, who also became the minister of Education on Monday.

“What happened in these text messages stands is alarming, stark contrast to a safe and respectful workplace.”

The Yukon Party has not made either Hassard or Istchenko available to the media. The two MLAs are not returning telephone or email messages.

The Yukon First Nations, the Council of Yukon First Nations

The CYFN and Assembly of First Nations Yukon Region (AFN Yukon) also issued a news release about the MLAs’ behaviour on Wednesday afternoon.

“Yukon First Nations have expressed deep concern over the misogynistic nature of the comments in the publicly disclosed texts that serve to demean both men and women in leadership,” the organizations said.

“Yukon First Nations are condemning the behaviour of veteran Yukon Party MLAs Stacey Hassard and Wade Istchenko and assert that the measures proposed by Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon don’t go far enough to reprimand the MLAs involved in such deplorable, abhorrent and unacceptable behaviour.”

The release stated, “Today (the past Wednesday) is the National Day of Awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) in Canada.

“All Yukon leaders supported the Yukon’s MMIWG2S+ Strategy that aims to address violence against Indigenous women, girls and Two Spirit+ people. Yukon First Nations assert that the disparaging texts made by the veteran Yukon Party MLAs stand in direct conflict with these commitments that Yukon leaders signed on to address in solidarity.

“Conversely, the comments are demonstrative of the toxic bias that propagates the systemic oppression and higher rates of violence that First Nations people experience and that Yukon’s MMIWG2S+ Strategy seeks to address.”

CYFN Grand Chief Peter Johnston offered further thoughts.

“These comments are unacceptable, and reflect poorly on the Yukon Party, and could be perceived as indicative of the decorum of the legislative assembly and evidence of a lack of respect amongst MLAs,” he said.

“This must be addressed through firm and appropriate action. We expect respectful behaviour from our elected officials, and an apology does not suffice in addressing this behaviour and the biases that fuel it.”

AFN Yukon Regional Chief Kluane Adamek was equally harsh in her comments.

“Like many of you, I was very upset to read the inappropriate and disturbing comments put forward by elected members of the Yukon Legislative Assembly,” she said.

“This casts a troubling look into how these elected representatives view their colleagues, and women.

“Yukon families and young people require us to lead with integrity, accountability and respect. What these elected officials have shown us is that this type of behaviour is acceptable and excusable. In this time and era, it is not.”

The news release went on to state, “Yukon First Nations are calling upon Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon to take stronger action to address issues of systemic violence, specifically:

• The suspension of Mr. Hassard and Mr. Istchenko for all or part of Session 35 of the Legislative Assembly without pay and allocated to Yukon-based organizations that work to combat systemic oppression.

• That all members of the Yukon Party commit to anti-bullying training.

• That Mr. Dixon support that standard of acceptable behaviour that is expected of Yukon government employees outlined in the Respectful Workplace Policy and supported training is made to apply to elected officials.”

On Wednesday afternoon, the Yukon Party responded to McLean’s and the two organizations’ comments with a terse statement.

“We received the statement from the Council of Yukon First Nations through the media and Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon has reached out to the Grand Chief to discuss it.

“Following the incident in question, leader Currie Dixon apologized to both Sandy Silver and Kate White.

“Our statement on Monday included a formal apology, as well as specific apologies from both MLAs involved, and the serious reprimands that have been issued. Both MLAs will be stripped of roles in the Official Opposition shadow cabinet, and denied the privilege of sitting on legislative committees.

“Mr. Istchenko, as well as Mr. Hassard, have committed themselves to learning from this mistake and to advocating for a safe and respectful Yukon.”