Broadcaster Charles Adler wants to meet with Manitoba chiefs after calls to pull Senate appointment

Broadcaster Charles Adler says he's asked for a face-to-face meeting with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and its grand chief after the assembly called for Adler's recent Senate appointment to be rescinded over what it called "grossly offensive" comments he made about Indigenous communities 25 years ago.

"I am accountable for what I say and do," Adler said in a brief emailed statement on Tuesday, adding that he looks forward to hearing from the advocacy group, which represents all 63 First Nations in Manitoba.

Adler, who has spent decades in broadcasting — including a lengthy period as the host of a flagship talk radio show on Winnipeg's CJOB, a Corus Entertainment property — was announced on Saturday as one of two new appointments to the Senate, alongside Saskatchewan health-care executive Tracy Muggli.

Days later, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs issued a statement calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Gov. Gen. Mary Simon — who makes Senate appointments on the advice of the prime minister — to rescind Adler's appointment to Canada's upper legislative chamber over comments he made on air in 1999 that led the assembly to file a formal complaint with the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. 

Adler's comments included references to Indigenous leaders as "uncivilized boneheads" and "intellectually moribund," as well as other statements the assembly called "vulgar and racist commentary." 

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council dismissed the complaint, saying Adler made "fair political commentary," noting in a 2000 decision that "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' by opinion-holders in the media."

The council said if Adler had taken the position that Indigenous people who aren't in leadership positions are intellectually moribund, "the attitude of this Council would likely have been different."

WATCH | Charles Adler addresses criticism of Senate appointment:

However, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said this week that Adler's comments remain hurtful.

"It's a great insult to First Nations people, and a blatant disregard for the principle of respect of equality and reconciliation that Canada claims to uphold," Grand Chief Cathy Merrick told CBC News after Adler's appointment.

She disputed the broadcast standards council's characterization of Adler's comments as limited to political leaders, saying they referred to First Nations people broadly, specifically in his discussion about unemployment.

In the standards council's decision, Adler is quoted as saying "there is an appropriate way that most of members of mainstream society and many members of Aboriginal society have found to deal with anger about unemployment. There's a three-word solution: get a job."

Before AMC issued its statement, the lone Manitoba member of Justin Trudeau's cabinet also criticized Adler's Senate appointment.

"There are many eminently qualified Manitobans who are better suited to represent our province than Charles Adler," said Saint Boniface-Saint Vital Liberal MP Dan Vandal, whose cabinet responsibilities include Northern Affairs, Prairies Economic Development Canada and the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency.