Senator apologizes for use of ‘N-word’ during committee discussion on language

Independent Senator Andre Pratte is apologizing for any offence he caused by using the "N-word" twice during a committee hearing Wednesday evening.

Pratte was arguing in favour of calling transgender Canadians by their preferred pronoun, and used the slur to make a point about how hurtful language can be.

"In a civilized society, there are things, there are simply things that you do not, you cannot say," Pratte said as he questioned several witnesses who are against the bill.

"Some people may think that blacks should not be referred by their name, that they should all be called 'hey n-----,' but you don't call them 'hey n-----', you call them by their name, because this is things that you do. So the same kind of thing would apply to transgender people."