birth_place party office birth_date term_start article_title name occupation
north battleford , saskatchewan independent ndp → liberal senator from saskatchewan 24 august 1945 march 24 , 2005 lillian dyck
 lillian eva quan dyck neuroscientist , university professor
lillian dyck

lillian eva quan dyck -lrb- born august 24 , 1945 -rrb- 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 .
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 '' .
on january 15 , 2009 , she joined the liberal senate caucus .
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 .
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 .
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 the national aboriginal achievement foundation .
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 .
