The federal leader of the NDP says he will not apologize to the Bloc Quebecois after accusing a Bloc MP – Alain Therrien – of being a racist in the House of Commons this week.

Speaking on the NL Morning News, Jagmeet Singh says its because the issue is not just between him and one other Member of Parliament.

“It was about the people that responded after it saying ‘you know, we are so frustrated with the inaction. We are so angry, and thank you for caring for us. Thank you for being our voice, and thank you for not apologizing to want to change things,'” he said.

“To apologize would really be a betrayal of all those people who now feel like they matter, and having being told for so long they don’t matter, and I can’t do that to them.”

Singh was kicked out of the House on Wednesday after the incident by speaker Anthony Rota. At a press conference on Thursday, Bloc leader Yves-Francois Blanchet said he wants Singh to apologize, as his party tried to have the NDP leader kicked out of the House for a second straight day.

“There’s been some rumblings that there might be legal action taken against me, but I don’t care about that,” Singh said. “I’m not worried about defending myself. I am worried that we need to start doing something concretely now to save people’s lives and to reforming policing.”

Singh added he is also disappointed that the House of Commons couldn’t unanimously acknowledge that there’s systemic racism in the RCMP, noting Therrien was the only MP to oppose the NDP’s motion which asked the government to acknowledge that systemic racism exists within the RCMP, to support a review of the RCMP budget, to call on the Mounties to release all of its use-of-force reports, and demand a review of how police interact with the public.

“The motion was about the Liberal Government so I don’t know why the Bloc is trying to make it about them and I have no idea why they would oppose something that doesn’t really impact their province. It impacts Indigenous people in a massive way in Quebec but it doesn’t affect the day to day life,” Singh said.

“It’s federal jurisdiction so there’s really no justification for me, why I can imagine that anyone would stand in the way of doing these basic things.”

When asked about the issue on Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he found it ‘disappointing’ that the Bloc Quebecois did not accept that systemic discrimination and racism exists in every part of the Canada and its institutions.

“The first step is recognizing that there is a problem so that we can address it and it is unfortunate that they continue to resist recognizing the lived reality of millions of Canadians who are Indigenous or racialized,” Trudeau said outside Rideau Cottage.

He also said the Bloc will have to explain why they refused to recognize systemic racism, noting that Jagmeet Singh should be allowed to raise such issues, even if it makes people uncomfortable.

Listen to Jagmeet Singh speaking to NL’s Howie Reimer and Curt Appleby on the NL Morning News below: