The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nation is condemning the profiling of people based on race after an alleged incident in a Prince Albert Sears.
B. Helen Ermine says a Sears employee insinuated she was shoplifting and made racially charged comments towards her before ejecting her from the store last Wednesday.
Sears Canada spokesman Vincent Power confirmed to The Canadian Press last week that an incident occurred between a loss-prevention employee and Ermine, but said the company would describe the incident quite differently.
Power said he is not able to share details due to privacy concerns and that Sears does not tolerate discrimination in any form.
“This incident is a prime example of a human rights complaint against Sears because of the way they are dealing with this situation,” says FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron. “These incidents only serve to further strain the relationship between Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous Canadians.”
The FSIN says racial profiling is unacceptable and “will not be tolerated anymore.”