Corporations must advance anti-racist practices according to new report on racial profiling

A report commissioned by the Heiltsuk Nation in B.C. on racial profiling involving Indigenous consumers is calling for more research into the practice, including the collection of more data on the issue. The report is part of filings for a BC Human Rights Tribunal complaint that will be heard in Vancouver over five days starting Oct. 27. “It’s really hurtful,” Heiltsuk Chief Marilyn Slett says of racial profiling incidents. “We can sit around a kitchen table or a boardroom table and all of us would have examples of something so it [the report] didn’t surprise us. “Elements that did is that there’s not a lot of information out there for people to read or be apprised of, but we know it [discrimination] exists,” Authored by two of Canada’s leading human rights experts, Lorne Foster of York University and Les Jacobs of Ontario Tech University, Indigenous Consumer Racial Profiling in Canada: A Neglected Human Rights Issue identifies individual and collective harms of Indigenous CRP in Canada. The Tribunal is set to hear the complaint against Canadian Tire Corporation for incidents of alleged racial profiling and racism experienced by Heiltsuk members, Richard Wilson and his daughter Dawn Wilson, at a store in Coquitlam while shopping on Jan. 17, 2019. “While they were at the checkout and they had a shopping cart filled with at least $500 worth of items that they were standing in line to pay for, a security guard singled out Richard and searched his bag in public at the checkout. It was a really humiliating experience for Richard and Dawn,” Slett alleges in an interview with APTN News. “We were advised that he was really treated with such indignity. We know Richard. He’s lived in Bella Bella most of his life and he lives in Vancouver now to be closer to his children and grandchildren,” says Slett, who describes Richard as a humble, quiet and respectful person who deeply cares for his family. She says Dawn Wilson is also a well-respected member of the community who does a lot of work for coastal communities around organizing marine emergency response and training. “When we heard what happened to him, it really hurt us deeply,” says Slett. “We’re communal. When something happens to a member of our community, it affects us.” Heiltsuk Nation Chief Marilyn Slett, right, speaks as Hereditary Chief Wigvilhba Wakas Harvey Humchitt Sr. listens during a news conference in Vancouver, B.C., Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025 when the nation filed a lawsuit against the RCMP over what they say are failures to enforce Heiltsuk bylaws and portions of the Indian Act within the nation’s territory in Bella Bella. Photo: Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press. According to a release from the nation, Dawn Wilson’s car was being serviced in the automotive department at the time and she proceeded to relate the experience to a clerk in the auto service department, who she says made a further racist comment to her in front of other people. The accusations against Canadian Tire have not been tested or proven. The company said the owner of the store “has been actively at the table, co-operating with the tribunal since the claim was filed.” The nation decided to consult with experts on the issue of racial profiling as it prepared its filing with the Tribunal. Considering how pervasive consumer racial profiling appears to be, Jacobs says research on the topic is lacking. “What we’re trying to say is that consumer racial profiling for Indigenous folks is so everyday that it doesn’t tend to have the highlights that (come) when police are involved. There tends to be concerns about police shootings, use of force, all of those kinds of things that accompany police action that often are not involved consumer racial profiling,” he says. According to the study released Thursday, “Recent research and media reports underscore the fact that consumer racial profiling is a deep-seated social phenomenon often with low visibility in our daily round of life where the corresponding adverse social harms routinely go unnoticed or are interpreted as normal practice and so ‘business as usual.’ “Consumer racial profiling against Indigenous peoples in Canada is a critically important human rights issue that exacerbates intergenerational trauma and undermines reconciliation efforts. “Corporations like Canadian Tire must advance anti-racist practices in commercial settings and participate in Indigenous-specific remedies such as healing ceremonies when racist incidents do occur, if they are to meet their obligations under the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.” Maxwell Johnson and the Bank of Montreal Maxwell Johnson (right), with his granddaughter, was accused of fraud and handcuffed outside a Vancouver branch of the Bank of Montreal after using his status card as identification. Photo: APTN file This case is not the first time the Heiltsuk Nation has been in the news over human rights issues. In December 2019, Maxwell Johnson and his granddaughter were arrested and detained by Vancouver Police after a bank employee doubted the validity of their status cards and called 911 when they tried to open a bank account for the then 12 year old girl. The case sparked an outcry and protests across Vancouver. The Heiltsuk Nation then held a Washing Ceremony in Bella Bella, BC, to address the trauma experienced by Johnson and his granddaughter. The ceremony took place in the nation’s reconstructed Big House. Executives from the Bank of Montreal (BMO) attended as witnesses. It was part of the nation’s efforts to heal from the incident and foster reconciliation. In September 2022, Johnson and his granddaughter accepted a settlement in their human rights complaint against the Vancouver Police Board. Slett says she’s hopeful something positive comes of the report and the upcoming Human Rights Tribunal hearing on their complaint against Canadian Tire. “Ultimately, we hope they will participate in a healing ceremony with our Nation as a form of positive and culturally appropriate restorative justice so that we can turn things around and make them right again.” The Heiltsuk Nation is located on the Central Coast of B.C. With files from the Canadian Press Continue Reading