Indigenous family settles with Canadian Tire and security firm over 2020 profiling incident

An Indigenous woman and her father have reached a settlement with Canadian Tire and a security company over a 2020 incident of racial profiling at a store in Coquitlam, British Columbia. The resolution, which includes a traditional Heiltsuk washing ceremony, acknowledges the harm caused and commits the companies to new anti-discrimination policies.

The settlement agreement states that a former employee of Blackbird Security contravened human rights codes by racially profiling and searching Richard Wilson's bag in 2020. The Canadian Tire store admits a separate former employee made derogatory comments when Dawn Wilson raised concerns about the search. According to the settlement, the employee stated his father "taught him the difference between an Indian and a native," adding that "an Indian comes from the reserve and begs and steals." Canadian Tire Corporation also acknowledges it did not forward the family's complaint to the Coquitlam store for several weeks, only doing so after the employee in question no longer worked there.

As part of the settlement, representatives from Canadian Tire, the individual store, and Blackbird Security participated in a Heiltsuk washing ceremony,...