Sask. First Nation elder calls for apology, sharing circle after treatment at Regina Walmart
CBC
An elder from Muscowpetung First Nation, located roughly 50 kilometres northeast of Regina, is calling for more to be done after an experience she had at a Walmart last fall.
Joyce Keepness says she went into the Prince of Wales Drive location in east Regina on Oct. 21, 2021, to buy 10 gift cards for $100 each, ahead of a grandmothers' gathering her community was hosting.
However, the 69-year-old Saulteaux woman says that when she went to buy them, she was confronted by a sales associate who accused her of buying them for fraudulent purposes.
"I couldn't even answer because I was in shock," Keepness said during a rally outside the store on Friday.
Keepness said she left without buying the gift cards, but that Emmalyn Olsen — a visibly white colleague who works with her at the Muscowpetung Health Centre — returned later that day to buy them on Keepness's behalf.
"They didn't ask me what my intentions were with them, they just gave them to me right away," Olsen said.
Both Olsen and Keepness say that when the pair brought their concerns to the customer service desk immediately after, they were denied a sit-down conversation with the manager.
After mulling over the situation for a couple of days, Keepness decided to reach out to the Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism for help reporting the incident.
"This is not the first time I've experienced this horrible racism — I've lived with it all my life. But it's about time I fight back," she remembered thinking.
Keepness said the coalition followed up with the manager of the local store, who forwarded the request on to Walmart on a corporate level.
After written statements from Keepness and Olsen, and an internal investigation by Walmart Canada, an employee with the company's human resources department reached out months later in an emailed letter.
It said that, based on "carefully considered" evidence, Keepness' claims were "not substantiated" and the employees involved didn't do anything against Walmart's harassment and discrimination policy.
"This value of gift cards [at or over $1,000] can raise concern that the purchaser may be a victim of fraud," Janet Warner-Duncan, Walmart Canada's case manager of customer experience, wrote in the March 16 letter.
"In such circumstances, the associate may contact a manager to take appropriate steps to help safeguard the customer. In this case, the associate inquired with you directly as they incorrectly understood this to be the process for third-party gift card transactions specifically."
Experts are constantly warning the public to be on guard for new and increasingly convincing scams, but police say the holiday shopping season is especially fraught with risk.
A surgeon who used to work at Flin Flon's hospital says residents in the northwestern Manitoba city have been left in a precarious situation after more than five years without general surgery services.
Moubarak Bokhit Ali's memories of his home country of Sudan are punctuated by flashes of violence.
The man behind the Moose Jaw health centre that has claimed “a 100 per cent success rate in stopping the progression and in restoring function of people with ALS” says a recent CBC story about his company is evidence that he is seen as “a direct threat to the ALS drug industry.”
The Neighbour to Neighbour Centre’s trans and non-binary grocery program, which offers free food and household products to community members once a month, began with a simple question: how do we get free menstrual products to trans people without being awkward?
Bill Van Vugt is living a life that's unlike most other people his age, and one which has seen him turn a longtime hobby into championship gold.
The provincial government is taking steps toward improving Alberta's lucrative sand and gravel industry.
As medical labs across Ontario remain understaffed, one medical association is calling on the province to expand labs’ capacity for student placements by funding positions to train them.
The year wrapping up means it's getting closer to tax season, and the federal Community Volunteer Income Tax Program will once again be offering free filing services for Islanders with modest incomes.
It's not so easy to remove a politician from office between elections in Canada.
Natasha Martin-Mitchell says creating art gives her a sense of calmness that acts as a medicine during stressful times.
Gabriel Vilardi scored twice and star goaltender Connor Hellebuyck made 24 saves in his first game back from injury to power the Jets to a 5-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Saturday that snapped Winnipeg's three-game losing skid.
Alberta’s auditor general Doug Wylie says his office's budget will be $1.5 million short next fiscal year.