'Stand up against it': MKO Grand Chief sounds off about store employee shadowing Indigenous man

The Grand Chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak isn't surprised a video captured by an Indigenous man in Saskatchewan that shows a Giant Tiger employee following him around the store.

"Unfortunately it still happens every day — even to me. When I'm dressed down and not for work, I still get followed in the stores," said Sheila North Wilson.

"It's a sad reality that a lot of our people are facing when they enter into retail establishments and this is just one example that was caught on camera. I bet you if more Indigenous people did that we would see the enormity of the actual problem."

The video, shot by Ezekial Bigknife, has been shared thousands of times since it was posted online Friday. It shows an employee following Bigknife closely for the entirety of the nearly 4 ½-minute video.

Ezekial Bigknife shares his story of harassment, racial profiling

7 years ago

Duration 2:05

Ezekial Bigknife shares a video he recorded at a Regina Giant Tiger. Bigknife decided to shoot it after being followed around the store by the same employee multiple times since October.

Bigknife decided to shoot it after being followed around the Regina Giant Tiger location by the same employee multiple times since October.

He said he has never been accused of stealing and at one point he confronted the employee, but the surveillance continued.

"Quite frankly, I feel harassed," he said over the weekend. "Me, I think that's personally racial profiling because I'm brown. There were plenty of other people in that store and he, every day, singles out me, to follow me and I don't know why."

A spokesperson from Giant Tiger said the company is now investigating the matter. The employee in question, who works in loss prevention, has since been suspended.

Not enough

North Wilson says she's glad the company is taking the issue seriously but says the response isn't enough.

"They need to go further and really go on an educational campaign to talk to their employees and the people that they have hired to do the work that they've asked them to do," she said.

"Both society and the retail industry need to do more to understand what they're actually doing — they're discriminating and marginalizing a certain group of people based on their race, and that's simply not right."

It's an issue North Wilson brought to the media last year after she said she was treated like a shoplifter at a Winnipeg pharmacy.

"I heard a lady on the intercom say, 'Security aisle five, security aisle five,' so I looked up and sure enough it says 'aisle five' and I'm the only one standing there," North Wilson told CBC News in January 2016, adding she then approached management.

"I asked her, 'Why are you targeting me? Because I'm dressed like this? Because I have this face? Why did you decide that I needed to be checked on — to see if I was stealing anything?'"

North Wilson says the problem goes much farther than just the retail sector.

"We see this in all facets of society, whether it's health or justice. In every sector we just feel discriminated against unintentionally and sometimes intentionally by people that just don't understand," she said.

North Wilson's glad to see Indigenous people like Bigknife taking a stand against racism and discrimination.

"It's sad that we have to keep doing it but I'm glad that we are because that's the only way that we are going to call it out — is if we stand up against it and be firm."

Indigenous customer alleges racial profiling after being followed at Giant Tiger

7 years ago

Duration 2:34

An Indigenous customer alleged racial profiling after he says he was repeatedly followed by an employee at a Giant Tiger in Regina. The employee has been suspended after a recording of one incident was posted online