TORONTO -- A Winnipeg woman is speaking out after she says she and her partner were racially profiled and told they looked like 鈥渢hieves鈥� by an employee in a Michaels craft store.
Desiree McIvor was looking to buy a present for her grandmother when she decided to visit a Michaels on Regent Avenue West on Monday.
But she and her partner had barely entered the store when she said a sales associate approached them.
McIvor, who is a member of Sagkeeng First Nation, said that she expected to be asked, 鈥渋f we needed help or something.
鈥淎nd instead (the sales associate) 鈥� straight out told us that we weren't welcome there and that we had to leave the store. That was the first thing she said.鈥�
When McIvor and her partner asked why, she said the sales associate told them, 鈥淵ou look like the people who stole from us this morning.鈥�
McIvor is eight months pregnant and said she was wearing a student ID badge with her face and name on it. She said it was the first time she and her partner had set foot in that Michaels location.
鈥淚 was just kind of shocked,鈥� McIvor told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview on Saturday. 鈥淚've never been kicked out of a store before. It was pretty humiliating.鈥�
When McIvor鈥檚 partner asked to see a manager, McIvor said the woman speaking to them said that she was a manager. McIvor said that she and her partner 鈥渨ere the only Indigenous people in the store at the time鈥� and that other customers were staring.
Confused and embarrassed, McIvor and her partner left the store. From the parking lot, they tried to call the store鈥檚 general manager to make a complaint.
McIvor said that although the woman on the phone seemed very apologetic about what had happened, when McIvor and her partner brought up the term 鈥渞acially profiled,鈥� she became defensive, McIvor said.
鈥淪he just went on to say that they weren't racist,鈥� McIvor said. 鈥淎nd (that) the woman that stopped us at the door actually has (an Indigenous) husband. She's not a racist.鈥�
McIvor said her partner was upset because the conversation was being shifted away from what actually happened.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a huge difference between being racially profiled and being racist,鈥� McIvor said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 say (they) were racist. We said we felt we were the only Indigenous (people) at the time in the store. And (they) called us thieves right to our faces.
鈥淎nd it wasn鈥檛 that she said, 鈥榊ou are the people that robbed us.鈥� She said, 鈥榊ou look like them.鈥欌��
McIvor is 31 years old and majors in urban and inner-city studies at the University of Winnipeg. She鈥檚 on the steering committee of Make Poverty History Manitoba. She said she鈥檚 lived in the city 鈥渕y whole life,鈥� and that she鈥檚 experienced discrimination before -- though never to this degree.
鈥淲hen you're Indigenous, you kind of get used to being followed around by security and things like that,鈥� she said.
But this experience was a first.
鈥淚 felt like I had no rights. I felt like I was this tiny little person that didn't matter.鈥�
In a statement to CTVNews.ca, Michaels spokesperson Mallory Smith said that Michaels is 鈥渃ommitted to treating each and every customer with dignity and respect,鈥� and that they are 鈥渁ctively investigating鈥� the incident.
鈥淲e are open to all and do not tolerate discrimination against any guest or team member and take any conduct to the contrary very seriously,鈥� Smith wrote.
After McIvor posted about her experience on Facebook, she said numerous people reached out to her. Some merely wanted to express support and anger on her behalf, but others shared that they had experienced similar instances of racial profiling.
A similar situation . Chris Wescoupe, 47, was misidentified as a shoplifter at a grocery store and told to leave.
When the Indigenous man tried to explain and defend himself, he told CTV News Winnipeg that a police officer said he鈥檇 鈥渉ave to leave or be arrested.鈥�
Police later said it had 鈥渘othing to do with this person鈥檚 race,鈥� and called it a case of 鈥渕istaken identity.鈥�
As for McIvor and her partner, they are planning to file a complaint with the Human Rights Commission.
鈥淚 just want other Indigenous people to not feel threatened or intimidated when they walk into a store,鈥� she said.
鈥淎nd (for others) to treat us all with just dignity and respect, instead of looking at us like we're all thieves and we steal. Because that's not fair to anybody.鈥�
She said that she鈥檚 thankful for the support she鈥檚 received. And although hearing about how many times this has happened to other Indigenous people is sobering, she said that it鈥檚 鈥渓ike they鈥檙e giving me the courage to speak out about it.
鈥淏ecause a lot of them don鈥檛 have that (opportunity),鈥� she said.
