New Expert Report Reveals Harms of Indigenous Consumer Racial Profiling in Canada; Report Submitted as Evidence in Canadian Tire Human Rights Complaint

Effects of racial profiling and need for Indigenous-specific remedies will be focus of BC Human Rights Tribunal complaint hearing against Canadian Tire, Oct. 27 – 31, 2025.

VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 14, 2025 /CNW/ - The Heiltsuk Nation is releasing an expert report today on Indigenous Consumer Racial Profiling (CRP), as part of filings for a BC Human Rights Tribunal complaint against Canadian Tire that will be heard in Vancouver, Oct. 27th – 31st.

Authored by two of Canada's leading human rights experts, Dr. Lorne Foster of York University and Dr. 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, and makes recommendations for Indigenous-specific remedies such as healing ceremonies, cultural safety training, and systemic data collection reforms, as well as noting the urgent need for further human rights-based study in the area.

The full report can be downloaded here. An executive summary is available here.

"Consumer racial profiling against Indigenous peoples in Canada is a critically important human rights issue that exacerbates intergenerational trauma and undermines reconciliation efforts," said Drs. Foster and Jacobs. "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."

The report has been filed with the BC Human Rights Tribunal for an upcoming hearing of a complaint (HRT Case Number CS-003916) against Canadian Tire Corporation, Pagalis Sales Ltd. doing business as Canadian Tire Store 608, and Blackbird Security Inc. for incidents of alleged racial profiling and racism experienced by Heiltsuk members, Richard and Dawn Wilson, at a store in Coquitlam while shopping on January 17, 2020.

Interview footage and b-roll related to the complaint is available at www.strongascedar.ca

SOURCE Heiltsuk Nation

To arrange interviews: Marilyn Slett, Chief Councillor, Heiltsuk Nation, 250-957-7721; Dr. Lesley Jacobs, 416-908-3502; Dr. Lorne Foster, 416-573-4966; Ruben Tillman, Counsel for Heiltsuk and Richard and Dawn Wilson, 604-908-0415; Andrew Frank, HTC Communications, 604-367-2112