Washing Ceremony Marks Settlement of Canadian Tire Racial Profiling Complaint
The settlement includes confidential compensation, anti-discrimination reforms and a study on Indigenous consumer racial profiling, officials said.
- On Tuesday, the Heiltsuk Nation, Canadian Tire Corporation, and Blackbird Security held a traditional washing ceremony in Vancouver, resolving a racial profiling complaint. The restorative event concludes a dispute involving a 2020 incident at a Coquitlam store.
- The settlement stems from a 2020 incident where a Blackbird Security guard publicly searched Richard Wilson's backpack while he and his daughter, Dawn Wilson, shopped at the Coquitlam Canadian Tire. A former store employee later made derogatory comments when informed of the event.
- Canadian Tire and Blackbird Security agreed to implement race-neutral loss prevention measures and discrimination training. The settlement includes confidential financial compensation, which Dawn Wilson will partly donate to the Union of BC Indian Chiefs for research on Indigenous consumer racial profiling.
- Describing the ceremony as "a physical way of letting go," Dawn Wilson expressed satisfaction with the settlement. She emphasized that standing up and holding businesses accountable was the only way to achieve necessary changes for other Indigenous people.
- This case represents the third human rights complaint the Heiltsuk Nation has settled against a major corporation in recent years. Previous resolutions involved BMO and Maxwell Johnson in 2022, as well as Sharif Bhamji's 2025 settlement with TD Bank.
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B.C. washing ceremony marks settlement of Canadian Tire racial profiling complaint
An Indigenous woman in British Columbia who filed a human rights complaint along with her father against Canadian Tire says she’s relieved the case has been settled years later and hopes it will help others avoid the same thing.
Washing ceremony marks the settlement of Canadian Tire racial profiling complaint
The sounds of Indigenous drums and song bounced off the walls of an East Vancouver banquet hall Tuesday evening as members of British Columbia's Heiltsuk Nation gathered for a traditional washing ceremony years in the making.
Canadian Tire, Indigenous customers put racial profiling case in past with washing ceremony
What began as hurtful actions against her and her Indigenous father in a Coquitlam Canadian Tire store more than six years ago that left Dawn Wilson in tears ended on Tuesday evening with a washing ceremony at a hall in east Vancouver.
A woman of the Heiltsuk First Nation, who had filed a complaint against Canadian Tire, said she was relieved that the matter was finally resolved.
Canadian Tire, security firm officials take part in Heiltsuk ‘washing ceremony’ in Vancouver as racial profiling case settled
Canadian Tire Corporation, its Coquitlam store and Blackbird Security have settled a complaint filed by Richard and Dawn Wilson and the Heiltsuk Tribal Council last year. The complaint centred around a 2019 incident of consumer racial profiling the Wilsons experienced while shopping and waiting for new tires to be installed. The settlement agreement says that “a security guard racially profiled Richard Wilson, searching his bag at the check-out …
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