Andrella David went for ice cream at the Tantallon, Nova Scotia, Sobeys store, and while waiting in

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Andrella David went for ice cream at the Tantallon, Nova Scotia, Sobeys store, and while waiting in line, a Sobeys staffer publicly accused her of being a known shoplifter. A human rights board of inquiry found that Andrella was not only wrongly accused of shoplifting in public but that she was discriminated against because she was black.

The Sobeys staffer claimed in front of other customers that Sobeys had video footage of Andrella stealing on prior occasions and accused her of robbing a nearby liquor store. Andrella asked to be shown copies of the footage, and when shown the poor-quality video, she said, "If you think that's me, you must think all black people look alike." After viewing the Sobeys video, Andrella went to the liquor store and was told she was not the person who had shoplifted from their store. She then left the area "upset and crying."

Andrella David won her racism complaint; the chair of the panel remarked that "the most distinguishing feature that could be positively identified from the pictures and the video evidence was the fact that the alleged shoplifter was a black woman with dark hair." The chair acknowledged that shoplifting results in serious financial loss: "However, the respondent's continuous identification of the complainant as a known shoplifter is unjustified."

The Sobeys staffer admitted she was wrong and said, "The way I approached her was inappropriate and I knew that from the moment that I did it. Looking back, obviously I would never have handled it that way again because that approach was inappropriate."

Sobeys decided to appeal the panel's ruling shortly after the decision. In March 2016 Mayann Francis, former CEO of Nova Scotia's Human Rights Commission and the province's first black lieutenant-governor, weighed in, saying that the province of Nova Scotia was in a state of denial on racial profiling and that she had often been the victim of "shopping while black" since leaving her vice regal post. Francis told an interviewer how uncomfortable and hurtful it was to feel like retail clerks were "stalking" her when she went into stores just to browse. This motivated her to attend a protest and speak publicly about her experiences. "It does not matter how successful you are, it still can happen to you," Francis said in the interview.

In March 2016, Hudson's Bay Company agreed to educate its staff about racial profiling as part of a settlement in another case of racial profiling. Francis went into a store with a white male friend and was shadowed by the salesperson for the entire time she was there, while her friend walked out with unpaid merchandise in his hand. In August 2016, Sobeys decided to withdraw its appeal, but a group of 19 churches felt it did not go far enough and threatened a boycott. "They want to cut a cheque, they want to withdraw the appeal and say 'bye bye' and have no admittance of their wrongdoing," said Reverend Lennett Anderson of the African United Baptist Association of Nova Scotia.

Sobeys announced it had reached a settlement with the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission and would apologize to Andrella David and pay her $21 000 in compensation. Most importantly, Sobeys agreed to develop a staff training program on racial profiling and discrimination.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

How prevalent might racial profiling be in stores across Canada?
What might have been the impact of these actions on black and other ethnic employees nationally across the Sobeys chain?
If you had been responsible for diversity at Sobeys, would you have supported the appeal of the finding of the Human Rights Commission?
Can you see yourself or someone you know doing what the Sobeys staffer did to Andrella David? (Be honest with yourself.)
What other steps could Sobeys take to deal with discrimination on a more sustainable and systemic basis?

Sources: A. Vaughn, "Andrella David Wins Racism Complaint Against Sobeys: Employee Publicly Accused David of B