Society
0 Comment(s)
National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak during a news conference in Ottawa. She says Air Canada staff forced her to hand over a case containing her headdress before the departure of a flight Wednesday. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Air Canada says it's sorry after staff tried to stow away the headdress of the Assembly of First Nations' national chief in cargo storage before the departure of a flight Wednesday.
The company said in a statement Thursday it's apologizing to National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, who said on social media Thursday she was forced to hand over a case containing the headdress that was with her in the plane's cabin. "I won't be letting anyone take away my headdress or case again," Woodhouse Nepinak said on a public Facebook post, ahead of a different flight to Montreal. "Air Canada needs a protocol for First Peoples so that we are not harassed for our sacred items. Our headdresses don't belong in [garbage] bags by airlines." CBC News contacted Woodhouse Nepinak, but she was still in transit and wasn't ready to talk at length about the incident Thursday night. The national chief said staff wanted to put her headdress in cargo storage because there was no room at the cabin, and that the situation got tense. She said the flight crew threatened her staff, and that other passengers stood up for her. She said the case was put in a plastic bag. The pilot came out and brought the case back after she complained, she said. Woodhouse Nepinak said she normally travels with the headdress on her lap, or in carry-on storage. Air Canada said in a statement it's reached out to the national chief to "better understand and apologize for her experience." "Air Canada understands the importance of accommodating customers with items and symbols of sacred cultural significance, and in the past the chiefs have been able to travel while transporting their headdresses in the cabin," the statement said. The airline added it's following up on the matter internally, and will be reviewing its policies after the "regrettable incident." Incident 'unacceptable,' minister says Federal Transportation Minister Pablo Rodriguez said what happened is "unacceptable" and the government "expects Air Canada to treat Indigenous customers with respect and promote better Indigenous cultural diversity." Alvin Fiddler, grand chief of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, called out Air Canada on X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter, saying the incident was "shameful" and the company needs to ensure staff follow protocols on sacred items. David Lametti, who was the federal justice minister when Canada adopted the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2021, told CBC News in an interview the incident left him "stunned." "There aren't many chiefs across Canada who would have that kind of headdress," said Lametti, who now works as a lawyer specializing in Indigenous law. "It is critically important that it be treated as a sacred object, and I don't understand why this would have been treated with anything less than the appropriate amount of dignity that it deserves." Woodhouse Nepinak, from Pinaymootang First Nation in Manitoba, was elected national chief last December. She received the headdress during a New Year's Day ceremony by the Blackfoot Confederacy of the Piikani Nation in Alberta for her national leadership, and her work championing a historic settlement on Indigenous child welfare. The Assembly of First Nations said in a release then the headdress transfer is one of the "highest honours among First Nations ceremonies for leadership," and the eagle feathers that make up the headdress have been "blessed to help support leadership in their travels and challenges."
source: CBC
(Ovichnews Canada) - Frito Lay Canada has issued a recall for two of its beloved snacks,...
A former Hamilton police officer will not go to jail for sexually assaulting the woman he...
A Winnipeg Sikh youth organization says it's concerned about the possibility of gang activity in the city after the fatal shooting of a man who police in India allege was a notorious criminal there. Sukhdool Singh Gill, 39, was found dead by police in a duplex on Hazelton Drive, in northwest Winnipeg, on the morning of Sept. 20.
Read MoreThe body of a five-year-old boy who fell into a river in Quebec's Mauricie region Sunday evening has been recovered, provincial police said Monday. Divers found the boy's body in the St. Maurice River around noon near where he was last seen in the municipality of Grandes-Piles, Que., north of Shawinigan and approximately 185 kilometres northeast of Montreal.
Read MoreMorning snack time is underway at St. Roch Catholic School in Toronto, where kids line up in orderly fashion, approaching a bin on the teacher's desk. They grab small bags of Cheerios, juicy oranges and tubes of flavoured yogurt and sit back down at their desks to munch away.
Read MoreIn the two weeks since the prime minister rose in Parliament to speak of "credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the Government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar," demands for more information and evidence have grown.
Read MoreChris Fogarty remembers the moment 20 years ago when he transmitted a weather bulletin warning that Hurricane Juan would make landfall near Halifax, churning out winds gusting to 140 kilometres per hour. With the storm's arrival only 36 hours away, the meteorologist with the Canadian Hurricane Centre was worried the alert would be ignored.
Read MoreThree paintings of women wearing braids and purple headbands in their hair with the words "Justice for Joyce" adorn the windows outside the Centre d'amitié autochtone de Lanaudière in Joliette. Sitting on the porch at the friendship centre Thursday morning, Lorraine Echaquan and Regine Dubé remember the 37-year-old Atikamekw mother of seven who died exactly three years ago at the Joliette hospital just one kilometre down the street.
Read MoreA southwestern Ontario town that will ring a bell for Essex County locals was the star of this week's episode of Still Standing, a CBC program that features comedian Jonny Harris exploring the ins and outs of Canadian small-town life. Amherstburg took centre stage in the premiere of the show's ninth season. The film crew descended on the town earlier this year to document the legacy and individuals who make Amherstburg tick.
Read MoreMonths after a pro-Khalistan activist was shot and killed in Surrey, B.C., a Sikh activist was allegedly warned by law enforcement about threats to his life, according to a newly disclosed document. The document, titled "duty to warn," is addressed to Gurmeet Singh Toor and was made public by pro-Khalistan activist group Sikhs For Justice.
Read MoreTwo people are dead and four others are injured following a helicopter crash east of Prince George, B.C., investigators say. In a release, RCMP say they were notified of the crash near the Purden Hill ski area along Highway 16, about 55 kilometres east of the central Interior city, around 7:45 a.m. PT Tuesday and responded with other emergency services.
Read MoreA detective who helped search Nathaniel Veltman, take him into custody testified at Windsor trial Warning: This story contains disturbing details: The man arrested in the killing of a Muslim family in London on June 6, 2021, was "happy" and "appeared giddy," one of the first police officers to interact with the accused testified Friday in Ontario Superior Court in Windsor.
Read MoreA B.C. Supreme Court judge has awarded the parents of a teenager who was about to graduate high school $327,635 in compensation after he was hit and killed by a vehicle at a crosswalk in Nanaimo, B.C.
Read MoreHour after hour on Thursday, a steady flow of people came around the side of a nondescript building in Surrey, B.C., holding brown folders and stacks of paperwork. A lone security guard cracked the door below a sign for BLS International, just enough to speak quietly with people outside.
Read More
Create an account or log into your account to leave a comment
Comments