The family of a 78-year-old First Nations elder says he was humiliated when an employee searched him at a Canadian Tire store in Saskatchewan earlier this week.
Gordon Albert of the Sweetgrass First Nation was in North Battleford shopping for a gift with his wife Marlene and son Deryk, but they didn’t find what they were looking for.
Marlene Albert says the anti-theft sensor by the door beeped as they left and an employee stopped them.
She says the employee asked her husband to take off his coat and checked his pockets, but never explicitly accused him of stealing.
The son says the store manager talked to him and his father the next day and denied their race had anything to do with what happened, but he says he disagrees.
Canadian Tire says the alarm was triggered by something the Alberts bought elsewhere, and conversations with the family have been positive and productive.