Overview

• The report by Lorne Foster and Lesley Jacobs, released Aug. 14, frames consumer racial profiling as a neglected human rights issue affecting Indigenous people in Canada.
• Commissioned by the Heiltsuk Nation as part of a B.C. Human Rights complaint, it documents routine acts of discrimination such as being followed, refused service and singled out for searches.
• Authors call for businesses to implement systematic data collection on consumer interactions, drawing on policing data models, and for regulators to support further research.
• The report recommends education, staff training and restorative justice measures, including healing ceremonies, to address cumulative intergenerational harms.
• Canadian Tire, named in the complaint over a 2020 incident in Coquitlam, says it is cooperating with the tribunal ahead of an expected October hearing and maintains the allegations remain unproven.