5. Guidance to create safe retail spaces for Indigenous people and prevent discrimination

Retail businesses should maintain safe spaces for Indigenous shoppers and staff. A safe space is a place where a person can feel confident that they will not experience discrimination, harassment, or other criticism. Creating a safe space will help retailers build trust with Indigenous shoppers.⁵⁹

5.1. Administrative considerations

Fostering an inclusive environment involves building trust among staff and customers. Under the Code, service providers, which includes retail businesses, must respond to, investigate, and resolve allegations of discrimination.

Businesses can help develop an inclusive environment by:

Developing transparent complaint reporting procedures for both staff and customers to help meet their Code obligations.
Creating a forum for employees to discuss issues (about policies/procedures) and to report incidents.
Reviewing internal policies and procedures to ensure there are not any unintended adverse impacts on Indigenous customers as this can also be discrimination under the Code.⁶⁰

5.2. Recruitment and general training of staff

Businesses can transform the experiences of Indigenous customers by focusing on the quality of service offered by their staff and by:

Ensuring employees are fully aware of their roles and responsibilities to uphold the Code and adhere to its principles within the workplace.
Training their employees on diversity, substantive equality, anti-discrimination, and de-escalation techniques, as well as on Indigenous cultural safety.
Ensuring procedures exist to address situations where non-Indigenous customers harass Indigenous customers, and that staff are trained on these procedures.
Recruiting and retaining Indigenous staff while ensuring a safe working environment free from discrimination.
Promoting reconciliation as well as diversity and inclusion programming (e.g., through corporate events to honour National Indigenous People’s Day, Indigenous History Month, and National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, or by providing reading materials in the workplace).
Requiring staff to review OHRC policies and resources⁶¹ as well as other anti-racism training modules and reports about anti-Indigenous racism and Indigenous cultural competency/sensitivity, particularly those developed by local Indigenous organizations.
Providing training in response to Call to Action 92 from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Instructing staff not to engage in targeted surveillance against Indigenous customers (e.g., telling staff not to follow Indigenous customers, review their receipts, or confirm the tags on their purchases were not altered, without reasonable suspicion).⁶²
Incorporating non-discrimination indicators into performance reviews.

5.3. Indian Status cards

Businesses can follow wise practices to educate themselves and their staff about Status cards by:

Providing a tax exemption at the point-of-sale.
Placing visible signage that clearly states that Status cards are accepted as identification and that Status customers are welcome to inquire about tax exemptions.
Training staff on Indian Status and the availability of tax exemptions at the point-of-sale in their workplace. This includes ensuring that employees are aware that Status does not expire.
Training staff to be respectful and sensitive to Indigenous customers when Status is discussed.
Training staff on the correct and respectful language to use when providing tax exemptions at the point-of-sale.
Training staff to de-escalate situations if other customers are disrespectful to Indigenous people when Status is raised.
Training staff on the procedures to follow if the tax exemption is provided at the point-of-sale. This includes not requesting more information than is required by the Ontario Ministry of Finance.⁶³
Training staff to refer First Nations customers to the Ontario Ministry of Finance website (which explains the mail-in-rebate option) if the tax exemption is not provided at the point-of-sale.⁶⁴ Many First Nations people are not aware that an alternative option is available when a vendor does not offer an exemption at the point-of-sale.
Developing a policy and training staff on accepting Status cards as a valid form of personal identification.

5.4. Third-party vendors

Third-party vendors may also discriminate against Indigenous people. When hiring third parties, such as personal shoppers or security guards, businesses should:

Include clear language regarding anti-Indigenous racism competencies in contracts.
Opt to work with vendors that recruit Indigenous candidates and that meet high thresholds regarding Indigenous cultural competency training, including on unconscious bias.
Require third-party vendors to treat Indigenous customers with respect and to refrain from subjecting them to scrutiny, inappropriate commentary, unpleasant or slow service, or denial of service because of personally held negative views or stereotypes about Indigenous people.
Develop and implement clear policies and procedures that provide effective remedies if discrimination by a third-party vendor occurs.

5.5. Inventory

Service providers such as retail businesses should not stock Indigenous-themed merchandise that may undermine the dignity of Indigenous people and poison the environment in a way that discourages or prevents them from equitable access to the service.

Businesses can prevent and respond to situations that involve discriminatory inventory by:

Avoiding selling merchandise that contains derogatory terms related to Indigeneity, offensive imagery including names and logos of sports teams, and Indigenous-themed Halloween costumes.
Ensuring that policies related to inventory and/or the types of merchandise sold recognize service providers’ responsibilities under the Code to maintain environments that are free from discrimination.
Researching the historical and cultural factors that underlie derogatory or offensive displays to better understand their harmful impacts on Indigenous people.⁶⁵

5.6. Cultural appropriation

Moving beyond legal obligations, when thinking about reconciliation and about the creation of safe spaces for Indigenous people as well as a climate of mutual respect, retail businesses are encouraged to be aware of cultural appropriation.⁶⁶

Businesses often sell products that many Indigenous people believe have been culturally appropriated. This includes sacred medicines (e.g., sage, sweetgrass) manufactured by non-Indigenous entities and sold in non-Indigenous businesses, or imitation Indigenous artwork (e.g., mixed-media art, clothing with Indigenous art-inspired imagery, beadwork) that is neither made nor sold by Indigenous artists. Although the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) has not yet fully ruled on the issue of the cultural appropriation of Indigenous cultural practices and images,⁶⁷ this issue is important to consider as cultural appropriation disrespects Indigenous people’s agency over their cultural expression and perpetuates stereotypes,⁶⁸ which can create derogatory, exclusionary, and discriminatory environments.⁶⁹

Indigenous goods (products made by Indigenous people or businesses) can be sold by non-Indigenous stores. However, non-Indigenous businesses should create and maintain respectful environments that feel safe and inclusive to Indigenous people. To do so, businesses should consider whether the items they stock and sell can make Indigenous people feel unwelcome and disrespected, and avoid selling products that have been culturally appropriated.

Endnotes

59 While the Code protects people from discrimination, it does not require the creation of “safe spaces” more broadly. Nevertheless, the wise practices listed in this section can both create an inclusive, safe space for Indigenous people that is better in tune with principles of reconciliation and, in some instances, prevent discrimination under the Code.

60 OHRC, supra note 8, at Students’ Handouts – Fact Sheet #5

61 OHRC e-Learning modules, such as “Call it out: racism, racial discrimination and human rights” and “Human Rights 101 – Third Edition”, are available here: https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/our-work/online-learning. Additionally, OHRC publications on the subject of race and related grounds are available here: https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/your-rights/code-grounds/race-and-related-grounds, while publications related to Indigenous Reconciliation are available here: https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/key-priorities/indigenous-reconciliation.

62 Radek, supra note 27

63 Government of Ontario, supra note 42

64 Ibid.

65 OHRC, Human Rights-Based Approach to Policy and Program Development, (2024) at Appendix; available online: https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/human-rights-based-approach-policy-and-program-development-0

66 “Cultural Appropriation of Indigenous Peoples in Canada,” The Canadian Encyclopedia, April 18, 2018 (Last edited on July 20, 2020); available online: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/cultural-appropriation-of-indigenous-peoples-in-canada

67 Lindsay v. Toronto District School Board, 2020 HRTO 496, at para 23; available online: https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onhrt/doc/2020/2020hrto496/2020hrto496.html. In this recent case about cultural appropriation, the HRTO recognized the ways in which a tribunal may take judicial notice of the ways in which Indigenous people have been marginalized and disadvantaged in Canadian society. This is necessary to show that the use of Indigenous symbols and images constitutes substantive discrimination.

68 “Why Cultural Appropriation is Disrespectful,” Indigenous Corporate Training Inc., October 4, 2020; available online: https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/why-cultural-appropriation-is-disrespectful

69 OHRC, supra note 61