User:Raceandracism/sandbox/Sobeys Racial Profiling in Nova Scotia

On May 26, 2009, Andrella David, a Hammonds Plains woman, was accused of shoplifting at a Sobeys in Tantallon. Andrella David was confronted by a Sobeys employee, Jenny Barnhill, when she was simply trying to purchase some ice cream for her daughter. David, in disbelief, told Barnhill that she must have her mistaken for someone else and demanded to be shown the video footage that “portrayed” David as the said shoplifter. David immediately noticed the differences between herself and the actual shoplifter in the video. The shoplifter had a darker skin, was slimmer, had a different hairdo, and had a different facial shape. While David was in the security room watching the video footage, Barnhill insulted her with racialized and stereotyped comments on David’s community and suggesting that she is on welfare. After this incident, David reported the Tantallon Sobeys as well as Jenny Barnhill. Although the Sobeys apologized for the fact that Barnhill publically humiliated and falsely accused David, the Sobeys still decided to stand beside its employee. This event triggered the commencement of a settlement hearing, but this said settlement took longer than expected. In 2016, it was decided that David would receive a sum of more than $21 000 from Sobeys as part of a settlement agreement. Marion Hill, an independent human rights chair board member, inquired into Andrella David’s case against Sobeys. Hill ordered Sobeys to do four things: issue a written apology to David for the discriminatory comments and actions that were held against her, pay for the emotional damages done to David (the sum of $21 000 and interest dating back to 2009), participate in specialized training against racial profiling, and deliver a report to the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission confirming details of the discriminatory training. Christine Hanson, director of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission, confirmed that people from the African Nova Scotian communities and the Aboriginal communities are more susceptible to be victims of racial profiling in shopping centres. Hanson proclaimed that she is pleased that the story of Andrella David has shed light on this topic and is now coming up with ways to ensure that employees are properly trained and do not discriminate against people simply based on their own stereotypical preconceptions. This issue has even gathered hundreds of people to protest against the Hammonds Plains road Sobeys.

Sobeys apologizes that it has taken seven years to come to a conclusion, but Sobeys says that the delay is due to all the things the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission asked Sobeys to adhere to. The African United Baptist Association of Nova Scotia agreed to start a boycott against the Sobeys chain until they formally apologize to Andrella David. The African United Baptist Association of Nova Scotia’s boycotts and protests are being made in an attempt to economically impact Sobeys until they apologize to David. This association hoped that people of other racial groups would come together to support their actions until justice was provided.

In November of 2016, the African United Baptist Association of Nova Scotia boycotts got called off. Sobeys has offered, after complying with specialized training against racial profiling, to train employees within the 1500 stores. The Sobeys store where the incident originally occurred has decided to throw a “welcome back” lunch, as a way to apologize to the Tantallon community for being profiled as a “racist” community.