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Walmart terminates employee after incident of racial discrimination

Outrage on social media over discriminatory remarks by a Walmart employee
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A Walmart employee has been fire for discriminatory behaviour. Rob O'Flanagan/GuelphToday

A Walmart Canada official confirmed that an employee at a Walmart store in Guelph has been fired for discriminatory behaviour.

An incident involving the former employee sparked outrage this week on social media. It’s alleged the terminated employee refused to serve a customer who was a visible minority and demanded to see proof of Canadian citizenship.

“Respect is a core value at Walmart Canada and we do not tolerate any behaviour which contradicts this value,” Anika Malik, Walmart senior manager, corporate affairs said in an email. “We are taking this matter very seriously and can confirm that the associate in question is no longer with Walmart.”

She added that the employee was dismissed as a result of an incident that happened Tuesday in the store.

On Tuesday, Yasamin Zia took to Facebook to express her disgust and outrage after an incident involving a cashier. In a post, she said she had “never felt so discriminated against.” The post received 400 reactions and more than 150 comments, with many sharing her outrage.

Describing the incident, she said she was with friends and they approached the cashier. The cashier was immediately disrespectful, Zia said in the post.

She and her friends were asked if they could afford their groceries. Their Canadian citizenship was questioned by the cashier, who demanded to see confirmation of citizenship.

“She refused to cash us out, which is when another cashier stepped in and took over,” Zia wrote, adding that the cashier “continued going on” about the customers not being Canadian citizens.

“I'm appalled, this was my first time getting discriminated against (for) my skin colour,” she wrote.

Anika Malik at Walmart said it would be inappropriate to comment on third party information, but offered that the company is available to speak directly to individuals about alleged discriminatory attitudes and whether they are being investigated. Contact corporate affairs at corporateaffairscanada@walmart.com


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Rob O'Flanagan

About the Author: Rob O'Flanagan

Rob O’Flanagan has been a newspaper reporter, photojournalist and columnist for over twenty years. He has won numerous Ontario Newspaper Awards and a National Newspaper Award.
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