Several employees of a Winnipeg grocery store were sent to hospital Tuesday evening after a violent incident, and now Indigenous leaders and the owners of Foodfare want to talk about what happened.
The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has called a news conference for late Wednesday morning. It will include Grand Chief Cathy Merrick and brothers Munther and Tarik Zeid, who own five Foodfare stores in the city.
In a release announcing the 11:30 a.m. news conference, the AMC said “multiple staff” were sent to hospital after violence at the Portage Avenue Foodfare store.
The AMC has had a long relationship with the local grocery chain but it was severed at the end of April.
A woman was allegedly punched by a supervisor at the Portage store at the end of April. The woman, who later told a witness she was First Nations, had been accused of shoplifting.
The AMC had been using Foodfare for food orders and vouchers under a federal program that ensures First Nations kids can swiftly get essential products and services, Merrick said at the time.
Shortly after the incident, Munther Zeid said in an Instagram post that the employee accused of punching the woman had been suspended but not fired.
“While we acknowledge the gravity of the situation, the employee involved is also from a marginalized community who has experienced many challenges in their life, and we believe that firing this employee is not the right course of action at this stage,” the post said.
“Instead, we view this incident as an opportunity for education, growth and repair.”
In the news release about Wednesday’s news conference, the AMC said it is working closely with Foodfare’s owners, “who have expressed their sincere apologies” for that incident.
“The owners have agreed to implement cultural sensitivity training for their staff and to draft a comprehensive policy to address shoplifting,” the release said.
Police have not responded to a request by CBC News for information about the Tuesday evening incident.
Munther Zeid told CBC on Tuesday that he had no comment.