Rights inquiry hears racial profiling allegation

An African Nova Scotian journalist says she was racially profiled by an employee at a Halifax-area consumer electronics outlet. An independent board of inquiry convened by the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission began hearing the allegation on Thursday.

The incident occurred when Sherri Borden Colley was looking for a new printer at The Source in Elmsdale at around 5 p.m. on March 17, 2022.

Surveillance footage and witness testimony

Security footage shown at the hearing, chaired by Eric Sloane, depicted an employee walking behind Borden Colley as she walked to the back of the store. The employee remained within feet of her, wiping surfaces, as she looked at printers. When Borden Colley left, the employee returned to the counter.

Borden Colley said she saw him watching her and said she believes he was following her because of assumptions about her as an African Nova Scotian.

“It’s hard to describe, but we know when it’s happening to us,” she told journalists after the first day of proceedings. “Because it happens so often.”

Borden Colley, a journalist with the CBC on long-term disability, said she has been followed around stores before. She said prior to the incident, she shopped at The Source often and had never been followed. She hasn’t returned since, she said.

Surveillance footage also showed her re-entering the store about two minutes later and speaking to three employees.

Borden Colley said in her testimony one of the employees told her they had been instructed to “shadow” all customers because of shoplifting incidents.

The commission’s 2013 report on consumer racial profiling states more than 60 per cent of African Nova Scotians surveyed reported being followed while shopping.

The Source conducted an internal investigation which concluded there was no fault on the employee’s part. Interviews from the investigation were introduced as evidence during the hearing.

Three recordings of phone calls between Borden Colley and The Source employees were played at the hearing. In one of the calls, The Source’s director of client experience, Carole Barnard, told Borden Colley she was “shocked and sorrowed” by what Borden Colley had experienced.

Borden Colley said she took this as an acknowledgment of discriminatory action.

In the following days, Borden Colley reached out to management at The Source to report the incident, hoping to get a written apology from the company and the employees. She says she didn’t receive an apology.

The Source location in Elmsdale has since been rebranded to Best Buy Express.

Employee testimony

The employee whom Borden Colley alleges profiled her testified that when Borden Colley first entered, he greeted her. However, she raised her hand and said she was “just browsing.” Taken aback, he followed her while cleaning nearby surfaces.

She later asked for assistance with printer ink, according to the employee. He thought her response to being helped was “abrupt” but she continued to browse.  She left without making a purchase.

Evidence presented

On Friday, Feb. 7, further evidence were presented. This included an email the employee sent to a store manager the day after the incident with his version of events.

Melissa Woods, a corporate security representative, conducted an internal investigation and interviewed the employee, with her notes being submitted as evidence.

Angela Simmonds, director of Legal Services at the African Nova Scotia Justice Institute, is Borden Colley’s co-counsel.

“The constant having-to-prove-racism-exists is the very point of why we’re here,” she said, after the proceedings on Thursday.

Simmonds said racism is deeply embedded in society and it must be acknowledged for improvement to happen. 

“If we can have an open conversation about acknowledging those policies and rectifying them, then maybe it would limit how many times we have to come to the board of inquiry to prove that this has happened,” she said.

The hearing adjourned on Friday evening and is expected to convene again on March 20.

“No matter which way it goes, it’s on the public record of what happened to me, and hopefully change will come out of this,” said Borden Colley.