Ice huts are being put out on the lakes and rivers across Canada, where the ice is now solid enough to hold them. And the annual fishing season that is a much-loved tradition for many Canadians is getting started.
But in North Bay, Ontario, the owner of IceHutRentals.ca, a company that rents the huts and the services that go with them, is now in major damage control following an explicitly racist ad, denying indigenous people access.
In what’s described as a “steal of a deal” the ad, which was uploaded to Kijiji on Tuesday, extols the services, and goes on to bar natives from receiving them.
“Please no status card holders! You are not welcome in our huts. Equality for all or you will not get the time of day from us and will lose any deposit paid to us. Thanks, mgmt”
“It’s just a blatant racist statement.. “There’s no two ways about it.”
Indigenous people hold cards to confirm their native status. “It’s just a blatant racist statement,” Les Couchi, from Nipissing First Nation told CBC News. “There’s no two ways about it.”
The post was uploaded by IceHutRentals.ca earlier this week. The ad originally said status card users will lose their deposits and will “not get the time of day.”
“I’ve seen lots of stuff in my 60 years of existence on the planet, but nothing as overt as this,” Couchi said. “This is just … being as ignorant as you can.”
Marc David Hyndman, CEO of Ice Hut Rentals, posted an apology on the company’s Facebook page Tuesday. Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry is now monitoring the company.
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