Air Canada has apologized after a memo stating that crew would no longer use downtown hotels in Winnipeg for layovers was deemed racist.
Aboriginal leader Derek Napinak called out the airline for its negative portrayal of the First Nations community.
The memo stated that downtown hotels in Winnipeg would no longer be used due to the fact that some of the hotels where located in places where there had been cases of public intoxication. The memo continued that police had noted that these areas were vulnerable to crimes of violence and oppurtunity.
These hotels however, are being used by 1,000 people from rural Manitoba displaced by the flood that affected the province last spring. Many of these people are from First Nations communities.
Nepinak stated that linking the aboriginal families staying at these hotels as a security risk is irresponsible and ignorant on the part of Air Canada. He stated that that viloence in downtown Winnipeg happened long before the displaced families arrived.
Air Canada apologized for the memo, stating that inferences had been drawn, and that it never meant to insult any individual or group.