A local hotel chain apologized Friday to a 16-year-old boy recovering from knee surgery and his family days after he and his mother were kicked out of their room at Canad Inns Health Science Centre.
Pimicikamak Cree Nation Chief David Monias met with the general manager of the hotel Friday to express disappointment over the treatment of Nicholas and his mother Jodie Robinson.
They were evicted from their room at the downtown hotel as a Canad Inns employee shouted and swore at them and instructed a hotel security employee to remove their luggage.
SUPPLIED
Raymond Robinson, grandfather of Nicholas, accepts a letter of apology Friday from Canad Inns HSC General Manager John Saad.
The incident was filmed by the youth and shared on social media.
“What occurred should not have happened,” Canad Inns senior vice-president Richard Burton wrote in a letter to Nicholas and his mother, shared Friday by the First Nation.
“The conduct shown in this video does not reflect how we expect our guests to be treated, especially families who are in Winnipeg for essential medical care.”
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The teen was recovering from knee surgery four days earlier and was staying at the hotel through accommodations provided by Indigenous Services Canada’s First Nations and Inuit Health Branch.
They were in the process of having their stay extended, awaiting a followup medical appointment, when the employee and security showed up.
In a statement issued late Friday afternoon, Monias said he told the hotel GM that members of the First Nation must be given a one-day grace period while waiting on federal approval for medical travel claims. He said the band would cover the cost of the additional day.
The Canad Inns employee was fired, a spokesman for the hotel said Thursday.
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