Black-Indigenous teen allegedly racially profiled at McDonald’s in Kenora while on basketball trip to Winnipeg

A basketball trip to Winnipeg started on the wrong foot after a mother from Ontario alleges her teenage son was racially profiled at a McDonald’s on the very first leg of the trip.

Katrina Osborne from Kenora, Ont., alleges her 17-year-old boy was told to leave the fast food restaurant in Kenora because he had been there too long.

Osborne believes it’s really because her son Tavon is half Indigenous and half Black.

“It was really upsetting and sad to see my son go through that, and be singled out like that,” said Osborne.

“I don’t want him to feel scared to be who he is because people have labels on everybody.”

Undated photo of Tavon Osborne. (Credit: Osborne family/handout)

Osborne says the basketball trips to Winnipeg always start the same way: she drops Tavon off at the McDonald’s in Kenora where he meets the rest of the SwishNish youth basketball club. Tavon has a snack before heading out to the tournament in Winnipeg.

She says they’ve been doing that for nine weekends in a row.

‘I have to leave right away’

But this time was different.

On Saturday, Osborne dropped her boy off five minutes early.

“He just walked in,” she recounted. “We just left, and he messages me saying ‘mom, there is a guy here saying I have to leave right away and only have 30 minutes.’ I said ‘I’ll be right there.’

“Because it gave me bad vibes off the hop.”

One of my youth basketball players, who is Afro-Indigenous, was told there is a 30 min time limit to sit in #McDonalds in #Kenora. He has his overnight bag and was told he looked suspicious. #McRacialProfiling @McDonalds #FirstNations #NativeYouth

— Tania Cameron (@TaniaCameron) June 25, 2022

Osborne says she returned and spoke with the employee, who allegedly told her son he looked suspicious, and that he had 30 minutes inside the restaurant only.

Osborne recorded part of that interaction on her phone.

“I referenced a Caucasian couple that was not too far from us, that I know because I work downtown,” she said. “And I asked, I’m not sure if he was the manager or not, but I asked, ‘did you tell these people when they walked in that they had 30 minutes to eat? No? OK but you said it to my son so what’s the problem?’”

Osborne believes her son was singled out because of his race, and because he had his overnight bag with him. The tournaments in Winnipeg last until Sunday.

WATCH: Video of the interaction at the McDonald’s in Kenora

McDonald’s reaching out to Tavon 

Brett O’Meara, the franchisee of the McDonald’s in Kenora, says he is taking “the incident very seriously.”

“As a proud member of the Kenora community, I want my restaurants to be a place where everybody feels welcome and safe,” O’Meara said in a statement to CityNews.

“I have been trying to contact the guest to offer them my sincere apologies. I have also connected directly with the community advocate who reported the incident to listen, learn and also share the actions we’re already taking, including training staff on how to manage situations like this more appropriately in the future. I remain committed to providing a safe, respectful, and inclusive space in my restaurants for all guests and employees.”

Tania Cameron, the SwishNish team manager, says the McDonald’s operations manager reached out to her, stating this was a misunderstanding and apologizing for what had happened.

“This has got to be a mistake,” said Cameron. “This can’t be happening in 2022.”

She says Tavon is deciding whether to have a meeting with McDonald’s staff.

“A lot of times when young people in this town are racially targeted they don’t step up and use their voice to say this is wrong, so we need our young people to learn to call out racism when it’s put before them,” said Cameron. “I’m very proud of Tavon for what he’s done.”

Tavon declined to speak to CityNews, saying he still felt uneasy about the situation.

“He said he felt sad, he said he’s tired of feeling like he’s being targeted all the time,” said his mom.

Osborne hopes speaking out when things like this happen decreases the odds of it happening again.

“I’m not saying everything will change with the racism and stuff, but just tone it down a few notches, there is no need for it, everybody is different,” she said.