Indigenous leaders demand apology after Winnipeg Elder says she was accused of stealing while shopping
Posted March 17, 2026 4:18 pm.
Last Updated March 17, 2026 7:36 pm.
A Winnipeg Elder claims she was harassed, sworn at, and accused of stealing while shopping at Walmart on Ellice Avenue earlier this month.
Elder Mary Laquette, 75, says she had enough money for all her items and had no intention of leaving without paying.
“It’s not right for somebody to treat me like that. I wasn’t even thinking of stealing,” Elder Laquette told a Tuesday press conference hosted by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.
“They scared me, they were really mean-looking. I didn’t like them putting me down in front of all the people,” Laquette said of the two security guards.
The incident, which was partially captured on video by a bystander, indeed shows what appears to be Laquette being confronted by security and sworn at.
Her family calls the behaviour by security unacceptable and says the confrontation should never have happened.
“She was the victim of a car accident years ago,” explained her son Claude-André Larocque. “She can’t use a shopping cart or basket; she has to use her walker to put the goods on. And that’s not grounds to treat her like she is a thief.”
Indigenous leaders in Manitoba are calling for accountability.
“Walmart does hire people to watch for shoplifters, but to watch, not to harass, not to do what they did to a 75-year-old elderly woman. These are cowards,” said Acting Chief Bradley Beardy of Lake St. Martin First Nation.
“We come from a community that we were taught to respect our elders.”
Grand Chief Kyra Wilson of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs says the interaction reflects a broader pattern of racial profiling in retail stores across Winnipeg. She says First Nations people are routinely followed and unfairly suspected while shopping, adding the incident involving Laquette is not an isolated case.
“That is the first thing, we will ensure that there is an apology,” Wilson said. “And then we want to know who are these people, who was the security company. We need to know these answers, and we will get these answers.”
CityNews reached out to Walmart for comment but did not immediately hear back.
