Outraged!
- Posted on 19th November 2020
- in Press Release, Romantic Fiction Author Rusty Blackwood, The Perils of Autumn, Willow's Walk
- by admin
Outraged …
I wish to bring to public attention a recent happening at an Indigo bookstore in the Burlington Mall, Ontario. I am outraged! As an author I cannot abide the likes of this. I am sharing a letter I just sent to the managers of a few local Indigo/Coles/ Chapters outlets throughout the Niagara region that carry my title The Perils of Autumn, and a couple that also carry Willow’s Walk. Please refer below to the message that I copied and sent. It also contains the Facebook message that alerted me to this unacceptable happening.
Dear Indigo/Coles/Chapters Managers,
St. Catharines author Rusty Blackwood here, and I am enraged at a recent happening at Indigo in Burlington Mall, Ontario centering on the refusal and harassment of a boy in a wheelchair who is exempt from wearing a mask. I have enclosed the article below to explain what happened. This child was not only denied service, he was harassed, upset, and this is totally unacceptable. Is this the policy of all stores under the Indigo banner? If it is, I intend to remove all copies of my title, The Perils of Autumn, as well as Willow’s Walk from your outlets immediately. It is bad enough that managers of stores have been encompassed, and forced to abide by the outrageous Covid rules, but to go to the extent of upsetting this young man is taking it too far. As an author, and I speak for other indie authors as well in my area, our careers, and our ability to make an income for over eight months now, has not only been hindered but stopped by this continued Covid nonsense. We are not allowed personal appearances, or to meet & greet our readers in the stores. Not everyone has a computer nor are they into virtual meetings. Because of this, our sales have plummeted. All our time and hard work has suffered, and nothing is being done by the managers to change that .
I request to hear personally from each of you concerning the subject of this email. Please refer to the message below from Brenda Ferland Agnew. I feel this boy is entitled to a public apology by Indigo, Burlington Mall. It is the least they can do. If nothing is done, I will demand immediate removal of my titles – at your expense – and I will publicly boycott Indigo. I refuse to have my name associated to a bookstore that supports this kind of behaviour.
Tonight Maclain and I left a dentist appt in Hamilton and made our way back to Burlington. On the way, he asked if we could stop at Indigo so he could buy his brother a bday gift and a book for himself. He hasn’t been in an Indigo since before March. This might have actually been his first visit to a store since it all started. A big-box retailer for sure. I don’t think ice cream shops count 
I right away tensed up because I know of a fellow special needs family who was refused service at an Indigo location at Burlington Mall last weekend because their son can’t wear a mask, and my immediate instinct was to boycott. But Mac really wanted to go and my suggestion of shopping online was cutting it. Mac likes to see and feel and check things out. Walk around, see his options. That’s hard to do online.
So we hit the Brant street location and I was ready with the municipal bylaws and city bylaws in hand, but I was thinking it will be fine, it must have been an isolated incident.
The minute we walked in, the front door staffed pounced and asked if he could wear a mask. I explained no he can’t and that he has an exemption. She argued and I said I have the bylaws right here and we aren’t breaking any rules and I walked past and we started to look around. I was hoping to avoid any further confrontation and assumed by an explanation of the by-laws would suffice. It was not lost on me that we had left school where he is exempt, to go to the dentist where he is exempt and then we get stopped at a book store where the exemption was being argued.
So we walked around, and Mac found a gift for his brother and a book for himself, and within 10 minutes we were approached by the store manager who said with a smirk that she hated to have to approach us but that if I didn’t put a mask on him, we were to leave the store. It was corporate policy and there were signs everywhere that I shouldn’t be able to miss. I refused and suggested she call by-law if we were breaking any rules. She said by-law wasn’t in the area so she was calling the police. I said I hope that there are no stabbings or car accidents because their valuable time shouldn’t be wasted playing middle man over a by-law issue that we were on the right side of. She said it was private property and we needed to leave. I again refused and said we would wait for the police.
A passerby was kind enough to scold me and let me know that my vulnerable child shouldn’t be there without a mask. At no point did I ever use the word vulnerable. I had simply said he met the criteria for exemption and that we wear masks to protect others. We wear masks so people like Maclain can go out and shop at a store and be protected.
We walked around for an hour or so, adamant I was not leaving and even prepared to buy the items that mac had picked out. If the police showed up, so be it. This was not ok. We weren’t just being difficult for the sake of being difficult.
All the staff was watching us like hawks and we kept getting warned to leave as the police were on their way. We continued to stand our ground. Finally, the manager walked up with another staff member and said that we would be refused service, that our items would not be rung up and that we could call Heather Riesman if we had an issue. Maclain burst into tears and became hysterical and at that point, I had no choice but to give up and leave. It wasn’t fair to keep him there upset and crying. I won’t lie, I didn’t place my items back gently and I was very clear when I said that this was discrimination, it was unacceptable, and that I don’t know how anyone could be proud to work at a company like this. I told them they should be ashamed and this wasn’t ok and that I don’t know how anyone could refuse service to a person with a disability who is exempt from wearing a mask.
And now here we are. Upset, angered, disappointed. How is this ok? How is this fair? Why have exemptions in place for our region and our city if business doesn’t have to follow suit? We weren’t being rebellious, weren’t being irresponsible. He had every right to be there and by-law says so too.
This isn’t over.
Please don’t shop at Indigo until they reconsider their policies on mask exemptions. The fact that this is a corporate policy makes it a hard one to take on. But I will figure out my next steps. This is wrong and my heart breaks for anyone else in our situation who has been humiliated and asked to leave and refused service. This kid in a wheelchair with no mask. Wrong. So Wrong. And the sad thing is that people wouldn’t know unless they step foot in an indigo because they certainly don’t broadcast their discriminatory policies.
Indigo Brant Indigo, Chapters and Coles CityOf BurlingtonEffie TriantafilopoulosKarina Gould Graham Agnew @insidehaltonBurlington Post
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Respectfully,
Rusty Blackwood
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