Indigenous man a longtime Giant Tiger customer — until he says he was falsely accused of stealing

When Hector King Jr. stopped by a Giant Tiger store in east Toronto to pick up bananas one afternoon in December, he says he felt as though he was being watched.

The 62-year-old Anishinaabe man from Gull Bay First Nation, near Thunder Bay, Ont., said he noticed a security guard and staff hovering nearby.

But it wasn't until after King made the $1.68 purchase that he said he was stopped by an employee.

He said he was told never to return or he'd be charged with trespassing.

King was confused. He'd been riding his electric scooter from his Scarborough home to the store for years, spending up to $40 at a time on clothes or food, and said he has never stolen anything in his life. And while he noticed staff sometimes seemed to treat him differently than other customers — peering into his shopping basket or following him down aisles — they never raised any concerns.

So King called the discount chain's customer service department and a few weeks later was advised to go back and talk to the store's manager. He said she informed him that a man who looks, dresses and rides a scooter like him had been stealing. It had been captured on security video, but he was told he wasn't allowed to see it.

"That kind of degraded me, you know?" King said. "When I was always spending money in that store."

He said he believes he was racially profiled, especially after he learned an Indigenous man reported being followed by an employee at a Regina Giant Tiger in 2017.

"I thought, why are they not following anybody else? I see other people in that store. And they didn't pick anybody else," King said.

Wanting to clear his name and be allowed to shop in the store again, King continued to push Giant Tiger for an explanation on Facebook. However, it took nearly eight weeks from the initial encounter for someone to respond.

In an email to King dated Jan. 26, Giant Tiger said that after "careful review and consideration [the store] has instituted a trespass notice as your shopping habits are no longer welcome.... If you choose to disregard the trespass notice the police will be called to enforce the trespass notice."

When CBC News contacted Giant Tiger for this story, spokesperson Aaron Wade said the ban has since been lifted.

"I am happy to confirm that Mr. King is welcome to continue shopping at any Giant Tiger location," Wade said.

This is all news to King. As of late last week, he said he still hadn't received any further communication from the retailer.