Holt Renfrew Ogilvy apologizes after tax exemption denied to Indigenous client

An incident at Holt Renfrew Ogilvy on Saturday has prompted the luxury retailer to post an apology on social media. An Indigenous client at the Holt Renfrew location in downtown Montreal was denied a tax exemption because their status card had expired.

The apology reads, in part:

“On Saturday, at our Montreal store, an Indigenous customer was denied tax exemption because their status card had expired. The actions taken by our employees, while not intended to be discriminatory, were unacceptable. We apologize for the way the situation was handled and escalated. We know we did the wrong thing. We want to make sure that an incident like this does not happen again. We are accelerating and strengthening training, and we are making several changes due to this incident.

“We have made it known to all employees in our stores that, in accordance with government guidelines, all status cards will be accepted, regardless of their expiry date. We are updating our official policy to this effect.

“This incident does not reflect our values ​​and should never have happened. Once again, we apologize to our customers and to the communities we have impacted.”

For the complete apology (in French and English), please see the slider below.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Holt Renfrew Ogilvy (@holtrenfrewogilvy)

According to the government of Canada website, the validity of all “Indian” status cards has been extended till May 2022 due to bureaucratic delays and distancing concerns during the pandemic.

---

For the latest in news, please visit the News section.