An Indigenous woman’s story of racial profiling at Victoria International Airport has gone viral after she made a post on Instagram with allegations of facing discrimination from a WestJet employee.
Nikki Sanchez is an educator and media producer who once worked for VICE Media. She is Pipil/Maya — a peoples Indigenous to Central America — and was flying to New York from Victoria on January 15th to participate in a campaign on fair trade and sustainable fashion.
Due to the snow, her WestJet flight from Victoria to Vancouver was delayed. Unfortunately for Sanchez, her problems only began there.
Sanchez says that she went back through security and spoke to a WestJet agent to reschedule her flight. Then the employee immediately began to ask if Sanchez had been drinking.
“I honestly replied that I had had two drinks in the five hours I’d been waiting for the flight,” Sanchez wrote in an Instagram post that went viral, detailing the incident.
“She said, ‘You smell like booze,’ and ‘I know you guys can’t handle your alcohol,’” Sanchez alleges.
See more: Indigenous youth speak out about arrests made during protest at Victoria government offices
Sanchez demanded to see a manager but was told there was not one available. Instead of rebooking her flight or helping her find an alternative option, Sanchez says the attendant refused to allow her on board a WestJet flight. The attendant also allegedly called her a “liability” to any airline.
“I was shocked,” Sanchez wrote.
WestJet speaks out
Sanchez was able to get onto an Air Canada flight to New York. An apologetic representative from that airline pulled some strings to get her on an already booked flight. Unfortunately, she missed the event in New York due to the racial profiling incident.
Sanchez’s Instagram post has over 3,000 likes, and VICE Media wrote a story covering the incident.
In that story, WestJet spokesperson Morgan Bell said the airline “has a zero tolerance policy for racism and discrimination” and is investigating the situation.
Sanchez has called for a boycott of WestJet until she receives an apology and for anti-oppression training for all WestJet employees.
The airline company has left comments on the Instagram post asking for Sanchez’s email to get in touch with her. Whether the two have been in contact is unclear at this time.
