The man caught on video shouting “Go back to China” to Mississauga T&T Supermarket employees last week after they asked him to wear a face mask has surrendered to police.
Investigators had honed in on his identity as of July 10 and had been asking John McCash, 48, of Mississauga, to speak with a lawyer and contact police.
McCash surrendered himself at 11 Division in Mississauga Thursday morning and was served a summons for causing a disturbance. He is to appear in Brampton court on Sept. 25 to answer to the charge.
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The incident took place July 5 around 4 p.m. at the grocery store, located at 715 Central Pkwy. W., near Mavis Rd. A male customer was filmed making racist comments after workers asked him to leave because he refused to wear a mask.
In the three-minute and 50-second video filmed by a bystander, a man is seen emptying the contents of his cloth shopping bag on the floor.
“I’m never coming back here again,” he says. “I’m going to have the media here. You guys can all wear your masks and you can all die and you can all get sick. Because when you wear the mask, you get sick. It’s science.”
Several employees speak to the man and one asks him not to scream.
“This is a communist, socialist lie,” the man continues. “Where did we get our Wuhan communist virus? From China. From you guys.”
The man then asks the employees, “Where are you from?”
“I’m a Canadian,” responds a male employee.
The customer then repeats that he has an asthmatic condition and gets into the employee’s face while his wife hugs him and appears to try to create some space between him and the workers.
“We are Canadian, sir,” the male employee says.
As the man, still ranting, is escorted towards the exit by several employees, the male employee — who is wearing a mask — raises his arms in the air to show he is not touching the customer.
“I am Canadian,” he repeats while the customer shouts, “Get out of my face.”
Before leaving the man shouts, “Go back to China where you came from. And take your coronavirus back to Wuhan.”
Customers entering the T&T Supermarket on Warden Ave. north of Steeles Ave. in Markham get a temperature scan to check for precautionary signs of COVID-19 on Monday, April 20, 2020. (JACK BOLAND/TORONTO SUN)
Jack Boland/Toronto Sun /
Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network
T&T began performing mandatory temperature checks for all staff and voluntary checks for customers at its locations across Canada on April 20, but suspended them as of June 8 as they found the checks became inaccurate because of the warmer weather. Masks, however, have remained a mandatory requirement for shoppers to enter its stores since May 11.
Loblaw Companies Inc., the parent company for T&T Supermarket, banned McCash from all their stores, including T&T Supermarket, Loblaws and Shoppers Drug Mart.
“We will not tolerate this type of hateful behaviour in our workplace,” said T&T Supermarket CEO Tina Lee said in a statement Thursday afternoon.
“T&T will not be taking any further action, as this case is in the trusted hands of the Peel police and courts.”
Lee said between Jan. 27 and July 10, T&T has recorded three positive COVID-19 cases across 5,500 colleagues.
“When compared to the regions in which we operate, T&T has maintained the lowest infection rate of 0.05%, despite being deemed an essential service to Canadians, remaining open and serving thousands of customers every day, while most of the country was in lockdown,” said Lee.
“We believe this has been achieved by the early adoption of masks, a key pillar in our safety strategy, along with frequent sanitization efforts, and social distancing in stores.”
Lee added she sympathizes with those with a medical condition that makes it difficult to wear a face covering. To accommodate them, they can shop or approach their customer service counter with a shopping list and staff will do the shop for them.
Peel police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said the incident “has had a profound impact on not only the victim, but also the community.”
“Hate-crime incidents have a negative impact on our community and create a ripple effect. It can increase feelings of vulnerability, anxiety and fear, not only on the individual who has directly been victimized, but also to the community at large,” Duraiappah said in a statement Wednesday urging McCash to surrender.
“Reporting incident of hate-crime is essential to stopping these incidents; we are dedicated to ensuring the safety and well-being of all we serve.”
HALIFAX – Ottawa is negotiating a $500-million bailout for Nova Scotia’s privately owned electric utility, saying the money will be used to prevent a big spike in electricity rates.
Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson made the announcement today in Halifax, saying Nova Scotia Power Inc. needs the money to cover higher costs resulting from the delayed delivery of electricity from the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric plant in Labrador.
Wilkinson says that without the money, the subsidiary of Emera Inc. would have had to increase rates by 19 per cent over “the short term.”
Nova Scotia Power CEO Peter Gregg says the deal, once approved by the province’s energy regulator, will keep rate increases limited “to be around the rate of inflation,” as costs are spread over a number of years.
The utility helped pay for construction of an underwater transmission link between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, but the Muskrat Falls project has not been consistent in delivering electricity over the past five years.
Those delays forced Nova Scotia Power to spend more on generating its own electricity.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
TORONTO – Roots Corp. may have built its brand on all things comfy and cosy, but its CEO says activewear is now “really becoming a core part” of the brand.
The category, which at Roots spans leggings, tracksuits, sports bras and bike shorts, has seen such sustained double-digit growth that Meghan Roach plans to make it a key part of the business’ future.
“It’s an area … you will see us continue to expand upon,” she told analysts on a Friday call.
The Toronto-based retailer’s push into activewear has taken shape over many years and included several turns as the official designer and supplier of Team Canada’s Olympic uniform.
But consumers have had plenty of choice when it comes to workout gear and other apparel suited to their sporting needs. On top of the slew of athletic brands like Nike and Adidas, shoppers have also gravitated toward Lululemon Athletica Inc., Alo and Vuori, ramping up competition in the activewear category.
Roach feels Roots’ toehold in the category stems from the fit, feel and following its merchandise has cultivated.
“Our product really resonates with (shoppers) because you can wear it through multiple different use cases and occasions,” she said.
“We’ve been seeing customers come back again and again for some of these core products in our activewear collection.”
Her remarks came the same day as Roots revealed it lost $5.2 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of $5.3 million in the same quarter last year.
The company said the second-quarter loss amounted to 13 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Aug. 3, the same as a year earlier.
In presenting the results, Roach reminded analysts that the first half of the year is usually “seasonally small,” representing just 30 per cent of the company’s annual sales.
Sales for the second quarter totalled $47.7 million, down from $49.4 million in the same quarter last year.
The move lower came as direct-to-consumer sales amounted to $36.4 million, down from $37.1 million a year earlier, as comparable sales edged down 0.2 per cent.
The numbers reflect the fact that Roots continued to grapple with inventory challenges in the company’s Cooper fleece line that first cropped up in its previous quarter.
Roots recently began to use artificial intelligence to assist with daily inventory replenishments and said more tools helping with allocation will go live in the next quarter.
Beyond that time period, the company intends to keep exploring AI and renovate more of its stores.
It will also re-evaluate its design ranks.
Roots announced Friday that chief product officer Karuna Scheinfeld has stepped down.
Rather than fill the role, the company plans to hire senior level design talent with international experience in the outdoor and activewear sectors who will take on tasks previously done by the chief product officer.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, are set to resume today as a strike that has stopped most services drags into a second week.
No timeline has been set for the length of the negotiations, but Joe McCann, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they are willing to stay there as long as it takes, even if talks drag on all night.
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people unable to navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last Tuesday, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
Hundreds of drivers rallied outside TransLink’s head office earlier this week, calling for the transportation provider to intervene in the dispute with Transdev, which was contracted to oversee HandyDART service.
Transdev said earlier this week that it will provide a reply to the union’s latest proposal on Thursday.
A statement from the company said it “strongly believes” that their employees deserve fair wages, and that a fair contract “must balance the needs of their employees, clients and taxpayers.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
