Chief demands answers after family evicted from hotel

The chief of a northern First Nation says a Winnipeg hotel must explain why it kicked out a 16-year-old boy and his family days after the teen got knee surgery.

“There was child abuse that occurred here, there was assaults that occurred. Those need to be investigated. They can’t be swept under the rug,” said Pimicikamak Chief David Monias at a news conference Wednesday.

Nicholas Robinson had surgery on his knee cap at the Children’s Hospital Friday. On Tuesday afternoon, he was resting in his room at the Canad Inns on William Avenue, which is attached to the hospital. It is frequently used by out-of-town patients.

His family says a hotel employee and security guards entered their room and demanded that he and his mom leave.

“I remember the security barging into a room with what I thought was the manager, and he tried coming at me while I was on the bed, like he literally came at me and was pulling my clothes and trying to get me off the bed while I was in pain,” Nicholas said. “I told him I could do it myself, but he didn’t give us enough time. I didn’t even have enough time to get my shoes.”

The Robinsons had been staying at the hotel since Sunday and planned to leave once Nicholas was cleared to travel home. The family says they had to extend their stay to have his recovery monitored by the surgeon.

Nicholas’s mother, Jodie Robinson, said she was in the process of getting approval from the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch of Indigenous Services Canada to have their stay extended, when they were evicted.

In a 50-second video, an unidentified man, who appears to be a hotel staffer, demands that the family leave. The video shows the man yelling and using expletives, while Nicholas explains he can’t walk due to his leg surgery. (wfp.to/eviction)

The man is heard telling at least one security guard to take the family’s luggage and throw it outside the room.

At the news conference, Nicholas spoke to reporters about his experience but had to stop frequently because he was in pain.

He said the hotel gave him a wheelchair when the family was told to leave, but the chair doesn’t provide adequate support for his injury.

“This whole experience… it is very traumatizing for a guy my age, for someone to just force you off of bed while you’re in recovery,” he said.

His mother said she was angry at being mistreated.

Canad Inns spokesperson Amanda Gomes said the hotel is reviewing the circumstances that led to the interaction to see if protocol was followed.

“Our employees are trained to follow established procedures when responding to safety concerns or guest conduct issues, and we expect all interactions to be handled with professionalism and respect,” Gomes said in an email.

Gomes said the hotel is reviewing security reports and available footage to “better understand the full context of what occurred.”

The Robinsons stayed at another hotel Tuesday night that is being paid for by the community’s patient advocate.

The patient advocate received a text message from the province’s Medical Services Transportation Referral Unit that apologized for the incident, which was forwarded to Pimicikamak Coun. Shirley Robinson.

“That’s not acceptable. How do you text somebody to apologize for what transpired here? It should have been done in a respectful format, a letter, and we are asking for an apology from the medical transportation unit, the security and the hotel, from Health Canada and the province of Manitoba,” Robinson said.

The health minister reached out to the family to offer support

“No one should be treated that way and particularly when you are healing from a surgery or a procedure, what you need to do is rest… it sounds like their experience was the exact opposite of that, and that’s pretty unacceptable,” Uzoma Asagwara told reporters at an unrelated event.

Shared Health, the authority responsible for the Children’s Hospital, was involved in extending Nicholas’s stay. Asagwara said Shared Health was reminded about protocol to prevent such incidents.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca