Security company rolling out Indigenous ambassador program

A Winnipeg security firm has put an Indigenous community ambassador in a downtown Dollarama store, as companies and advocates seek new ways to build bridges and prevent trouble.

Impact Security owner Ron D’Errico said he is planning to expand the new program to additional retailers and communities, and hire up to 20 more ambassadors to work alongside his company’s security guards.

“Security companies need to be better. That’s just the nature of this industry,” he said. “We’re far gone from the days where we hire a guy to sit in a store or watch an empty building. We’re at an age now where people need to understand cultural sensitivity, roots of the problems, layers of why crimes happen and how to deal with challenges such as confrontation.”

D’Errico said the program is the first of its kind in Manitoba. It stems from a Feb. 28 incident where an Impact Security guard allegedly used brass knuckles while assaulting an Indigenous man at the Dollarama at 295 Portage Ave.

The man was beaten after he allegedly assaulted the guard when he was stopped for shoplifting. Both were charged.

Impact Security hired community advocate Viv Ketchum as an ambassador about four weeks ago.

“We wanted to make sure that people felt when they come into a department store or a retailer that our goal was to eliminate the uncomfortability of being (racially) profiled, and to have someone with empathy, cultural awareness on the company’s first line of representation,” D’Errico said.

“We have less shoplifters in the store, less violent issues in the store, and I see people coming in and they’re greeting each other with respect, affection, camaraderieship.”

Many newcomers work as security guards in Manitoba. Impact’s ambassador program aims to educate and foster relationships between people from different backgrounds or communities.

“People who are newcomers to Canada don’t understand the story of the Indigenous people. They are not taught that properly,” D’Errico said.

Ketchum attended a rally outside the Dollarama store after a witness shared video on social media of the guard assaulting the alleged shoplifter Feb. 28.

“I kind of hesitated at first because this is the worst store,” Ketchum said of D’Errico’s initial approach. “It wasn’t because of the area. It was because I’m not really fond of security guards, to be honest, but I know Ron and I know his heart is in the right place.”

Ketchum said her focus is the safety of customers, security guards who are contracted by Dollarama and the store’s employees.

“(Ron) saw my work in the community, so I began doing what I do. When shoplifters are apprehended, I make sure they are treated fairly and there is no excessive force,” Ketchum said.

“People are saying to the security guards, ‘You shouldn’t be following them, you shouldn’t be harassing the shoplifters.’ Once the situation is dealt with, I go and tell the people I am there to make sure the security guards are treated fairly, and the reason they’re getting the person out of the store is because the person is known to be violent, so I’m keeping you guys safe.”

She doesn’t get involved in situations that involve weapons or are otherwise unsafe.

Ketchum said the Dollarama store is “calmer” than it was when she started as an ambassador.

“The security guards are also getting to know me as a person, and that’s a big change. I’m also stopping racial remarks towards the security guards,” she said.

“I really love this job. It’s physically demanding, but it’s also heartbreaking when I see what’s happening outside the store — vulnerable women, a lot of drug use. Sometimes there’s violence outside.”

Dollarama is fully supportive of the ambassador initiative, a spokesperson said.

Last week, security guards were stabbed by alleged shoplifters at a Dollarama at the Courts of St. James and a FreshCo on Sargent Avenue.

Ketchum wants other stores and security companies to use Indigenous community ambassadors.

“It would bring more Indigenous awareness,” she said. “I know (the province) is trying to update the security guard training manual. I’d like to see another program set in place for the ambassadors to be also part of that.”

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said Impact’s ambassador program is in line with the government’s broader work to modernize and update the training manual, which is more than 20 years old.

“Of course, it involves new units in the training manual on Indigenous awareness, on cultural sensitivity, on understanding lived experiences, and it’s been developed in conjunction with community and with our Indigenous liaison team within the Department of Justice,” he said.

The manual has been updated. Wiebe said work is now being done to train the trainers.

“For security guards in the field, they’re going to start seeing these new elements being rolled out very soon,” he said.

Several security companies, including Impact and Winnipeg-based AC Security, offer cultural sensitivity or awareness training in-house or through Indigenous organizations.

AC Security owner Nathan Alexander said the company’s roster of guards includes people who are Indigenous.

“We’re always working with our Indigenous community partners and representatives directly within the community so we can better fulfil our front-line needs,” he said.

AC Security participated in a public forum on security guards in March hosted by the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of Manitoba.

IPAM board member Eric Robinson, a former NDP cabinet minister who is part of an advisory committee for the updated training manual, lobbied the current government to mandate cultural awareness training in the sector.

“What we’re doing is working with the province of Manitoba in developing and improving relations with Indigenous Peoples and these security guard companies, because oftentimes there’s a real disconnect about even understanding each other,” Robinson said.

Some security companies are making proactive efforts to improve relations, he said.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca