Air Canada apologizes to national chief after flight crew tried to take her headdress away

Air Canada says it's sorry after staff tried to stow away the headdress of the Assembly of First Nations' national chief in cargo storage before the departure of a flight Wednesday.

The company said in a statement Thursday it's apologizing to National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, who said on social media Thursday she was forced to hand over a case containing the headdress that was with her in the plane's cabin.

"I won't be letting anyone take away my headdress or case again," Woodhouse Nepinak said in a public Facebook post, ahead of a different flight to Montreal.

"Air Canada needs a protocol for First Peoples so that we are not harassed for our sacred items. Our headdresses don't belong in [garbage] bags by airlines."

CBC News contacted Woodhouse Nepinak, but she was still in transit and wasn't ready to talk at length about the incident Thursday night.

The national chief said staff wanted to put her headdress in cargo storage because there was no room in the cabin, and that the situation got tense. She said the flight crew threatened her staff, and other passengers stood up for her.

The case was put in a plastic bag, said Woodhouse Nepinak. The pilot came out and brought the case back after she complained, she said.

Woodhouse Nepinak said she normally travels with the headdress on her lap, or in carry-on storage.

Air Canada said in a statement it's reached out to the national chief to "better understand and apologize for her experience."

"Air Canada understands the importance of accommodating customers with items and symbols of sacred cultural significance, and in the past the chiefs have been able to travel while transporting their headdresses in the cabin," the statement said.

The airline added it's following up on the matter internally, and will be reviewing its policies after the "regrettable incident."

Incident 'unacceptable,' minister says

Federal Transportation Minister Pablo Rodriguez said what happened is "unacceptable" and the government "expects Air Canada to treat Indigenous customers with respect and promote better Indigenous cultural diversity."

Alvin Fiddler, grand chief of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, called out Air Canada on X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter, saying the incident was "shameful" and the company needs to ensure staff follow protocols on sacred items.

David Lametti, who was the federal justice minister when Canada adopted the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2021, told CBC News in an interview the incident left him "stunned."

"There aren't many chiefs across Canada who would have that kind of headdress," said Lametti, who now works as a lawyer specializing in Indigenous law.

"It is critically important that it be treated as a sacred object, and I don't understand why this would have been treated with anything less than the appropriate amount of dignity that it deserves."

Woodhouse Nepinak, from Pinaymootang First Nation in Manitoba, was elected national chief last December.

She received the headdress during a New Year's Day ceremony by the Blackfoot Confederacy of the Piikani Nation in Alberta for her national leadership and her work championing a historic settlement on Indigenous child welfare.

The Assembly of First Nations said in a release at that point that the headdress transfer is one of the "highest honours among First Nations ceremonies for leadership," and the eagle feathers that make up the headdress have been "blessed to help support leadership in their travels and challenges."