Anishinabek Nation pushes Amazon to take down 'harmful' wall sign

Anishinabek Nation has pushed Amazon to take down a wall-art plaque that referenced harmful stereotypes about Indigenous people.

The sign used discriminatory language in reference to Indigenous people and alcohol consumption, and contained a location stamp from Oklahoma in the American frontier era.

Reg Niganobe is the grand council chief of Anishinabek Nation, a political organization that advocates for 39 First Nations in Ontario. He said the connection between First Nations and alcohol is hurtful and not indicative of Indigenous people.

"It's a stereotype that we've been combatting for hundreds of years now, actually," he said, "but it still exists and it still keeps us down and keeps us in our place."

Amazon took down the listing after Anishinabek Nation publicly called for such action over three days. Niganobe said the retailer never notified the organization that it had taken down the listing, or under what grounds.

Amazon spokesperson Kristin Gable confirmed that the product was no longer on the site, but did not respond to questions about the justification under its policies for such an action.

Gable shared a link to Amazon's "offensive products policies" but did not respond for requests for clarification about which subsections applied in this case.

Some of the restrictions within that policy include bans on products that promote intolerance based on race, or products that contain racially derogatory language.

The product appeared to originate from an England-based retailer of cast iron products.

CBC News emailed the company twice seeking comment, and also sent three messages to the company's Facebook page. Each of those was "seen" by the company but CBC never received a response.

The sign received several negative reviews since 2018, deriding it as racist.

There is still a similar sign posted on the Amazon store with the same lettering, but in a different design, from another company.

Profiting off Indigenous people is nothing new, says Niganobe

Niganobe said there is a long history of people using Indigenous traditions, teachings or history to create products for personal profit. He cited the 25-year-old final report from the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples that identified this as a problem.

A more recent example, he said, was people selling orange shirts for profit in the wake of this year's burial site revelations at residential schools. Many served as fundraisers to support residential school survivors, but others simply capitalized on the national reckoning.

"People were selling those for profit and not sending any money back towards the Indigenous residential school support systems that were out there. It was for profit instead," Niganobe said.

CBC News contacted some Canadian houseware retailers to enquire about their screening policies, to prevent potentially harmful products from reaching their shelves. None of the companies replied before publication.