'Cybersecurity incident' shuts down London Drugs stores across Western Canada
All 79 locations of pharmacy and retail chain London Drugs were shut down Sunday after it was the victim of a “cybersecurity incident.”
The following contains troubling language and anti-Black racist threats which readers may find offensive.
A Black man alleges his bosses at an Ontario sheet metal company failed to protect him from racist death threats, including a noose drawn on his locker in March and another threat written in the bathroom in May.
“This is unacceptable behavior within the work environment,” long-term employee Agim Williams told CTVNews.ca in a video interview.
Williams said he never felt that anti-Black racist threats were taken seriously by his bosses at VAC Developments Ltd. in Oakville, Ont. The company never returned any of CTVNews.ca’s phone calls nor emails.
Despite Williams repeatedly asking his managers to call the police, they did so nearly a week after the latest graffiti had been removed.
And, a month after police began investigating, Williams was among a group of several employees laid off. “What they did just compounded my feelings … and stress levels,” he said.
A study from Health Science Association found employees’ fear of reprisal stopped them from reporting racism at work. And Williams feels the layoff was retaliation for involving the police.
The spokesperson for Halton Regional Police Service confirmed there’s an active investigation into the “racist and threatening messages” but that no arrests have been made.
This noose was allegedly drawn on Agim Williams' locker on March 11, 2021. (Agim Williams)
A partially blurred photo taken of anti-Black racist threats allegedly written in a company bathroom on May 12, 2021. (Agim Williams)
“I can also confirm for you that the workplace is cooperating with police in the investigation,” Const. Steve Elms told CTVNews.ca in an email. “Any type of hate crime will not be tolerated.”
However, Williams doubts the truth will come out because both written threats are now months old, and there was no security cameras that could have captured what happened.
Since 1979, VAC Developments Ltd.’s has been a sheet metal supplier for Canadian and U.S. aerospace or defence companies, such as Boeing, Bombardier, Spirit Aerosystem and Raytheon Canada Ltd.
Williams was a sheet metal mechanic and machinist there for three-and-a-half years and said, among his direct superiors, he was known to be a hard worker who finished his work on time.
Although he enjoyed working there, he was one of only a few Black employees. He said he occasionally heard racist comments or had machines left in unsafe positions -- but he chose not to dwell on it.
“I’m just a put-my-head-down-and-work guy. I just rather get on with it.”
However, what was harder to ignore was being blatantly threatened at work.
On March 11, Williams was taken aback when he saw a noose had been drawn on his locker. He snapped a picture, which CTVNews.ca has seen, and reported it to the company’s human resources department. A janitor was quickly tasked with removing the graffiti.
But to his dismay, police were not called and he said there was no internal company investigation. “I had the faith and respect in the company that they would have handled it how it ought to be handled. And unfortunately that didn't happen,” Williams said.
Instead, physical letters were sent to employees warning that racism “will not be tolerated,” a copy of which was shown to CTVNews.ca. And the letter stated a marker had been used to “vandalize an employee’s locker this morning with a racist drawing.”
Williams briefly considered going to police himself but feared losing his job “because that would then be seen as me going behind the company's back.”
“I was hoping that that would have been the last of it,” he said.
But several months later, Williams was allegedly targeted again. On Wednesday, May 12, the racist messages "Kill William the Ape" and "F--k BLM” were written on the bathroom stalls.
According to Williams, the employee who uncovered it reported it, and the human resources manager and two other bosses allegedly told them not to tell Williams. They wouldn’t tell Williams directly for two hours.
During that time, cleaning staff once again removed the graffiti but photos of it quickly began circulating among the other employees.
One of his colleagues was even in tears describing the graffiti they had seen before it was removed. Others began coming up to him asking how he was feeling. Others only whispered or stared at him.
“At this point, I'm completely livid because everyone keeps coming to me and I don't know what's going on,” he said. Williams was in a daze when the human resources manager, a customer service representative manager and a production manager all met with him and attempted to comfort him.
“They were talking and I wasn't even listening to that because at this point, there's not much [they] can say that will make me feel better,” he said, noting he left work early and was given the rest of the week off.
Photo of exterior of VAC Developments Limited building in Oakville, Ont. (Google Maps)
When police weren’t called during that time, Williams demanded to know why. He emailed the human resources manager that “given these two very serious incidents, I do not feel safe at work.”
When police began investigating the incidents the following week, Williams felt vindicated after he said one of the detectives told him “the company should have reported the first one because it's viable grounds for an investigation.”
But even that was cold comfort when he and several other employees were laid off several weeks ago.
“It was a devastating feeling at that point. I was so upset,” he said, believing the move was at least partially related to him getting police involved.
Williams said what happened to him explains why many Black employees don’t end up taking complaints to their bosses. In a survey conducted last year by the Health Science Association, three out of four respondents didn’t seek help dealing with racism because of a fear of retaliation.
Last year, a mental health survey found 62 per cent of Black Canadians said racial discrimination was a problem in their workforce -- a finding echoed by another survey in May which found 96 per cent of Black employees felt racism was an issue at their workplace.
And an online survey released this week found nearly 80 per cent of Black Canadians said racism has damaged their relationship with their employer.
Williams said he absolutely won’t go back to VAC Developments Ltd. because he feels his former bosses aren’t interested in protecting him.
For now, Williams awaits the results of the investigation and remains concerned for the remaining employees of colour there.
“If it’s not called out now, these acts will forever be perpetuated right through the younger generation coming up."
Edited by CTVNews.ca producer Michael Stittle
All 79 locations of pharmacy and retail chain London Drugs were shut down Sunday after it was the victim of a “cybersecurity incident.”
Three women diagnosed with HIV after getting 'vampire facial' procedures at an unlicensed medical spa are believed to be the first documented cases of people contracting the virus through a cosmetic procedure using needles.
Elias Lindholm scored 1:02 into overtime and the Vancouver Canucks came all the way back to beat the Nashville Predators 4-3 in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series on Sunday.
One person was killed in a six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 in Innisfil Friday evening.
Aerial photos posted by Chinese state media on Sunday showed wide devastation in part of the southern city of Guangzhou after a tornado swept through the day before, killing five people, injuring dozens others and damaging more than 140 buildings.
Ontario is introducing a suite of measures that will crack down on cellphone use and vaping in schools.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday described domestic violence as a 'national crisis' after thousands rallied around the country against violence toward women.
Rookie goalie Arturs Silovs will start in net for the Vancouver Canucks when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series Sunday.
U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn't order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination.
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.