Former PC candidate’s comments prompt call for apology, boycott

The online and public comments made by a former PC Party candidate in Thunder Bay about First Nations ‘advantages’ prompted a small group of protesters to attempt to confront her at her business.
Mishkeegogamang’s Erin Bottle led a small group of people to the Landmark Inn on March 21 to demand an apology from gift shop owner Tamara Ward Johnson. Bottle also called for a public boycott of her business over comments made on social media over the last few weeks.
Johnson was removed as a candidate in the riding of Thunder Bay-Superior North for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario in February. She made comments over social media about First Nations business owners having an unfair advantage.
Johnson has publicly expressed that she was removed for speaking the truth.
In the wake of her removal from the PC Party, Johnson continued to share her opinions via social media and garnered a group of supporters. The posts also caught the attention of others who did not agree with her views, including Bottle.
“I am going to be submitting a citizens eviction notice,” Bottle said at the protest. Bottle aims to submit a petition to the owners of the Landmark Inn to have Johnson’s lease revoked. Twenty-two First Nations communities own the hotel.
Bottle also called for a boycott of the gift shop unless an apology was made. Johnson phoned the Thunder Bay Police during the protest, and three cruisers and a total of six police officers were dispatched to the Landmark Inn. Bottle was questioned after the protest and was issued an incident slip.
Bottle accused Johnson of spreading misinformation to her social media followers, and inciting racism and violence towards Indigenous people.
Damien Lee, a member of Fort William First Nation, also addressed Johnson’s posts on social media in an open letter on his blog in early March after the posts continued on. He explained he had been waiting for everything to “fizzle out” but felt the need to address the situation when it hadn’t.
“When I wrote my open letter, I had already been waiting for three weeks,” Lee said. “I wrote it because it wasn’t fizzling out. I was waiting for it to go away.”
In his open letter, Lee wrote: “You’ve made a number of accusations, including the argument that First Nations are getting ‘illegal’ tax breaks, that First Nations should follow Ontario law, and, most recently, that gas stations in my community price gasoline based on race.”
Lee breaks down each accusation in his letter and explains through federal and provincial legislation and treaties why the claims Johnson has made are misinformed.
Lee said that he felt the protest Bottle held was great. Bottle faced some criticism online after the protest from people who felt her protest was uncalled for and the only way to address the issue would be to have a proper discussion.
“Those other ways have been tried over and over the past month,” Lee said of trying to discuss the situation with Johnson and her followers on her social media page. “We’ve exhausted the other ways. When I heard people say she (Bottle) was loud, she was aggressive, that to me tells me that her march really hit the nail on the head because it’s causing a reaction. People are trying to delegitimize her.”
Eabametoong’s Shaun Hedican, an Indigenous artist, also applauded Bottle’s protest.
“I think it’s important to demonstrate an ongoing Anishinabe presence despite attempts to intimidate us,” Hedican said. Hedican set up a table of his art at the Landmark Inn the day after the protest.
“It’s kind of an indirect way of demonstrating a presence,” Hedican said.
Hedican first heard of comments being made by Johnson and other residents of Thunder Bay on social media by members from the community of Rocky Bay.
“They found it upsetting, especially with the burning of the bridge into Fort William recently,” Hedican said. “I didn’t take it seriously until I read them myself. I got a sense of the scope of the damage the comments were causing to the community.”
Lee feels that the views shared on Johnson’s page, which do not always come from her but from her supporters in the comments, are damaging to the Indigenous community.
“It seems that Tamara and her group are upset about taxes and how they are being treated by the Canadian and Ontario government,” Lee said. “Instead of addressing those concerns with the federal, provincial government and critiquing those laws in conversation with the government, for some reason it’s become Indigenous people’s fault. They’re blaming Indigenous people for something Canada has done.”
Lee calls it a case of “classic scapegoating.”
Lee said he feels it would be interesting to sit down and have a public discussion about the issue.
“It would be interesting to have an in-person public conversation that was safe both for her (Johnson) and Indigenous people to say, “what is going on here?””
Lee was unsure of whether Johnson would be open to a discussion.
Johnson, who had originally posted a lengthy retort to the protest on her Facebook page where she referred to the protest as a “massive failure” and that Bottle’s words fell on “deaf ears,” has since changed her approach in a new post.
“As I have said many times, I am not using this forum to present or discuss anti-native views,” wrote Johnson in a March 24 Facebook post. “I realize full well some may believe that is my intention.”
Johnson stated that she does not enjoy being called a racist. Johnson said that those who believe she is discussing anti-Native views are mistaken.
“I am presenting and discussing equality issues, fairness issues, and justice issues. Nothing more, nothing less,” Johnson wrote.
Johnson expressed regret that she did not initiate discussion with Bottle, and announced that she would now moderate her page of “garbage comments.”
“Because this is my page, people will believe I agree with these postings when I don’t. I am (100) per cent for freedom of speech, but I can no longer allow ultra-radicals to spoil my page with their views,” Johnson stated.
Bottle said that she still stands by her request for boycott of Johnson’s business until a public apology is made.
Johnson did not return calls to Wawatay News to comment on this story.