EPCOR said they are investigating after a local principal told parents that construction crew members made racist remarks about a smudging ceremony at a school in southeast Edmonton. Students and staff were participating in a smudging ceremony on the basketball tarmac on Friday at Edith Rogers School in Mill Woods, according to a letter sent to parents from Principal Stacy Fysh. During the ceremony, crew members at the adjacent Malcolm Tweddle-Edith Rogers Dry Pond "swore, made racist remarks and ran their equipment so that it was difficult for the participants to hear the ceremony," the letter stated. They added these were a contractor's crew members, but did not identify the contractor involved. "That's why what happened on Friday at Edith Rogers School was so deeply unsettling and unacceptable for our staff and students who were participating in the smudging ceremony."

Source: CBC News September 27, 2020 21:28 UTC