KENORA — A Kenora woman faces consequences from her employer after what it described as an "extremely inappropriate" social media comment made in response to an incident in a downtown business last month.
A Facebook account with the name of Sandi Crandall made the comment, which has since been deleted, calling for "vigilante justice" on a video posted by Island Girl owner Michelle Livingston detailing an assault taking place at her store on Dec. 23, 2022.
The footage of the Island Girl incident shocked the community, with more than 150 people expressing concern in comments, and led to Kenora city council holding a special meeting last week.
The comment claimed that the "Kenora Police, when we had them, would drive people like this to the edge of the town and would leave them there. Why can’t we do that?”
Social media discussion was referenced by Tania Cameron, when she spoke at last week's special council meeting. Cameron expressed concerns for the safety and well-being of the homeless population.
“I come because I'm worried about my brother or sister that are on the streets,” she said. "Are they going to be hurt because we have some ignorant people that are saying that [we] should quit feeding them? Let's quit housing them? We have a segment [of] people saying, let's just starve them out. Let's just let them die on the streets without saying it, right?”
Cameron posted on her own Facebook that she had reached out to the individual's employer, Hook Seller & Lundin, LLP-Barristers & Solicitors.
“Unfortunately an employee of ours posted an extremely inappropriate comment online, for which she subsequently issued an online apology. Despite the fact that this was done outside of business hours and unrelated to office matters, we have taken the matter very seriously and have placed the employee on disciplinary leave,” Stephen R. Lundin said in a statement to NWOnewswatch.
NWOnewswatch has not directly reached Crandall, but the law firm provided a screenshot of a post under the name of Sandi Marie issuing an apology.
"I am reflective today and am, in a public manner, apologizing to anyone I may have hurt, with words that are foolishly put online, in a moment of pain," the post reads. "I made a post that was hurtful. My words hurt and I am sorry. I reacted to a horrible local situation that happened to a woman I respect and, seeing her in the stock of her situation, triggered something in me and sadly, I choose to lash out online.”
