AHS firings over racial slur sends strong message, says target of derogatory text

Ramona Big Head, the woman at the receiving end of a racial slur that ended with two Alberta Health Services employees being fired, says it's not the result she intendedbut she's happy a clear message was sent.

"I wanted them to make a strong statement and that's what they did, and I commend them for that," she said.

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"So now, the message out there is it's unacceptable in any place, especially when you're working for a government organization that's out there helping the most vulnerable in our society, not just Indigenous people but all of us, and I think they made it very clear that that is not going to happen in their department."

Big Head is the principal ofTatsikiisaapo'p Middle School in Stand Off, Alta., which is on the Kainai First Nation southwest of Lethbridge and about 200 kilometres south of Calgary.

AnAHS employee intended to send a text messageto a colleague following a training exercise that included Big Head,but insteadaccidentally texted a member of the Kainai Board of Education. In that text, Big Head was referred to as a "rabid squaw," she said.

Speaking up

It's not clear what role the second employee who was fired played, and AHS declined to clarify.

Big Head, a survivor of the residential school system,says the other message sent by the firings is that those on the receiving end of racist language shouldn't be afraid to speak up and condemn it.

"Too many times we've been told 'well, take the higher road, well just never mind.' We walk out of those placesand we're the ones told that we have to be strong and we're told that's just the way it is," she said.

"I've done that all my life."

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