Zoe Glassman is urging shoppers to pay extra attention to the meaning behind the costumes they choose this Halloween.
Glassman posed the question to all Canadians after recently coming across an Indigenous-themed costume and accessory display in an Edmonton store.
“To actually exist as an Indigenous woman isn’t something you can put on for Halloween,” she told Global News.
Glassman was shopping at a south Edmonton Party City when she noticed the merchandise.
It included headdresses, fringed attire and Tonto wigs. Troubled by the array of merchandise, she took it upon herself to contact the retailer.
“It felt like such a disrespectful thing to see being sold,” she said. “It just felt kind of repulsive and kind of like making a mockery of a culture that we’re trying so hard to heal.”
Party City responded to a Global News request for comment Saturday stating: “Party City has costumes for all types of Halloween customers and our assortment reflects consumer demand. Nothing we carry is meant to be offensive.”
Muriel Stanley Venne, founder of the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women actively advocates for the rights of women and wants to see change.
She and Glassman share a common desire: to see store shelves rid of Indigenous-themed costumes.
“They in fact, have appropriated the beautiful indigenous women of this country,” she said.
READ MORE: ‘Warning!’: Regina activists label indigenous Halloween costumes as dangerous materials
Members of the Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism (SCAM) recently took aim at Spirit Halloween in Regina.
“This is not fair. It’s prejudicial against the Indigenous women especially,” Stanley Venne said. “And I hope that we can get the companies to get those images of Indigenous culture off their shelves.”
But costumes remain widely available to the public through a plethora of online and storefront retailers.
“I just think there are far more creative Halloween costumes,” Glassman said.
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