The Bay faces criticism after using image of black lawyer in campaign without permission

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The Bay faces stiff criticism online for using the image of a black woman without her permission in a campaign to support empowerment and employment opportunities for BIPOC communities.

Hadiya Roderique, a lawyer and advocate for diversity and inclusion, took to Twitter Monday to call the department store.

Hey @hudsonsbay, it would have been a good idea for you to get my permission to use my face and associated activism to solicit donations to support IBPOC employment and empowerment, right? I would also bet a million dollars that the person responsible for this didn’t realize that I am A LAWYER. Hadiya Roderique, lawyer

Roderique’s image appeared on a sign promoting the initiatives of the Hudson’s Bay Charter for Change Foundation, which supports education, employment and empowerment opportunities for Indigenous peoples, blacks and people of color across the country.

Launched earlier this year, the campaign has allocated $ 30 million over the next 10 years to accelerate racial equity in communities across Canada with the goal of reconciling the company’s 351-year-old past and s ‘commits to change for a more equitable future for all.

The photo of Roderique used in the campaign was originally taken for a 2017 Globe and Mail essay she wrote about the challenges of fitting in on Bay Street as a black lawyer. In a follow-up tweet, Roderique clarified that the photo used in The Bays campaign was not authorized by the photographer or photographic agency, whose policy is to obtain permission and approval from subjects.

La Baie responded to Roderiques’ tweet with an apology.

This image was used in error – we deeply regret the error and are contacting directly to explain and correct, they wrote.

On Twitter, people have expressed their feelings about the blunder.

Roderique did not respond to a request for an interview with Yahoo News Canada, but told CBC News that she had spoken to representatives for The Bay, who were not mince words and said it was was completely their mistake.

“It happens so often when you have a black creation, an indigenous creation, the creation of other people of color, their words, their ideas, their thoughts, their images used by others and not really giving attribution to the original creator, ”she told the outlet. .

La Baie did not respond to an interview request.

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