La Ronde has removed racist imagery from one of its rides after a photo went viral.
The carousel ride at the amusement park featured a horse with the head of a First Nations man in a bag attached to the end of the saddle.
Jessica Hernandez, a First Nations woman, was visiting the park with her family when she saw it.
“I looked and I said, ‘Oh my God’,” she said. “How can this be there? How is this okay? Basically I was just kind of shocked.”
She posted a photo of it on Facebook and Twitter and the image went viral.
A friend lodged an official complaint with La Ronde.
“We're taught in our history books about scalps and Indian heads – there was a price put on that, they were worth money. They tried to deplete us, so when you see that, us as indigenous people, we know what that means. Maybe others don't. They should. They should be educated on it, but we grow up knowing what those images mean and it's hurtful,” said Hernandez.
La Ronde's communications manager Julie Perrone declined an official interview with CTV but confirmed that the offensive symbol has since been removed and they apologize to their guests for this oversight.
Hernandez said she thinks the apology is incomplete.
“Saying that they apologize to their guests - apologize to indigenous peoples for having that there,” she said, adding that it took them a long time to do the right thing.
