Rexall refuses to come clean regarding manager who coerced staff into wearing Pride clothing

Astute viewers of Rebel News might recall our report earlier this month about the Rexall drugstore in little Brighton, Ont.

Here’s the skinny: according to whistleblowers, the manager at this shop, Cindy Wilson, allegedly coerced her employees into wearing rainbow-coloured Pride apparel for a week last month to show support for Pride — whether the employees wanted to or not.

Wilson allegedly told her employees the following: “You do not have to agree with Pride, but you must show support for Pride.”

Oddly, Wilson allegedly did not wear multicoloured apparel herself. Regardless, have we have now gone from “compelled speech” to “compelled clothing”?

We reached out to Wilson for her side of the story some three weeks ago. She hung up the phone before answering any questions.

Moving on, we sent emails and made phone calls to Rexall’s media relations department. Weeks later, there’s been no response whatsoever, not even an acknowledgment of our queries.

For what it’s worth, here are our questions that remain unanswered:

  1. Is this [clothing] mandate of Rexall employees being forced to wear multi-coloured apparel a Rexall corporate initiative?
  2. Do individual Rexall store managers have the power to order their employees to wear apparel that support political/ideological causes?
  3. According to my sources, Cindy went out of her way today (Friday, June 21) to tell employees NOT to wear multicoloured apparel. This was supposedly due to Rexall representatives from head office visiting the Brighton store. If this allegation is indeed true, can I assume that Cindy’s apparel demands (prior to Friday) were not in compliance with Rexall head office policy?

And again, it’s been crickets.

However, sources tipped us off that after our report aired, employees at the Brighton store were compelled to sign a paper that prohibited them from speaking to members of the media. The policy, should a journalist call a Rexall employee, is to direct that reporter to the company’s media relations department — which, apparently, does not relate to the media. Staggering…

Indeed, it is so bizarre. By all accounts, it would seem that the rainbow-hued apparel mandate in Brighton was a Cindy Wilson initiative, not a Rexall corporate mandate. So why doesn’t Rexall set the record straight and simply say so?

Since our emails and voicemails are being ignored, we recently ventured out to the Mississauga. Ont.-based headquarters for the Rexall Pharmacy Group.

Not only would nobody speak to us, but a security guard was also eventually dispatched to tell us to stop filming the company’s headquarters from a public sidewalk! Needless to say, we ignored her nonsensical demand. Alas, this security guard was so small and so incompetent, we pondered why she isn’t part of Donald Trump’s Secret Service detail…

Our best guess as to why Rexall won’t simply state company policy — i.e., making it clear that a manager does not have the right to coerce employees into donning T-shirts that convey political/ideological messaging — is simply this: fear.

We believe Rexall is terrified of offending the rainbow mafia, a group that likely believes everyone SHOULD be mandated to wear multicoloured apparel during June — whether they want to or not.

After all, it’s no longer about tolerance and acceptance when it comes to the rank-and-file members of the LGGBDTTTIQQAAPP community. Rather, it is about affirmation and applause. And if one refuses to applaud, then that person or corporate entity is obviously a homophobe or a transphobe.

And so it is that Rexall is apparently embracing a bunker mentality, forcing its employees to sign NDAs and hoping this issue will simply go away. Instead, this company, thanks to its cowardice and lack of professionalism, is experiencing the Barbra Streisand Effect. Big time.

Good thing the executive team has easy access to a wide variety of painkillers…

David Menzies

Mission Specialist

David “The Menzoid” Menzies is the Rebel News "Mission Specialist." The Menzoid is equal parts outrageous and irreverent as he dares to ask the type of questions those in the Media Party would rather not ponder.

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