A letter sent to a Winnipeg daycare has families and staff concerned for their safety.
The anonymous letter states that the name of St. Norbert Children’s Centre is changing to the St. Nigeria Day Care.
It goes on to list bullet points about what the supposed name change means, including that "management fully run by Afro-Nigerians" and care is "exclusively for Afro-Nigerian" kids.
The letter goes on to say that if this practice does not stop, duplicate letters will be sent to every doorstep in the St. Norbert area.
"Blatant racism is going to make anyone's hair stand-up and that's what this letter is. It's totally targeting people of a certain nationality and a daycare and a facility," said Naomi Nicholson, whose son attends the day care.
The centre's executive director Avril Coutou said when it received the letters, she was concerned about the safety of families and staff.
Coutou said she decided to send an email to parents explaining the letters so they could make an informed decision.
The centre also released information about who attends the day care: 12 Nigerian children, 30 white children and many others from diverse backgrounds.
"Nobody knows the intent of this letter. So I guess people will always wonder 'is this going to further?', 'is somebody going to go to daycare and do something to staff or children?', " said Coutou.
Winnipeg police have met with staff at the daycare and are investigating, but say there is no threat of violence.
"Really this action brings distrust and dishonesty amongst that community and I don't think that's anything that this community wants to see," said Det. Sgt. Natalie Aitken from the Winnipeg Police Service.
