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Halloween costumes depicting racial stereotypes are on the shelves in Saskatoon again this year, but an Indigenous activist hopes few people will wear them.

“It’s dehumanizing,” said Dene comedian and activist Dakota Ray Herbert. “I saw a costume a few years ago that was called ‘sassy squaw’ and it made me want to burn the whole place down. It’s horribly offensive.”

Party City, which recently opened its first location in Saskatoon, has a section dedicated to “western” style costumes, including headdresses, Indigenous-style beaded jewelry, plastic tomahawks and bows and arrows — interspersed between cowboy costumes — and this is just one of the stores selling costumes that could be considered racially offensive.

A staff member at Saskatoon’s Party City location said staff have received complaints about the Indigenous-styled costumes, but noted there weren’t many.

When a customer complains about any costume, he or she is given the phone number to Party City’s corporate headquarters, the staff member said.

When the StarPhoenix attempted to call the number provided, it led to a maze of pre-recorded messages directed at customers who required help ordering from the website, and the only option to discuss an in-store experience led to a recorded message asking the customer to send the company an email.

Emails and phone calls from the StarPhoenix to the company’s corporate headquarters and public relations team were not returned.

Herbert says anyone can be a part of the problem regardless of race, noting that she had also made this mistake — having dressed up in costumes while in high school that she would now deem to be offensive.

“It’s OK to be wrong and it’s OK to learn,” she said. “If you’re willing to let your daughter dress up as Pocahontas, you probably don’t know a lot either. Use it as a bonding experience, a teaching moment.

Although Herbert says she still sees these costumes pop up each year, she is hopeful these costumes will soon fade from view, noting that each year she sees fewer people wearing them or commenting about them on social media.

ERIN PETROW Staff at Party City have received a few complaints about items, but are not permitted to remove anything from their shelves unless cleared by head office.