SACRED PIPE COMPLAINT

Posted on 02/10/2016 | About Manitoba

A Manitoba aboriginal leader is filing a complaint over the handling of sacred items in his pipe bundle by security staff at Ottawa's Macdonald-Cartier International Airport. Grand Chief Derek Nepinak of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs says he told a screening officer on Monday what was in the bundle before it went through the X-ray machine.

Nepinak says despite his protests, random officers unwrapped it afterwards and handled its contents, dropping a tobacco tie in the process. He says in aboriginal culture, only the custodian of a pipe may handle it and only with the custodian's permission can anyone else ever touch it. Nepinak is filing his complaint with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority.

The agency says an investigation will take place once Nepinak's complaint is reviewed.