WINNIPEG — Dozens of people have staged a protest at Winnipeg's Portage Place shopping mall over the expulsion on the weekend of a decorated war veteran and respected elder.
Joseph Meconse said he and a friend sat down to tea in the mall's food court on Saturday when a security guard approached him and told him he had half an hour before he would have to leave.
Meconse said he then went to get a plate of food and as he was eating, the guard returned and told him he had to leave immediately.
Meconse, 74, joined the military at the age of 20 and served for a decade at posts in Germany and Cyprus.
When he eventually came home to work as a corrections officer, it was as a decorated soldier with a chest full of medals, and later he was made a member of the Order of Manitoba.
Officials with the mall said they had no comment on the incident.
“It felt like I was degraded," Meconse said Wednesday. "All the things I’ve done for the public, for our people, been in the armed forces, but this little guy (the guard) has no respect for anybody.
"We're not animals (but) sometimes we're treated like it."
Meconse attended Wednesday's protest, receiving hugs and handshakes from supporters as singers and drummers performed.
It was a similar scene to a protest in March of 2013, when hundreds gathered at the mall in support of an 80-year-old woman who had been to leave when she sat on a planter to catch her breath.
Around 200 people just finished round dance around Portage Place food court, led by Joseph Meconse #cbcmb pic.twitter.com/p9Ou9PT66P
— Erin Brohman (@BrohmanCBC) February 3, 2016
"The security is being very disrespectful with our people," one protester said Wednesday. "It seems like they always bother us."
Meconse said he has been back to the mall since the weekend, jokingly referring to it as his office and admitting he's there almost daily, for exercise and to meet with friends.
He said it’s time for change.
"What I want, if possible, is to teach the security manners and how to get along with and handle people with respect and politeness.”
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