Starbucks coffee shops across Ottawa are set to close Monday afternoon as employees undergo "implicit bias" training.
The training at 1,100 stores across Canada comes less than two weeks after more than 8,000 stores closed in the United States as employees received similar racial bias training.
That training stemmed from an incident at a Philadelphia location in April when an employee called police as two black men sat at a table, waiting for a business meeting to begin.
One of the men asked to use the bathroom but was told he couldn't because he hadn't bought anything. The police showed up a short time later and led the men out of the store in handcuffs.
Video surfaced of the incident, sparking an international outcry.
All Canadian corporate-owned stores, including nearly 50 locations across Ottawa, will close this afternoon for the four-hour training sessions.
The training is expected to focus on promoting "conscious inclusion" and ensuring "everyone inside a Starbucks store feels safe and welcome," the company said in a statement sent to CBC News.
Starbucks has made the training content available online.
'Band-Aid solution'
According to people who spoke to CBC News outside one downtown Ottawa Starbucks Sunday, opinions are mixed about whether the training will make a difference.
Occasional customer Glen Basque called the training a "Band-Aid solution," saying that real change would require more companies than just Starbucks to get on board.
"It's just one corporation stepping up, but the reality is nothing's going to change. It'll change for a little bit, but it requires a bigger mindset than that," he said.
It's hard to see whether that, by itself, will [bring about] substantial enough change- Katie Cameron
Katie Cameron said she's not a Starbucks customer and wouldn't be affected by the closure of any local cafés, but she questioned whether the training would be adequate to address systemic racism.
"It's hard to see whether that, by itself, will [bring about] substantial enough change," she said.
Fariz Ahmadov said while he doesn't often buy his coffee from Starbucks, he hoped employees would benefit from the training.
He said he's also witnessed racial bias in action at at least one Ottawa-area big box store, where employees heavily scrutinized certain customers' receipts and not others.
"I haven't thought about it, but probably yes [the training will have an impact]," Ahmadov said.