The parent company of Winnipeg spa Thermea has pulled a guest experience survey that asked what one customer says were “highly inappropriate” questions, including one asking if immigration is a threat to “the purity of the country.”
“If you’re developing and disseminating a survey that is about political climate or cultural beliefs, there may be a place for questions that are seeking diverse opinions,” Thermea customer Amelia LaTouche told CBC News on Saturday, after responding to the emailed survey.
“But this was a survey about a spa, and this series of questions are highly inappropriate.”
After visiting Thermea during late December, LaTouche received an email earlier this week with the subject line “Your opinion matters — Groupe Nordik (Thermea Spa Village Winnipeg).”
The sender was identified as “Groupe Nordik — CROP.”
Groupe Nordik is Thermea’s parent company. CROP, or the Centre for Research on Public Opinion, is a third-party research firm.
The email included a link to the survey it said was aimed at helping Thermea “adapt and improve our services to better meet your expectations.”
The questionnaire began with questions related to her experience at the spa, but then moved to ask about her level of agreement with a number of statements.
LaTouche shared a screenshot of some with CBC, including one that asked for a level of agreement on the statement, “Society would be better off with more government involvement” and another that read, “Overall, there is too much immigration. It threatens the purity of the country.”
“This was just a very blatantly disrespectful way to ask a question,” she said.
“Simply the use of the term ‘purity’ is just inextricably linked to fascism, and I think is so highly problematic and scary.”
Another section asked whether she agreed with the statement, “whatever we do, man’s destiny is predetermined and history takes course.”
“Just the expression of saying ‘man’ instead of ‘people’ was enough for me to be annoyed,” she said. “It was sexist.… The motives were unclear, and [it] felt there was an ulterior motive.”
LaTouche said there was no option to skip questions, or to indicate she preferred not to answer.
The survey is problematic for a business that not only characterizes itself as a promoter of diversity, but that employs workers from different backgrounds, said LaTouche.
“It’s a dog whistle for racism,” she said.
“Given the changing political climate in certain countries, I was very concerned that there was an attempt to manufacture consent around having opinions that were related to negatively perceiving immigration.”
After LaTouche raised her concerns with Thermea, a spokesperson for Groupe Nordik apologized to her over email.
“The questions you referenced were completely misaligned with our values and with the environment we aim to create for our guests,” the email, sent to her Saturday, reads.
It said the survey was developed in collaboration with CROP, which it identified as “our third-party partner” and “a well-established and reputable research firm in Canada.”
But the email from Groupe Nordik also said the responsibility for the survey “ultimately remains ours.”
Groupe Nordik said it stopped the survey after it became aware of the questions, and that it’s taking steps “to ensure that nothing of this nature” happens again.
Alexandre Boileau, Groupe Nordik’s senior director of marketing in sales, said in an emailed statement to CBC News that the survey was “reviewed in advance” but admits the company “did not apply sufficient scrutiny” to the values-based questions CROP included.
“That was our mistake, as those questions do not reflect our values or the respectful, inclusive environment we aim to create for our guests,” Boileau wrote.
Boileau confirmed that Groupe Nordik has stopped the survey and has “escalated the matter” internally, with an enhanced approval process for surveys and mandatory checks for values-based and demographic questions.
“We sincerely apologize to our guests and our broader clientele,” Boileau said.
CBC also reached out CROP on Saturday for comment.
“Evidently, there was a lack of oversight over the survey before it was sent,” LaTouche said.
Despite the written apology, she said she would still like to speak with someone from Thermea.
CROP has been criticized in the past, after a 2018 survey for Aeroplan that asked respondents similar questions.
At the time, the firm said it asked some “bold questions” simply to help Aeroplan better understand its members’ points of view.
But LaTouche questions what benefit there is in asking the type of questions in the Thermea survey.
“Giving people licence to say things that are racist, and to advance opinions that hurt people, shouldn’t be something that a company is allowed to do,” she said.
