The fallout from a transphobic email sent by Valbella Gourmet foods to Canmore Pride continues.  

More businesses and institutions are showing their disapproval of the toxic email by cutting ties with Valbella. Places such as Blush Lane Organic Foods, the Fairmont Hotels in Banff and Jasper, the Banff Centre of Arts and Creativity, and SPUD have stated they will stop dealing with the deli. 

Locally, Two Pharmacy made the decision to pause its relationship with the gourmet foods store. Reid Kimmett says, “I think first, just a lot of surprise to see that message, to see those words. So, from there we reached out to Valbella for comments from them as to what the situation was, and we received kind of that same statement that everyone else had seen in the wake of the follow-up. And at that time, we thought, let's suspend our relationship for the time being and gain more information and kind of see what Valbella’s next steps are.”  

For the time being, Two Pharmacy has stated, “All (Valbella) products have been covered up or pulled and will be donated to organizations supporting those in need.” 

Kimmett says Two Pharmacy is maintaining contact with the Canmore business and they have received more information and clarification about the incident. “So, we'll just continue to gather information as time goes along,” adds Kimmett. A portion of information received by businesses was that the person who wrote the email is not an owner of the business nor was he ever.  

The action of one person has greatly affected many as Kimmett points out, “I also feel really, really, bad for the staff that works at Valbella and their families. The people we've dealt with there have been kind and nice, and they're hurting too, and they don't deserve that. The person who said those words, yeah, they deserve what’s happening but there’s a lot of good people that don’t.” 

Kimmett says, “Growing up my dad taught us that "Swearing is the attempt of a weak mind to speak forcefully." Those words were the definition of a weak mind and have no place in Two Pharmacy or our community.