Update – April 15

We recently received a copy of the e-mail thread in question, and we are investigating the allegations that an ex employee may have denied a guest list booking based on the names of the guest. This employee no longer works for the Donnelly Group, and hasn’t for some time. The e-mails in question date back three years ago, so it is difficult to prove their authenticity and exact meaning. We take these claims very seriously, and we are working hard to get in contact with this ex employee to understand exactly what happened. This is a very unfortunate incident, and of course we understand why people would be upset about it. We are doing everything we can to investigate this and verify all of the facts, but since these incident dates back three years this has been difficult. We do not condone prejudice of any kind; these are important company values that we strongly believe in.

We are actively investigating the allegation that one of our employees may have denied a guest list booking at Republic based on the names of the guests in April 2008. We take these claims very seriously, and are working hard to understand exactly what happened and confirm all of the facts. This is a very unfortunate incident, and of course we understand the strong feelings associated with these claims.

The Donnelly Group is a Vancouver based company that has operated in our diversely multicultural City since 1999. With 13 venues, we are an equal opportunities company that employs over 450 people and caters to people of all backgrounds and race. We do not condone prejudice of any kind, and our staff and clientele are an obvious testament to that.

At this time, we have requested that copies of the e-mails in question be released to us from News1130 so that this situation can be properly investigated and addressed internally.

We value customer feedback and would like to hear from anyone who has an experience they would like to share – positive or negative – from a Donnelly Group venue. Please feel free to comment or e-mail us at info@donnellygroup.ca.

Jeff Donnelly
President
The Donnelly Group