Santa is meant for all children, not only children with appointments. Turning away a child from a visit with Santa is cruel and opposite to the spirit of Christmas. It is wrong.

Having a mandatory nearly $20 fee will also exclude many children whose family cannot afford to pay it.

Both of these policies are exclusionary during the one time of year where all children should be welcome.

Because we did not have an appointment, our child was denied the chance to see Santa at Masonville Place in London, ON. We were also told that there were no appointments left for the season.

Without a single child in queue, Santa sat alone for long periods of time. We even reached out to him directly, requesting a moment for our little girl despite not having an appointment, but his response was “Sorry, those are the rules!” I couldn’t believe Santa was saying this to a young, visibly upset child. To make matters worse, the customer service representative was cold, unfriendly, and became hostile, even threatening to call security after our persistent albeit desperate pleas to squeeze our child in for a short visit. I insisted that the policy was wrong and it was unkind to deny a small child this experience because of lack of appointment. Wasn't the entire purpose of Santa for children? Our daughter at this point was terrified that we would be "arrested" by mall security for wanting to see Santa. The customer service representative put our daughter into distress by issuing an unnecessary threat.

Those running the Santa pavilion should have a way to accommodate children without an appointment. We of course, would expect to give those with appointments priority and wait longer. We were prepared to pay the mandatory fee for the visit which included a photo. Surely they could have accommodated a young child for a quick visit? The queue was almost entirely empty for most of the time that we were there. 

The Santa experience was supposed to bring joy, but instead, our child was left in uncontrollable tears. I, her mother, was also left in tears from the entire experience and the abhorrent treatment by the staff and the unfriendly “Santa” actor. He was the greatest disappointment of all. 

We had to explain to our daughter that the Santa at Masonville Place was not the real Santa as the real Santa would never deny a child a visit because he loves all children. He would gladly see any child - with or without an appointment.

This was not an acceptable experience during what is supposed to be the start of the most wonderful time of the year. 

The event today highlights how reservation systems could unintentionally rob the joy and spontaneous magic from children. 

The imposition of a reservation system may cause several of these visits to become stressful, disappointing experiences that leave other children and parents heartbroken, as we were. 

We are calling for the elimination of the mall Santa reservation system. It seems fundamentally wrong that a child is denied a moment with Santa because of a missed appointment or a lengthy queue.

Let's bring back the spontaneous joy of visiting Santa. Please sign this petition to show mall management across the country that it's time to change this policy for the better.

Santa should be asking what the child would like for Christmas, not if they have an appointment.

We will be following up with Cadillac Fairview about this terrible incident.