A fundraising drive for a minor hockey team in Cape Breton took an unexpected turn after one of the parents says she was kicked out of a mall for saying, “Merry Christmas.”

Janet Parsons says it all started when she bought an iPad to be raffled off, and got a license to sell tickets at the Mayflower Mall,

“I feel really empty because my team loses out,” she says. “The kids who I thought are great teens missed out on ticket sales. The whole purpose of us donating the iPad is for them to make money.”

While she was selling tickets at the mall, the weekend of December 12 and 13, Parsons claims she was approached by a maintenance worker with a letter telling her not to solicit, something she says the team was not doing.

“The last thing that I said was Merry Christmas,” Parsons explains. “So I said, are we allowed to say ‘Merry Christmas’ to people, and he said no and ripped the letter up and threw it in the garbage.”

Mall management says they welcome fundraising at the shopping centre, however they do ask people not to be too aggressive when selling tickets, but that’s the only restriction.

“That is absolutely not the truth here,” explains mall manager, Greg Morrison. “We would never do that. We would never kick anyone out of the shopping centre that would say Merry Christmas.”

The incident is attracting a lot of attention on social media sites.

The Mayflower Mall even released a statement on its Facebook page, explaining its position.

“We’re trying to investigate to find out what exactly happened,” says Morrison. “There’s a small group of people that have allegations that were here this weekend, and staff that also have allegations. We’re trying to meet it all in the middle.”

Parson says she feels mall staff could have handled the situation differently, but she still feels it is a good place to shop.

“In no way, shape, or form, would I ever ask anyone not to go to the Mayflower Mall,” she says.

Janet Parsons says she has filed a complaint with the police, meanwhile, mall management continues to investigate the incident.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.