A Cape Breton newspaper is apologizing after a classified ad many people feel was racist made it into print.

The ad is for a home for rent that appeared to specify the house is for white families only. It appeared in both the online and print versions of Wednesday’s Cape Breton Post.

CTV News tried calling the northern Alberta phone number attached to the ad. No one answered and the call went straight to voicemail.

No one responded when CTV News sent a text to the number as well.

On Facebook, a screen capture showed a text message, purportedly made from the number in the ad. It explained, in what appears to be broken English, that what they meant is the house is white.

Not everyone is buying that explanation.

"For family, ‘white’ right after ‘family,’ I would say they wanted to rent to a white family,” says one Sydney resident. "If they're discriminatory as if they would only want white people to rent that house, that should not be allowed in the paper.”

On Membertou First Nation, Mi’kmaq youth are nearing the age when they might be looking for a place to rent.

“It kind of hurt because we all work so hard for what we try to get. To not get something just because we're not white would just make it wrong,” says Membertou Heritage Park employee Anne Dennis.

Nova Scotia's Human Rights Commission confirms that it has been made aware of the ad. It wouldn't confirm whether a complaint has been made, explaining that complaints only become public information once they go before a board of inquiry.

Meanwhile, the Cape Breton Post is apologizing.

The newspaper explained its online classified service isn't monitored by people; it's an automated system that would pick up things like foul language. The system wouldn't flag a normally innocuous word like ‘white.’

“We're seeing a failure of technology that would have been prevented, most likely, by having a human review those ads," says advertising consultant Marc Botte. "Technology can't decipher intent. Technology can't pick up on racism. Technology can't pick up on bigotry, unless you're using specific words. Only humans can decipher intent."

The paper's parent company, Transcontinental Media, says measures are being taken to ensure this doesn't happen again.

CTV News tried finding the house, but no address is listed in the ad.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Ryan MacDonald.