BMO president apologizes for treatment of 12-year-old Indigenous girl and grandfather who were handcuffed

A Bank of Montreal president says the incidentinvolving a 12-year-old Indigenous girl and her grandfather who were handcuffed by police after trying to open a bank account is "a mess from start to finish."

"People are angry, and they have a right to be," said Cameron Fowler, president of North American personal and business banking at BMO Financial Group.

"We phoned the police, and for that we are very, very sorry."

On Dec. 20, Maxwell Johnson, 56, and his granddaughter went to aVancouver BMO branch to open a bank account for the girl.

After looking at the pair's identification documents, staff called 911 to report an alleged fraud in progress. Attending officers from the Vancouver Police Department handcuffed the pair and put them in the back of a police carbefore releasing them without charges.

Fowler confirmed theidentification documents presented by the girl and her grandfather a birth certificate matched with a status card, and a health card matched with a status card did meet the bank's criteria. However, he said, staff wereunable to "validate" their identities.

"We have many tools and practices for validating identification," Fowlersaid. "In this case, we couldn't get the validation done and we overreacted and called police."

Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer said officers followed standard practicesinhandcuffing the man and the 12-year-old.

Palmer also said the 911 call from the bank described the alleged fraudsters asa 16-year-old South Asian female and 50-year-old South Asian male something Fowler categorically denies.

"That information isinconsistent with any information that we have regarding what actually happened," he said.

Fowler said staff have been reprimanded, but did not elaborate. He did not say whetherJohnson and his granddaughter have been offered compensation.

The incident has sparked intense backlash, protests outside the branch and condemnation from themayor of Vancouver.The headofthe UnionofB.C. Indian Chiefs has also called on institutions to bewareofracial profiling.

WATCH: More than 50 protesters marched outside BMO's Burrard Street location on Tuesday

Protesters demonstrate outside Bank of Montreal

5 years ago

Duration 0:35

Protesters demonstrate outside Bank of Montreal

A police investigation has been ordered to determine if the actionsof the officers who made the arrest amount to misconduct.

Johnson lives in in Bella Bella, a Heiltsukcommunity locatedonB.C's Central Coast. Hesaid he believes the employee may have become suspicious because he had $30,000 in his account an amounthe and every other memberof theHeiltsukNation received in Decemberfrom the federal government as part of anAboriginal rightssettlement package.

BMO had declined interview requests made by CBC News after the story came to light, until today.

Earlier in the day BMOlaunched an Indigenous Advisory Council with Indigenous members from a number of provinces.

Members of the new council include:

• ChiefPatrick Michell, Kanaka Bar Indian Band, B.C.
• Regional ChiefRoger Augustine, Assembly of First Nations, N.B./P.E.I.
• MinisterAnita Campbell, Manitoba Mtis Nation, Man.
• ChiefTerry Paul, Membertou First Nation, Nova Scotia.
• ChiefDarcy Bear, Whitecap Dakota First Nation, Sask.
• Kevin Chief, principal, Chief Partnerships Manitoba Inc., Man.
• ChiefDon Maracle, Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, Ont.
• ChiefOuray Crowfoot, Siksika Nation, Alta.

The Heiltsuk Nation, however, saysthe council is taintedby the circumstances of its creationbecauseBMO denies the incident was a case of racial profiling.

"While today's announcement would normally be a good first step,it's hard to put weight on this advisory council because it has been assembled so quickly it feels very much like a reactive gesture or public relations effort," the Nation said in a statement.

"They need to stop denying what actually happened. That's the only way to move forward."