A human rights complaint has been filed against the Vancouver Police Department and Bank of Montreal after an incident last year involving an Indigenous man and his 12-year-old granddaughter inside a bank.

The release of a transcript of the 911 call and a redacted police report are “evidence of systemic racism,” lawyers for Maxwell Johnson said in a news release on Monday.

Johnson, who had been a BMO customer since 2014, had taken his granddaughter to a downtown Vancouver branch on Dec. 20, 2019, to open an account for her. The two are members of the Heiltsuk First Nation in Bella Bella.

When Global News first reported on the story in January, Johnson said the bank teller asked for his identification, so he gave them his Indian Status Card.

The teller then told Johnson that his ID wasn’t matching up and that she had to take it to be verified, Johnson said.

Read full story: https://globalnews.ca/news/7479212/human-rights-complaint-indigenous-man-granddaughter-handcuffed-bank-racism/