A member of the Heiltsuk Nation and his 12-year-old granddaughter have filed complaints with the BC Human Rights Tribunal and the Canadian Human Rights Commission after they were arrested and handcuffed in December 2019 at a downtown Vancouver Bank of Montreal.

The complaints by Maxwell Johnson and Torianne Tweedie were announced Monday in a news release that included the transcript of the 911 call from the bank and subsequent police report of the Dec. 20, 2019 arrest.

“Human rights tribunals need to hold institutions accountable for systemic racism,” said Johnson in the release from the Heiltsuk Nation.

“Visible minorities are under constant threat of racial profiling by organizations, and discrimination by police. We are filing these human rights complaints to seek justice for our family, our community, and First Nations, and so that other people of colour can feel safe.”

The complaints stem from a chain of events that began with the branch manager of the BMO at 595 Burrard St. claiming Johnson and Tweedie were attempting to open a bank account with “fake ID,” according to the 911 transcript of the call.

Read the full story here: https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/bc-news/indigenous-grandfather-files-human-rights-complaint-over-vancouver-bmo-arrest-2902667