BANK BACKLASH
Mayor ‘felt sick’ about arrests
The arrest of an Indigenous man and his 12-year-old granddaughter at a Vancouver bank has led to a B.C. police oversight agency ordering an investigation and the mayor of Vancouver pledging to review Vancouver police policies.
The Dec. 20 arrests, reported last week by CBC News, occurred after 56-year-old Bella Bella man Maxwell Johnson brought his granddaughter to a Bank of Montreal branch in downtown Vancouver, seeking to open an account for her.
BMO employees questioned the identification the pair presented — government-issued Indian status cards, his birth certificate and her medical card — and called 911 to report a “fraud” in progress.
Vancouver police responded and ended up handcuffing both Johnson and his 12-year-old granddaughter.
Police have since said the officers on the scene “confirmed the identity of the two individuals and confirmed that no criminal activity had occurred.”
Outcry was swift from Indigenous community leaders and members of the public, and representatives of both the police and the bank issued apologies.
Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart, who chairs the Vancouver Police Board, released a statement Monday saying he “felt sick” about the incident, and he finds it “unacceptable that the Bank of Montreal turned what should have been a positive occasion into one that reinforces our colonial past.”
At a news conference Tuesday at city hall, the mayor told reporters: “I feel so badly for what happened to them, both for what happened to them directly, and also to the community at large.”
Stewart said the Vancouver Police Board will receive a detailed briefing at their meeting next week, and pledged to review police policies and procedures to reduce the risk of something similar happening again.
“I’m calling on BMO to really take full responsibility for this, and take actions to make sure this never happens again,” Stewart said.
But the Bank of Montreal isn’t the only organization facing scrutiny. The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner said Tuesday it has requested information from the Vancouver police and then “concluded an investigation into the matter is required.”
It’s important the incident receives a “thorough and independent investigation,” said Andrea Spindler, deputy police complaint commissioner. “The investigation will carefully examine and assess the circumstances of this incident, including the legal authority to detain, arrest and use restraining devices such as handcuffs, as well as any relevant questions of policy or training.”
The agency has decided the investigation should not be conducted by the VPD, “given the nature of this matter and the public comments of the Vancouver Police Department,” so the Delta Police Department will investigate the matter.
Meanwhile, community members planned what they called a “healing rally” for the Maxwell family and the broader Indigenous community for Tuesday afternoon in east Vancouver.
Rally organizer Kat Norris said Tuesday: “Responses like the one by Kennedy Stewart are standard responses. We expect that. What we want is action. How do we move forward from this?
“Will those who are paid to watch over the citizens of this country functionally work toward change?” Norris said. “We have listened to words for hundreds of years. We want to see change, we want to see accountability.”
The Bank of Montreal did not respond on Tuesday to a request for comment.
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