Maxwell Johnson and his 12-year-old granddaughter were handcuffed in front of a Bank of Montreal in Vancouver. They went there to open a bank account so he could transfer money to her when she was on the road for basketball games. | cbcnewsbc
Maxwell Johnson and his 12-year-old granddaughter were handcuffed in front of a Bank of Montreal in Vancouver while trying to open up an account on Dec. 20.He's been a customer since 2014 and wanted to open an account for his 12-year-old granddaughter so he could transfer funds to her electronically when she was on the road for basketball games.
Johnson, 56, and his granddaughter were using government-issued Indian Status cards, his birth certificate and her medical card. He said the employee became suspicious and went upstairs with their cards. "They came over and grabbed me and my granddaughter, took us to a police vehicle and handcuffed both of us, told us we were being detained and read us our rights," Johnson said."You can see how scared she was … It was really hard to see that," he said.The Vancouver Police Department corroborated Johnson's account of what happened. Spokesperson Sgt.
A BMO representative said "mitigating circumstances" would include not having proper identification and added that the employee's actions have "been addressed." Johnson suffers from a panic disorder and says since the incident he has experienced severe anxiety, has a fear of police and doesn't trust banks."If I have to go to court to make this right, not only for myself but for every First Nations person that's been discriminated against by a bank or a big store or something like that, I will," Johnson said.Experts say what happened to Johnson is part of what they call a rise in "commercial racial profiling.
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