BMO Financial Group says it is establishing an advisory council of Indigenous leaders from across the country after an Indigenous man from Bella Bella and his 12-year-old granddaughter were handcuffed at one of the bank’s Vancouver branches.
CEO Darryl White says in a statement the customer was “not treated with the respect or trust” and his arrest after he tried to open an account for his granddaughter is “unacceptable.”
Eight people have been appointed to the advisory council and BMO says it will be expanded from its initial membership to represent more First Nation, Metis and Inuit communities.
Earlier this week, the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner in B.C. said it has requested information from the Vancouver Police Department to determine if the actions of officers who made the arrests on Dec. 20 amount to misconduct.
The investigation is being conducted by the Delta Police Department.
White said its employees have difficult jobs that sometimes require them to make important decisions based on incomplete information, but the decisions made in this case were wrong.
