Indigenous grandfather and 12-year-old handcuffed in front of Vancouver bank after trying to open an account

Maxwell Johnson thought his appointment at the Bank of Montreal would be routine.

He'sbeen a customer since 2014 and wanted to open an account for his 12-year-old granddaughter so he could transfer fundsto her electronically when she was on the road forbasketball games.

But at the Dec. 20 meeting at BMO's BurrardStreet location in downtown Vancouver, an employee questioned the identificationhe and his granddaughter presented.

"She said the numbers didn't match up what she had on her computer," Johnson said from his home in Bella Bella, a Heiltsukcommunity locatedonB.C's Central Coast.

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.

He believes the employee might have been suspicious because he had$30,000 in his account an amounthe and every other memberof theHeiltsuknation received in Decemberfrom the federal government as part of an Aboriginal rightssettlement package.

He says the employee then told them to come upstairsto retrieve their identification. Not long after, they saw police walking toward them.

"They came over and grabbed me and my granddaughter, took us to apolice vehicle and handcuffed both of us,told us we were being detained and read us our rights," Johnson said.

Johnson says when he saw hisgranddaughter in handcuffs, crying, he was heartbroken.

"You can see how scared she was It was really hard to see that," he said.

Johnson says he believes he was racially profiled.

No criminal activity

The Vancouver Police Department corroborated Johnson's account of what happened.Spokesperson Sgt. AaronRoed said VPD officers detained them after claims from BMO that he and his granddaughter were committing a "possible fraud" that was in progress and identifiedthe two as suspects.

"It was determined that there was no criminal activity and no fraudulent transactions," the spokesperson said. Both were released within the hourand, according toJohnson theofficers apologized.

Roed said whether to put a person in handcuffsis up to the investigating officer.

In a phone interview,Roed told CBC News, "it is a regrettable situation, and we don't want anybody to have to go through anything like this."

Roed saidthe officers that handcuffed the pair had takencultural competency training.

BMO did not respond to questions, but on Tuesday it sent a statement to CBC saying it wasmistake to call the police.

"Although there were some mitigating circumstances, they do not excuse the way in which we handled the situation," the bank said in a statement to CBC News.

A BMO representative said "mitigating circumstances"would include not having proper identificationand addedthat the employee's actionshave"been addressed."

On Thursday,BMO sent the CBC another statementapologizing to the public and Indigenous communities.

"We value our long and special relationship with Indigenous communities. Recently, an incident occurred that does not reflect us at our best. We deeply regret this and unequivocally apologize to all. We are reviewing what took place, how it was handledand will use this as a learning opportunity. We understand the importance and seriousness of this situation at the highest levels ofthe bank."

It also posted the statement to social media.

Johnson suffers from a panic disorder and says since the incidenthe hasexperiencedsevere anxiety, has a fear of police and doesn't trust banks.

He is speaking to a lawyerabout how to proceed with a human rights case.

"If I have to go to court to make this right, not only for myself but for every First Nationsperson that's been discriminated against by a bank or a big store or something like that, I will," Johnson said.

Commercial racial profiling

Experts say what happened to Johnson is part ofwhat they call a rise in "commercial racial profiling."

"The pattern tends to be that when you see a person of colour, the person is treated rather with a lack of respect, a lack of professional courtesy andautomatic assumption of guilt and criminal activity," said FoNiemi, executive director of the Centre forResearch-Action on RaceRelations in Montreal.

He said inmost human rights cases involving banks, there is an out-of-court settlement.

Carly Teillet, a lawyer withthe B.C. Civil Liberties Association, saysthe incident was a big misstep by both the bank and police that shehopessparks change.

"I just can't imagine a situation where a 12-year-old girl trying to open a bank account needs to be handcuffed and is escorted out of a building,"Teilletsaid.

"It doesn't foster trust between Indigenous people and Canadianinstitutions. I really hope that the folks that are involved use this incident as a learning opportunity."

First Nations leadercalls out BMO

The National Chief of theAssembly of First Nations meantime said in atweetthe AFNis demandinganswers from the bank.

"The AFN has reached out to@BMO to express our deep disappointment and the need to set better standards for their employees. I urge@BMO to publicly state what they plan to do to address this to ensure it doesn't happen again," the tweet from national Chief Perry Bellegarderead.

The B.C. AFN Regional Chief, Terry Teegee,told the CBC that the AFN is pushing for training forthe bank employees that decided to call the police on the 12-year-old girl and the grandfather.

"I think the bank, BMO, should be ashamed of themselves," said Teegee.

He also said he hopes the Bank of Montreal alsoprovides training to all its employees to further educate them about racism and Indigenous peoples.