VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA (April 6, 2022) – Retired judge Brian Neal, Q.C., has decided VPD officers committed professional misconduct by recklessly arresting and handcuffing Maxwell Johnson and his 12-year-old granddaughter on December 20, 2019, while the two were trying to open a bank account for her at the Bank of Montreal.

Mr. Johnson and his granddaughter – members of the Heiltsuk First Nation – filed a complaint with the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner and the BC Human Rights Tribunal. They also filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal against the Bank of Montreal, which called the police.

On March 18, 2022, retired judge Brian Neal, Q.C., acting as a Discipline Authority for the Office of the Police Commissioner, decided the officers had committed professional misconduct by recklessly arresting and handcuffing Mr. Johnson and his granddaughter. He found that the granddaughter and grandfather presented no risk to the safety of any person and provided no concern for flight or unpredictability. 

Neal also found that the officers acted recklessly and without any reflection, assumed fraud without sufficient information, did not take time to exercise judgment to assess if anyone was at risk, and assumed that handcuffing was appropriate without good and sufficient cause.

“I have found that the officers’ actions in arresting and handcuffing the parties was undertaken without reasonable and probable grounds. I have found that no reasonable police officer standing in the shoes of the two officers could support such actions based on suspicion alone. Furthermore, I have found that such actions demonstrated serious, blameworthy conduct contrary to section 77 of the Police Act,” wrote Neal in his decision.

A copy of the decision is available here: http://www.heiltsuknation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Final-jan-28_Redacted-v2_Redacted.pdf

The tribunal ordered the officers be suspended for several days, that they complete intensive, immersive Indigenous cultural sensitivity training, and that they complete re-training on de-escalation skills, risk assessment, and power of arrest. The tribunal also ordered the officers to provide a written apology and offer to meet to listen to concerns and give an oral apology.

“We are inviting the officers to travel to Bella Bella to take part in an apology ceremony with Max, his granddaughter, and our community,” said Marilyn Slett, elected Chief of the Heiltsuk Nation. “This story has become a symbol of the fight against systemic racism, and we are committed to working with the officers to make broader change and ensure this never happens again.” 

The decision does not decide the two outstanding human rights complaints against the VPD and the Bank of Montreal, and the officers have not yet admitted discrimination. But the decision contradicts the original position taken by VPD Chief Constable Adam Palmer that the officers engaged in “standard operating procedure.” The tribunal noted in particular that handcuffing Max’s granddaughter was inexcusable, and that the conduct confirmed concerns about police actions involving Indigenous people.

To arrange interviews:

Marilyn Slett
Chief Councillor
Heiltsuk Nation
250-957-7721

Lisa Fong 
Ng Ariss Fong | Lawyers
604-617-1918 

Sabrina Zhu 
Ng Ariss Fong | Lawyers
250-880-5025

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My son is Indigenous and South Asian. He is a member of the Heiltsuk First Nation, and he is Gujarati, and a Muslim. To open an account, he brought his status card with him—valid government ID with his name and picture. TD told him his card was illegitimate and asked him to leave.

Did TD know status cards are a valid form of ID? Did TD judge Sharif on his appearance? His ethnicity? His religion? His multiracial identity? From my view, the answer is “yes” to all of the above.

How could this happen?

Unfortunately Sharif’s complaint is not an isolated incident. It is the tip of an iceberg of racism and othering that my multiracial family deals with every day. We live in a world where the dominant majority does not accept us for who we are because we don’t fit into their stereotyped expectations of racial identity.

I love my family. We’re unique. Our Heiltsuk and Gujarati families have always accepted and supported us, and our multiracial children are strong and proud. Yet they face racism on two fronts: First, they are Indigenous, so like me, they shoulder the legacy of the shameful, brutal treatment of our people by the colonizers. Second, my children are also brown. So, like their father, they face the same kinds of discrimination and racial stereotyping that come with living in a white-dominated society.

Their grandmother, my mom, was a residential school survivor who took her trauma to the grave. Her mistreatment didn’t end with residential school either. Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond’s report on systemic racism in the B.C. healthcare system, In Plain Sight, documents the kind of racist, discriminatory treatment by mom received during her last years. Her throat was permanently scarred by a misused ventilator, and she was dragged by her arms into an ambulance. As Indigenous people, this is the legacy that I, my children, and their children bear.

I’ve watched my kids grow up in a world that doesn’t understand who they are and won’t let them be. It starts with their names: Zuleika and Sharif. “Indigenous people have these kinds of names?” others seem to ask. They apparently can’t accept, even comprehend, the intersection of these different identities, and it all came to a head for Sharif at TD. They didn’t understand how someone with a Muslim name could also be Indigenous.

Sharif has told the media that the kind of treatment he got from TD happens to him every day, the moment he steps out the door, and I’ve seen it. One day I was finishing up shopping with Sharif and my granddaughter, Jasminah. Sharif went outside for a cigarette. He stood by our vehicle. A police officer pulled up to him and asked him who he was, what he was doing there, and if he was on probation.

When I walked over, the officer left. I called the police to follow up, but they told me they had no record of the incident. More recently, a white woman rammed her shopping cart into my daughter at a grocery store. My daughter told me she felt targeted. I reported the incident to the store. Nothing happened.

There are so many examples that they begin to meld together. You get used to them. You learn to live with them. We report what happens, and things stay the same. That’s why Sharif’s complaint against TD is so important. Sharif is saying enough is enough.

I’ve raised my children to speak out when things aren’t right. I pray that Sharif taking this stand will make him stronger. I pray that bringing awareness to these issues will empower others to stand up and speak out. We want people like us to know they are not alone. We have deep, strong connections to ancient and resilient cultures that give us the strength to know and be proud of who we are.

I raise my hands to all who support Sharif and other victims of discrimination, like Maxwell Johnson and his granddaughter, also members of the Heiltsuk Nation, who were arrested while trying to open a bank account at BMO in 2019. I raise my hands to those who take the negative in the world and try to make it a positive place to live, and to those who want to genuinely learn about each other.

To TD and institutions who claim to be committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, I ask you to practise what you preach. Let my children be. Understand that they are not a box to be checked, or a risk to be managed. Accept them for who they are: beautiful jewels in the multiracial mosaic of this country.

Paula Bhamji is the mother of Sharif Mohammed Bhamji, and a member of the Heiltsuk First Nation.

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BELLA BELLA, BRITISH COLUMBIA – (Nov. 22, 2021) – The joint leadership of the Heiltsuk Nation – Hereditary Chiefs and elected Tribal Council – issued the following statement today in response to recent military-style raids by the RCMP on Wet’suwet’en matriarchs, land defenders and journalists camped in Gidimt’en territory to oppose drilling for the Coastal Gaslink pipeline near the Wedzin Kwa (Morice) river:

“We are disgusted and disheartened by recent reports of militarized RCMP units facing off against peaceful matriarchs, land defenders and journalists in Gidimt’en territory. 

“At a time when our province is reeling from the impacts of flooding and catastrophic climate change, the RCMP should be helping with the recovery effort. Instead, they are using dogs, snipers, axes and chainsaws to violently enter Wet’suwet’en territory and buildings, and to force construction of a gas pipeline that will worsen climate change for us all and does not have Indigenous consent.

“Instead of working with the Wet’suwet’en to advance reconciliation, Premier Horgan and the BC NDP continue making top-down, colonial decisions that perpetuate systemic racism and erode reconciliation. It is unthinkable that the military tactics repeatedly employed against Indigenous land defenders would be used against non-Indigenous urbanites.

“We are unwavering in our support of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs and their fight for their lands, title and self-determination, and we call on Premier Horgan and the BC NDP government again to disarm this conflict and uphold Wet’suwet’en rights and title.

“Premier Horgan and the BC NDP government remain responsible for whatever happens on the ground. The government has a duty under the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) to make BC laws consistent with UNDRIP. They have committed to reconciliation. They have committed to fight climate change. Yet they allow the RCMP to violently remove Indigenous people from their lands for the sake of a pipeline. 

“By allowing this police violence, the government ignores its promises to Indigenous peoples and its legal obligations under DRIPA. By allowing the RCMP to arrest journalists, the government flagrantly disregards the warnings of the BC Supreme Court on the Fairy Creek protests, trampling freedom of the press, and undermining the rule of law. These actions must stop.

“We all have a role to play in supporting a peaceful and just outcome.”

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SURREY, BRITISH COLUMBIA (March 1, 2022) – Sharif Mohammed Bhamji is filing a Canadian Human Rights Commission complaint against TD for being denied service while trying to open a bank account.

Bhamji is a single father and a member of the Heiltsuk First Nation. He is also Muslim, and he lives in Surrey with his nine-year-old daughter. In May 2021, Bhamji tried to open a bank account at a TD branch in Clayton Heights near his home. When he presented his new Indian status card with his name and picture on it, the bank denied him service, claiming the card was fake. They also called the police, who later went to Bhamji’s house.

A video of Sharif telling the story about what happened to him has been posted to the Heiltsuk Nation’s YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/raV_9yGibkQ

“I’m Muslim and east-Indian. I have a Muslim name. I’m also Indigenous,” said Bhamji. “But I can’t be both while banking at TD. I am filing this human rights complaint to seek justice for myself, my community, and everyone with cross-cultural heritage who doesn’t fit neatly into a certain identity checkbox. My daughter is Muslim and Indigenous too. I want her to have a better future.”

This is the second complaint in as many years filed against a bank by a Heiltsuk member for human rights discrimination. Maxwell Johnson and his 12-year-old granddaughter were handcuffed in Vancouver by police when Bank of Montreal reported that Johnson was fraudulently trying to open a bank account for his granddaughter. BMO suspected their ID was fake as well. 

“TD had no reason to deny Sharif service, except that they didn’t think a status card with a Muslim name could be legitimate,” said Marilyn Slett, elected Chief of the Heiltsuk Nation. “From the Max Johnson case to this one, it’s clear that banks like TD still have a lot of learn. ‘Banking while brown’ can be a dangerous activity for BIPOC customers, and TD must take steps to ensure this never happens again.”

“TD Bank must take immediate steps to rectify this gross demonstration of blatant institutional racism,” said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC). “We stand with Sharif Mohammed Bhamji and his family during this difficult time and applaud them for taking this action. We cannot afford to stay silent in the face of such dangerous, hurtful and deeply traumatizing racist behaviour.”

The Canadian Human Rights Commission filing is available for download here: 
http://www.heiltsuknation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2022-02-28-Bhamji-CHRC-Complaint-FINAL_Redacted.pdf

High resolution interview footage and b-roll of Bhamji and his daughter in front of TD bank, and spending time in their neighbourhood, are available for download here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1YLFZFplz4CekbYeMjjfTyZggU81NW-XH?usp=sharing

To arrange interviews:

Marilyn Slett
Chief Councillor
Heiltsuk Nation
250-957-7721

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip 
Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC)
250-490-5314

Ruben Tillman
Counsel for Heiltsuk and Sharif Bhamji
604-908-0415

Andrew Frank
Heiltsuk Tribal Council Communications
604-367-2112

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