Human rights complaint being filed against bank after Indigenous man says he was denied service in B.C.

A Surrey, B.C., man is filing a human rights complaint against Toronto-Dominion Bank, saying he was denied service last spring when trying to open an account.

Sharif Bhamji, who is Indigenous and South Asian, said in the complaint he went to a TD Bank branch near his home in May 2021 after starting the process of opening an account online. Bhamji said he brought his Certificate of Indian Status, as well as two documents showing his address.

“I brought extra paperwork just so that way I didn’t have any issues,” he said. “I deal with a lot of issues usually...and I thought if I had extra information that I shouldn’t have any issues at all.” 

According to the complaint, Bhamji said at first the teller did not appear to recognize his status card as government ID.

“She said no, I need government ID, and I said well this is a government ID, he said. “Then she looked at it and she said are you Sharif Bhamji? And I said yeah, I’m Sharif Bhamji. And from that moment, I could tell that the whole thing was going to go sideways just because of the way she was asking me.”

Bhamji said the teller then went to speak with another employee. He said he was also asked to provide an image of his BC Services card, which he did, as well as his social insurance number and phone number.

Finally, Bhamji said in the complaint he was told the bank would not open his account because they did not believe the status card was legitimate.

“They said numbers don’t add up, and to me, that didn’t make any sense,” he said. “(I) felt empty.”

Bhamji was given a “refusal letter,” which he said he crumpled and tossed back towards the teller. He said the second bank worker then said she felt threatened and told him to leave, which he did.

Bhamji said a police officer visited him at home that afternoon, and they had a discussion for about 15 minutes where they both discussed experiences with discrimination.

“He asked me do I know why he’s here, and I told him yes, it’s because of the TD bank,” he said. “He said do you know they have an issue with your name, and I said yeah.” 

Bhamji said he and his mother submitted separate complaints to the bank following the incident, but said he wanted the financial institution to be held publicly accountable.

In the complaint, the single father said he wanted to pursue the process to “ensure nobody else goes through what he went through” and to “ensure a better future for his children.”

“It happens too much, and it gets swept under the rug too much,” he said. “I feel that it needs to be brought out.” 

Bhamji is also a member of the Heiltsuk First Nation. In 2020, Maxwell Johnson, another member of the Heiltsuk Nation, also filed a human rights complaint along with his granddaughter after they were handcuffed outside a Bank of Montreal branch in Vancouver the year before. Johnson had been trying to open an account for the 12-year-old, when staff mistakenly suspected fraud and called 911.

Heiltsuk Chief Marilyn Slett said what happened to Bhamji is “disturbing and concerning.”

“It’s disappointing, it’s shocking, it’s hurtful,” she said. “We really stand behind Sharif and our community really upholds him, and we want to make sure that he’s supported in the best way we can.”

Chief Slett said she would have thought other financial institutions would have more awareness of status cards as a primary piece of identification following the incident involving Johnson and his granddaughter.

“Financial institutions need to acknowledge their systemic racial biases. We need to be able to get past this,” she said. “There needs to be more education within financial institutions. They need to listen to Indigenous voices. This should not be happening.” 

In an emailed statement to CTV News, TD’s corporate and public affairs manager Ryan-Sang Lee said the bank wants to offer a public apology “and acknowledgement for the hurt that was caused”.

“We are troubled to hear about Mr. Bhamji's experience,” he said. “We have reached out to make a personal apology, to hear more about his experience, and to assure him that we are taking this matter very seriously and will be conducting a full review of what took place.”

Bhamji said he would accept an apology if it came with action.

“I’d like to see the people be held accountable for their actions,” he said. “This happens too often and people need to speak up and know that they’re not alone.”