An Ottawa woman plans to file a human rights complaint against the Royal Bank of Canada after a routine trip to her branch to pick-up her credit card resulted in what she calls a dehumanizing and racist experience to prove her identity to police.

Barratou Barry, an RBC bank client of 15 years, says on Aug. 18, she went to her regular branch location on Bank Street to make a cash deposit in her account and to pick up her new credit card.

“The first transaction went well. I put money into my account, I gave them my debit card; everything was smooth. To pick up my credit card I needed identification,” she says. “I did not have my driver’s license handy with me at that time. I had my health card.”

  • Touching_Grass@lemmy.world
    1·
    1 year ago

    They’re a bank dealing with money. Sure put money into an account. Who cares about money going in. But pulling it out you need to identify and if it doesn’t match the teller has to confirm identity legally and professionally. Nothing in this story indicates its about race. To me it sounds more racist to throw out accusations of racism at random people doing their job because you fucked up and didn’t validate your own ID. When your issued a passport they get you to check the information is correct for this reason. The bank has strict regulatory policies and internal rules all tellers are required to follow.

    • zaph@sh.itjust.works
      1·
      1 year ago

      I wasn’t there so I can’t say it’s racially motivated for sure but what I can say is that passports have much more reliable ways of telling if they’re forged than a typo.

        • zaph@sh.itjust.works
          1·
          1 year ago

          Then they should say “we can’t accept this because of the discrepancy, do you have another form of ID.” Canadian passports have a chip in them, I don’t know for sure if the bank would be able to read it but at the very least least its existence along with watermarks should be enough to give someone the benefit of the doubt that they’re not a criminal.