Heiltsuk leaders reject Vancouver police apology after officers in bank arrest fail to attend ceremony

Nearly 20 high-ranking Vancouver police officers and police board members, including Chief Adam Palmer, came bearing gifts to host what was set to be an apology feast in the Heiltsuk Nation community of Bella Bella.

But the gifts and the apology were rejected.

Nation leaders expected the two Vancouver Police Department (VPD) constables who arrested Heiltsuk man Maxwell Johnson and his granddaughter in 2019 to attend the ceremony in order to apologize face to face.

Neither showed up.

"We are deeply saddened and hurt by this decision by those two men because it's their decision and nobody else's," said Heiltsuk leader Kelly Brown. 

"The Heiltsuk Nation extended multiple invitations to Mitchel Tong and Canon Wong."

Palmer told CBC News that the officers could not attend for personal reasons.

Johnson, who was handcuffed outside a downtown Vancouver branch of the Bank of Montreal in December 2019 alongside his then 12-year-old granddaughter after staff called police while he was trying to set up a bank account for her, also expressed disappointment and anger at the absence of the officers. 

He said he won't be able to heal until he gets an apology directly from the officers.

"It's been very traumatizing for the last three years," he said.

While the apology feast did not go forward, Heiltsuk leaders had an uplifting ceremony for Johnson's family to help them heal from the incident.

The police board members and officers witnessed the event, alongside about 150 guests and several reporters.

During speeches at the ceremony, Heiltsuk leaders condemned Palmer for previously denying that the officers who arrested Johnson and his granddaughter were racist. 

"I heard that the Vancouver police chief said that no racism existed in that police department, but yet this [human rights] tribunal found that there was," said hereditary chief Frank Brown.