Absolutely.
Only six weeks ago, I was tutored by a young woman who came from India. You are trained for six weeks, and you are put in a call centre, because it's the lowest paying job in the bank. That was my first job, and I loved it. This woman had a face call. It happened to be a white Canadian who, the moment he heard her accent, picked on her and insulted her heritage. “Your husband must be a terrorist.” I listened to this. She said, “I'm sorry, sir. I'm sorry, sir. My husband is not a—”. The caller said, “You're a Taliban.” She replied, “No, I'm not.”
The banks will tell you that the customer is always right. They've been telling us that since 1998. I did not know if our mentor had issues then, but I used to see my peers crying in the washroom. It's still going on. Shame on that industry, completely. Employees are not protected. I can bring them here for you to listen to them. They come to us to complain.
I heard that Indian woman, and I was very concerned. That happened in 1998, and it's still happening. That was the Royal Bank.
My suggestion is to “debank” them, the same way you take somebody with no credit out of your bank. If their clients mentally abuse and racialize their employees, protect them. Employees are not protected by the banks. They're not protected by the big banks. I know them. I'm sure it's the same in other areas, but those are federally regulated places. What do they have to do to protect them?
Number two is the system they use. I know the system. I worked for one of the biggest systems, at CIBC. They moved 900 jobs to India. They want to make a lot of money. Those systems, I know them. I can name those systems. The bank knows I know. I talked to that bank.
I can test that system. I applied for a credit card. I used my old address in Malton, and I applied for a credit card. Then, I used my new address in Shelburne. Different credit is accessible based on the area code. That is fundamentally wrong, completely wrong, but nobody is talking about it.
Number three, protect your employees and ensure there's equity in the assignment or giving of credit. For a simple thing like lending, they need to do that.
I know I have limited time, but those are two big ones.
To have parents crying in the washroom in 1998 and still crying today because they accepted a job at $17.... People have degrees back home. The banks are saying that the customer is always right. They need to start removing those clients from their books, because those clients are mentally abusing and insulting their employees.