Alleged Bias and Racial Discrimination by RBC Royal Bank Leaves Client Without Access to Funds For 6 Weeks.

The Red Coalition Inc.
is a registered Federal Lobbyist
with the Office of the Commissioner
of Lobbying Canada under registration
number 950727-370718.
January 17th, 2022
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
William McMillan who is black went to the RBC Royal Bank at Le Fauboug de L’ile in Pincourt, a town just west of Montreal to help his mother pay some bills through their joint bank account on December 9th, 2021, where he says he experienced unjustified treatment by the branch manager; all of which he states was based on the color of his skin.
On December 7th, 2021, William assisted his mother in the sale of her house at a notary where the necessary paperwork was completed properly, including a Power of Attorney and Deed of Sale.
The notary sometime during the same day, completed a wire transfer to the joint bank account held by William and his mother at RBC. William is the primary account holder, with his mother listed as secondary.
We are now 6 weeks later, and the funds are still frozen, with RBC claiming two things; they are concerned about the mental state-of-mind of his mother and are saying that there are two family members contesting the Power of Attorney. What is the problem here? William was given Power of Attorney over his mother’s finances back in August 2021. In fact, he brought the notarized document to an RBC branch on Van Horne in Montreal during the summer last year and waited inside the bank for 2hrs while they contacted RBC corporate and emailed the paperwork over. Within a few days he was contacted by the branch confirming that the Power of Attorney had been accepted by the legal department at RBC and that he would have no problem performing transactions in the account. William has also confirmed that he has not received any court documents from family members contesting the Power of Attorney and that none exists. William is also in receipt of a letter from his mother that is signed by her, confirming that her mental health is not affected and that he indeed has Power of Attorney over all her financial affairs.
The family has mandated the services of Étude Pietro Macera Inc. a court bailiff and mediator to handle the mediation with BCF Avocats D’Affaires; the law firm hired by RBC to handle the file.
The mother has been without funds since Dec. 9th, 2021, with the inability to pay the rent at her retirement home as RBC has blocked the use of her client cards.
The situation escalated back in December 2021 when William and his wife Svetlana Chernienko returned to the bank to speak with the manager notifying her that the couple had retained the services of an attorney to help them unlock the funds. The branch manager then said that “you guys” always want to call your lawyers when you’re not happy. Ms. Chernienko began to tell the branch manager that she was racially profiling the couple and discriminating against them because of their race.
Ms. Chernienko is a social media influencer with over 135,000 followers on Instagram, a mental-health advocate and was influential in leading the Black Lives Matter march in Montreal in 2019. The couple reached out to David Mckay, President & CEO of RBC without a response.