JAMES KITAMURA
A commentary by the regional president of personal banking for the British Columbia and Yukon region of BMO Bank of Montreal.
Two weeks ago, our community was left reeling by the shocking events that occurred at our Shelbourne and Pear Street branch in Saanich.
Our BMO team across Greater Victoria and beyond have been overwhelmed by the significant outpouring of kindness and support we’ve received. We commend the branch team for their decisive action in a situation simply unimaginable in our community.
Our customers are why we come to work each day, and to see this profound support has meant everything to us. This is our community at its best, and we are thankful for every message and thought you’ve shared.
On behalf of all of us at BMO, we are grateful for the extraordinary courage and bravery of the emergency services members who raced to respond to protect us and our neighbours.
Our hearts go out to the families of the six members of the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team injured as they protected us all.
This event is a tragic reminder of the important work done by police to keep our communities safe. We know that underneath the many thousands of interactions Victoria and Saanich police have each year is a foundation of public service and the promise to protect that shone so brightly for all of us on June 28.
We would like to thank the Saanich Police Department and Chief Constable Dean Duthie, as well as the Victoria Police Department, members of the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team, the RCMP and Mayor Fred Haynes for everything they’ve done and are doing to support our community and our local team through this difficult time.
As a proud member of our community, BMO is committed to helping our customers, employees and the public recover and move forward. On their behalf, we have contributed $10,000 toward the relief fund established by the Saanich Police Association and Victoria City Police Union to help support the needs of our injured officers.
The safety and security of our customers and our employees is our top priority, and we’re working hard to reopen our Shelbourne and Pear branch for business as soon as we can, with a date to come soon.
When that time comes, for our regular in-branch customers, things will look slightly different as we restore our services, but unchanged is our deep commitment to serving our community and we are eager to return to normal operations soon.
We are also working on a plan to honour the Saanich community and beautify our Shelbourne and Pear branch in a way that captures the incredible good that has come from how our community has responded to this tragedy.
From our whole team at BMO to you: thank you for your support. We look forward to welcoming you back to Shelbourne and Pear and being at your side as we walk these next steps together.
