 Here’s what you need to know to get the day started: | | | Hidden cameras capture bank employees misleading customers, pushing products that help sales targets | | |  | This TD Bank employee recorded conversations with managers who tell her to think less about the well-being of customers and focus more on meeting sales targets. (CBC) | | | Michelle Jeraline says she's so stressed out by the pressure to sell customers products at TD Bank, it's affected her health. The TD employee says she's usually not acting in the best interest of her clients — she's trying to sell them products that will help her meet sales targets and keep her from being fired. "It's weighing on me," she said. "And it doesn't feel good."
CBC is not using her real name and has agreed to conceal her identity, because she fears losing her job. And she's not alone.
Marketplace has spoken confidentially to current and former bank employees from all the big banks: TD, RBC, BMO, Scotiabank and CIBC. CBC is concealing their identities because they fear professional repercussions. All expressed similar concerns about enormous sales pressure they say leads to potentially costly or otherwise dangerous financial products being pushed on customers. "I had to mislead customers into getting products that they didn't need, to reach my sales target," said a recent BMO employee.
Employees at all the banks Marketplace spoke with described weekly — often daily — meetings with managers, aimed at getting employees to push more products on customers. Some branches circulate regular emails, too, they said, listing employee names and how many products and services each person has sold. "If you're on the bottom … you were scared to lose your job," said the former BMO employee.
The bank employees told Marketplace the pressure to push products and services is especially egregious during these tough financial times, when inflation is up, interest rates are high and Canadians are feeling financially stressed. To test the sales culture, Marketplace took hidden cameras to teller wickets and into the offices of financial advisors at the big five banks. | | | | | Ready to (re)wear | | |  | (Raul Arboleda/AFP/Getty Images) | | | | A model presents a creation made with recycled material and usable waste during the El Centro Vive Sostenible fashion and sustainability event in Bogota, Colombia, on Thursday. | | | | | | | | | In brief | | | An almost two-year-long internal investigation into how military police handled the criminal case of an air force officer who took his own life after being charged with sexual assault has cleared the officers involved of any wrongdoing, CBC News has learned. The report by the Office of Professional Standards of the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal, dated Feb. 9, concluded that complaints made by the family of Maj. Cristian Hiestand were "not substantiated." The officers involved insist that their investigation was not conducted hastily. Hiestand was charged with two counts of sexual assault in the late fall of 2021, days after he'd ended a tumultuous, short-term relationship with a civilian woman. The charges were laid by military police in provincial court in Saskatchewan less than a week after he broke off the relationship and within five days of authorities receiving a complaint from the civilian woman in question. Read the full story here.
An apple orchard company that once had political stars promoting that it would transform agriculture on Prince Edward Island has been mired in allegations of worker abuse. Following years of complaints and a Canadian Border Service Agency investigation, the company has not been banned from hiring temporary foreign workers, an investigation by The Fifth Estate has found. Read the full story here.
It's been four weeks since Carl Zhou first tried to withdraw his deposits and winnings on the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation sports betting platform, Proline, he says. Since signing up during a promotion in November, the Mississauga resident says he's made successful bets on college basketball, hockey and football games. But despite submitting all the necessary paperwork and multiple chats with customer service, he says he isn't any closer to receiving his money. Zhou is one of multiple OLG Proline gamblers waiting since roughly last month to claim their winnings and who are now turned off of using it as their main digital gambling platform as a result. OLG says the delays are due to having to verify a wave of new accounts, but one expert says they show the Crown corporation is failing to adapt and compete with private companies. Read the full story here.
After eight years of trying to get pregnant, finally helped along by IVF, Alaa Jabr is preparing to give birth to her baby girl in some of the most difficult conditions imaginable. The 30-year-old expectant mother from Jabalia, in northern Gaza, is eight months pregnant and living in an overcrowded displacement camp in the southernmost city of Rafah. "The doctor says I'm dehydrated, and I have to drink more water, but we don't have drinkable water," Jabr told Mohamed El Saife, a videographer working for CBC News, who interviewed her in the camp. Aid agencies and doctors say the conditions for pregnant women and new mothers in Gaza are worse than a century ago. UNICEF estimates 180 women give birth every day in the territory amid deplorable conditions with a lack of anesthetic, clean water and food for the infants. Read the full story here.
David Makepeace saw his first solar eclipse in Mexico in 1991. The moon slowly enveloped the sun, and darkness descended. The sun's corona was all that could be seen for roughly six minutes. And it was life altering. Today, Makepeace is one of the most prolific eclipse chasers in Canada. He's seen eclipses from a plane above the Norwegian Sea, from Antarctica, China, Libya and Zambia, just to name a few locations. For some eclipse chasers, it's travelling to remote locations that makes catching fleeting moments of daytime darkness special. Others say the experience is personal and spiritual. And there are those who crave a human connection while watching the moon slowly envelope the sun. But they all say it's worth it for the chance to experience a total solar eclipse. Read the full story here.
Now here's some good news to start your Friday: A Dalhousie University professor is using artificial intelligence to better understand what chickens are trying to express through their sounds and actions. As CBC's Feleshia Chandler found out, he’s hoping his research can help farmers and others in the agriculture industry improve animal welfare. Watch the video here. | | |  | How gang leader "Barbeque" took over Haiti | Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry has agreed to step down, as gangs have taken over — exasperating the violence and hunger that the country was already dealing with.
Listen to today's episode. | | | Four years ago this week — the world started to shut down for COVID-19.
The World Health Organization declared a pandemic, the NBA postponed its season, Canada closed its borders to most of the world and schools in this country started to close due to infections.
This Sunday, Cross Country Checkup is asking: What do you remember about that week? What changed for you forever? Fill out the details on this form and send us your stories. | | | Today in history: March 15 | | | 44 BC: Roman general and statesman Julius Caesar is assassinated in Rome by a group of nobles that included Brutus and Cassius.
1869: The Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first professional baseball team, is organized.
1906: The Alberta government opens its first session. It was held at the Thistle skating rink in Edmonton.
1990: The federal government decides that Sikh members of the RCMP could wear turbans and other religious garb while on duty. | | | (With files from CBC News, The Canadian Press, The Associated Press and Reuters) | | | | |  | CBC NEWS APP | The most convenient way to get your news
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