Documents Detail Financial Institution Calls to RCMP on Convoy-Supporting Account Holders

Chalk art asking for freedom is seen across the street from Parliament Hill in downtown Ottawa on May 1, 2022. Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Assiniboine Credit Union is among the financial institutions that allegedly reported on their account holders for suspected support of the Freedom Convoy. The incidents are detailed in documents outlining the scope of the Emergencies Act account freezes.

The Winnipeg credit union reported to the RCMP on Feb. 15, 2022, the first day the Emergencies Act was invoked, according to the documents obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter. It said staff went through an account holder’s social media posts and saw they supported the Freedom Convoy.

“Prior to this decision by the federal government, account activity was being monitored but not deemed illegal,” the credit union’s management told RCMP. It took note of purchases made by the account holder as small as about $30.

A Feb. 15 RCMP memo included in the documents said this individual was “well known anti-vax.” Assiniboine Credit Union did not reply to inquiry from The Epoch Times as of publication time.

Another bank, unnamed in the documents, reported on an account holder who made a purchase at an army surplus store in Ottawa. An email is included in the documents, sent from Denis Beaudoin, director of the RCMP’s financial crime branch, to other RCMP officials.

“A bank has frozen assets of an individual and they also disclosed that a purchase was recently made at an Ottawa Army Surplus store. Most likely gas mask. For distribution as you see fit,” the email reads.

In an earlier disclosure, on Nov. 28, Desjardin Group credit union was shown to have reported account holders to the RCMP, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

“The money is used to pay some bills regarding marketing like signs and paper for the (protest),” managers wrote in an email to the RCMP on Feb. 19. “We are waiting for more instructions in regards of the above.”

The Emergencies Act was in effect from Feb. 14 to Feb. 23, during which time more than 250 accounts were frozen by financial institutions, RCMP officials told the House of Commons finance committee in March.

The Emergencies Act included the Emergency Economic Measures Order, which “obliged Canadian financial service providers to continually determine whether they had in their possession or control property that belonged to a person participating in those activities and, where found, to cease dealing with such property until the person stopped their participation.”

Angelina Mason, vice president of the Canadian Bankers Association, testified before the finance committee in March. She said, “service providers, including banks, covered by the order became legally obligated to implement the measures as stipulated by the government in the order.

“Banks took great care to fully understand their obligations and to ensure that they limited the order’s application to activities that fell squarely within its intended scope. The government indicated that the measures were intended to be temporary and focused only on a narrow group of individuals and entities involved in specific activities covered by the order.”