Feds Emailed Blacklist of Freedom Convoy Supporters to Foreign Banks: Inquiry of Ministry

Feds Emailed Blacklist of Freedom Convoy Supporters to Foreign Banks: Inquiry of Ministry
Trucks participating in a cross-country convoy protesting Canada's COVID-19 vaccine mandates, dubbed Freedom Convoy 2022, are parked on Wellington Street in front of Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Jan. 28, 2022. Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
Peter Wilson
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A federal blacklist of over 200 trucking companies that employed individuals supportive of the Freedom Convoy was emailed from a federal department to Canadian officers of a number of foreign banks, one of which was headquartered in Beijing, records show.

In a response to a question by Conservative MP Arnold Viersen, the Public Safety Department wrote in an Inquiry of Ministry tabled in the House of Commons that Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s office distributed a blacklist to the RCMP naming 201 trucking companies, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

The RCMP placed no restrictions on the blacklist’s distribution, and records show it was distributed to the Canadian officers of some banks headquartered in foreign countries, such as the Bank of China, State Bank of India, and Citibank of New York.

The RCMP wrote in the Inquiry that the blacklisted companies’ information was only shared with “entities listed in pursuant to the Emergency Economic Measures Order,” and that “no information was shared with any other non-governmental entities.”

Among the 201 blacklisted companies, 198 were Canadian, with the other three being registered out of the United States.

Other banks on the distribution list included the France-headquartered BNP Paribas, Habib Bank of Pakistan, Hana Financial Group located in South Korea, ICICI Bank Limited of India, Mizuho Financial Group of Japan, and Wells Fargo & Company headquartered in San Francisco, according to Blacklock’s.

The RCMP also distributed the blacklist to online banking and investment companies, such as Questrade and WealthSimple Inc., which are both headquartered in Toronto.

‘Conduit of Information’

Other companies included the Australia-based app operator Douugh Bank Ltd., the now-failed Silicon Valley Bank that was based out of California, the State Street Corporation of Boston, and American-owned Edward Jones Investments.

“The RCMP offered to act as a conduit of information between provincial and territorial law enforcement and financial institutions in order for the entities to fulfill their obligations under the Emergency Economic Measures Order to cease dealings with designated individuals and to determine on a continuing basis whether they were in possession or control of property owned, held or controlled by or on behalf of a designated person,” said the Inquiry.

By official estimate, around $7.8 million held in 267 bank and credit union accounts and 170 bitcoin wallets owned by Freedom Convoy sympathizers were frozen by federal authorities at the time of the protests.
Accounts were frozen based on an RCMP blacklist.
Isaac Teo and Marnie Cathcart contributed to this report.