A Canadian parliament committee met Tuesday to discuss the implementation of the Emergencies Act, with one official admitting it was possible bank accounts of small donors to the Freedom Convoy were frozen.
The Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance held a meeting on the use of the Emergencies Act by the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Isabelle Jacques, an assistant deputy minister of the Canadian Ministry of Finance admitted during the meeting that anyone who donated to the Freedom Convoy fundraiser after February 15th could possibly have their bank account frozen when asked about the matter by Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) MP Philip Lawrence.
Jacques went on to claim that it was “unlikely” those who have contributed small sums toward the Freedom Convoy protests would have had their accounts frozen but admitted it was a possibility.
Lawrence stated that Canadians were “afraid” of the Emergencies Act measures, which allow the government of Prime Minister Trudeau to freeze the bank accounts of those connected with the Freedom Convoy protests without a court order.
According to deputy minister Jacques, however, the government has stopped freezing bank accounts and on Monday the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) were sharing a list of accounts to be unfrozen with financial institutions.
Several CPC MPs have claimed to have received statements from their constituents over frozen bank accounts after they had donated small sums to the Freedom Convoy fundraiser.
British Columbia CPC MP Mark Strahl stated one of his constituents, a single mother named Briane had her account frozen.
“Briane is a single mom from Chilliwack working a minimum wage job. She gave $50 to the convoy when it was 100% legal. She hasn’t participated in any other way. Her bank account has now been frozen. This is who Justin Trudeau is actually targeting with his Emergencies Act orders,” Strahl said on Twitter.
Ontario CPC MP Marilyn Gladu made a similar claim on Sunday, stating one of her constituents had their account frozen for buying a $20 Freedom Convoy t-shirt.
Earlier this week, the RCMP stated that they had not provided lists of convoy fundraiser donors to financial institutions stating, “Under the Emergency Economic Measures Order (Emergencies Act), the list that was provided to financial institutions included identities of individuals who were influencers in the illegal protest in Ottawa, and owners and/or drivers of vehicles who did not want to leave the area impacted by the protest.”
“At no time, did we provide a list of donors to financial institutions. We are now working with the banks to build a process to address the accounts that were frozen,” the statement added.
The donor list of the fundraiser on the website GiveSendGo was hacked earlier this month and the list was spread on social media platform Twitter, despite alleged policies against the sharing of hacked materials.
Last week, following the invocation of the Emergencies Act for the first time in Canadian history by Prime Minister Trudeau, Canada’s Justice Minister David Lametti addressed concerns that a large number of people could have their bank accounts frozen by the government.
“Well, I think if you are a member of a pro-Trump movement who’s donating hundreds of thousands of dollars and millions of dollars to this kind of thing, they oughta be worried,” Lametti said.
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