Fact Check: RCMP, banks say convoy protest donors won’t have accounts frozen

FACT CHECK: No, ordinary donors of the Freedom Convoy are not having their bank accounts frozen.

The RCMP, banking sector and federal government said Monday that account-freezing powers bestowed under the Emergencies Act to help authorities deal with convoy protests do not affect donors to the protests, despite unsubstantiated claims by a Conservative MP that a constituent had her bank account frozen over a $50 contribution.

“At no time, did we provide a list of donors to Financial Institutions,” the RCMP said in a statement Monday.

The agency said while it had sent financial institutions a list of accounts to monitor and freeze, those accounts belonged to “individuals and companies suspected of involvement in illegal acts,” such as notable “influencers in the illegal protest in Ottawa” and vehicle owners and drivers “who did not want to leave the area impacted by the protest.” The vast majority of banking customers and donors to the Freedom Convoy are not impacted by these measures.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland echoed those remarks at a news conference Monday. She said people who were not directly involved in the anti-pandemic-restriction protests should contact police if they believe their accounts were unfairly frozen. But she cautioned, “It’s important to be sure that the account is not being frozen for any other reason.”

The Emergencies Act granted banks and the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) power to monitor transactions and potentially freeze accounts. The Emergencies Act measures only affects transactions made after the act was first invoked on Feb. 15.

As of Monday, the RCMP said 219 bank accounts and other financial products had been frozen under the act, and that 57 people or organizations were affected. The force also said it had frozen “the account of a payment processor for a value of $3.8M by a financial institution.”