Days after the Justin Trudeau-led Canadian government invoked the Emergencies Act to curb the ongoing truckers’ protests, the financial institutions have frozen the accounts of people allegedly linked to the protests in Ottawa, leaving an unknown number of protesters in financial distress.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said financial institutions have frozen the accounts of protestors in Ottawa. Freeland, who is also the country’s Finance Minister, vowed to take more accounts offline in the coming weak in an attempt to cut off the funds to the protestors who have stormed into the nation’s capital against the Covid regulations.
Canada has begun to freeze the bank accounts of people who donated to the truckers. Imagine if Trump had done this to BLM protest donors. Yet Canada does it to people donating to truckers & most in media pretend it isn’t happening. pic.twitter.com/EUwG9vJtUW
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) February 17, 2022
Freeland said the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other law enforcement agencies have gathered intelligence on convoy protesters and have shared the same information with the financial institutions to restrict access to cash and cryptocurrency.
Issuing a strict warning to the peaceful protesters, Deputy PM Freeland said those “who have their big rigs on Ottawa’s streets will see their insurance cancelled and their corporate accounts suspended” — a move that will make it difficult for these drivers ever to work again.
“The consequences are real, and they will bite,” she said.
The Deputy Prime Minister said the government felt “great sorrow” about these actions, but they were necessary to “defend our democracy” and to “restore peace and order.”
The Canadian government has used the Emergencies Act to order the country’s banks and other financial institutions to stop doing business with people who are “directly or indirectly” associated with the anti-vaccine mandate Truckers’ protests. On February 14, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had invoked the Emergencies Act to curb the ongoing truckers protest.
The Canadian authorities may also target the accounts that have donated to the protestors through GoFundMe campaigns.
The Canadian government have enforced terrorist financing laws to target crowdfunding websites and payment providers. They have to now register with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), which functions under the government’s financial intelligence unit.
This comes weeks after the online fundraising platform had announced that the fundraiser for Canada’s trucker convoy has now been ‘removed’ from the platform over violation of ‘terms of service’. The platform is now withholding the over 9 million dollars donated to the protesting truckers in Canada. The end of the online campaign came after the Public Safety Committee voted to bring Go FundMe to testify about the fundraising for the truckers on their platform.
Ottawa police to remove pets, children from the protest sites
The Ottawa administration has warned parents who bring children to protest sites stating that they could face massive fines or jail time under the Emergency Act.
Acting Police Chief Steve Bell said children of the demonstrators would be taken to safety as the law enforcement agencies have started to arrest the protestors assembled in Ottawa to protest against the vaccine mandates imposed by the Canadian government.
Interim Ottawa Police Chief says he is working with social services and Freedom Convoy protestors to “have children removed from the area prior to any sort of police action.” pic.twitter.com/5ZmtEwHeLq
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) February 17, 2022
“We continue to work with our partners from the Children’s Aid Society and other social services to look at the best, most safest way to have children removed from the area prior to any sort of police action,” said Bell.
On Thursday, Ottawa police began arresting Freedom Convoy protesters after they refused to leave the city that has seen protests for over three weeks now. ‘
The Ottawa police have also warned the protestors who brought their pets that their animals may be placed into protective care for a period of time if they fail to care for them.
In a tweet issued on Thursday, Ottawa by-law said pets would be placed into protective care for eight days at the owner’s cost.
“If you are unable to care of your animal as a result of enforcement actions, your animal will be placed in protective custody for [eight] days, at your cost,” the tweet read.
“After [eight] days, if arrangements are not made, your animal will be considered relinquished,” the Ottawa police have issued a statement.
