Enforcement under the Emergencies Act – Unfreezing of accounts

Statement

February 23, 2022 - Ottawa, Canada

The Emergencies Act has allowed law enforcement and monitoring agencies to work more closely with Canadian financial institutions; which has enhanced the effectiveness of law enforcement’s investigations pertaining to the illegal convoy protests.

The RCMP and its policing partners used the Emergency Economic Measures Order to strongly encourage individuals to leave the illegal protests and deter them from counselling others to commit criminal offences.

The RCMP provided relevant information to financial institutions, who have the onus to determine which financial products should be frozen, pertaining to entities (i.e. individuals or companies) believed to be involved in illegal acts. As previously stated, at no time did the RCMP disclose information on donors or on those who purchased merchandise.

As of February 21, 2022, the RCMP has gone back to financial institutions with some updated information about certain entities whose status may have changed pertaining to the illegal protest activity. This new information can be assessed alongside all other information to help inform decisions to unfreeze certain accounts.

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