Liberals' blacklist of Convoy sympathizers shared with thousands of corporations
A 2023 Inquiry of the Ministry tabled in the Commons said the RCMP also sent the blacklist to Canadian agents of foreign institutions such as the Bank of China.
Author: Quinn Patrick
New federal records have revealed that the Trudeau government compiled a blacklist of Canadians sympathetic to the 2022 Freedom Convoy protest and privately permitted it to be circulated among thousands of private corporations.
Meanwhile, the RCMP compiled the names, birth dates, phone numbers, and other personal information of individuals and further distributed the blacklist as well by unencrypted email.
According to documents first obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter, regulators in Ontario circulated the blacklist to between 1,000 and 2,000 brokerages and other firms, with no restriction placed on distribution.
The blacklist was “shared with up to 50 financial institutions” as well as lobby groups like the Mutual Fund Dealers Association and Canadian Bankers Association. The blacklist was also shared with regulators like the Canadian Securities Administrators, Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada and Ontario Securities Commission that in turn forwarded the information to thousands of members.
It wasn’t just Canadian institutions either.
A 2023 Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the Commons said the RCMP also sent the blacklist to Canadian agents of foreign institutions including the Bank of China, State Bank of India, BNP Paribas of France, Citibank of New York, Habib Bank of Pakistan, Hana Financial Group of South Korea, ICICI Bank Limited of India, Mizuho Financial Group of Japan and Wells Fargo & Company of San Francisco.
According to documents first obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter, regulators in Ontario circulated the blacklist to between 1,000 and 2,000 brokerages and other firms, with no restriction placed on distribution.
The records are in stark contrast to the claims made by then-finance minister Chrystia Freeland, who authorized the blacklisting but denied that there had been any broad distribution of the names included on it.
“It’s important for all of us to be very, very careful to get our facts exactly right,” she told reporters at the time. “The RCMP has given to the financial institutions names of leaders and organizers of the protests and of people whose trucks were part of occupations and blockades. That is the only information, according to the RCMP, that the RCMP has given to financial institutions.”
The list of Convoy supporters remains in the possession of an unknown number of individuals, and no account to date has documented the consequences faced by those named under the Proceeds of Crime and Terrorist Financing Act following a cabinet order that was ultimately ruled unlawful.
A total of $7.8 million in savings was frozen by the Liberals after the Trudeau government declared the protest a national emergency, affecting 437 bank accounts belonging to Freedom Convoy sympathizers, including bitcoin wallets.
However, the Federal Court of Appeal deemed the action unconstitutional earlier this year.