As part of a larger strategy to stifle anti-vaccination protests in Canada, Canadian officials announced on Monday that banks will be allowed to freeze the accounts of anyone linked to the acts. Initially driven by the category of truck drivers, the mobilization groups former police officers, army veterans and the unemployed.
The measure, announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and detailed by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, is part of the actions provided for in the state of national emergency decreed on Monday. With this, the State will have the power to suspend civil liberties to maintain order, and one of the main points is the attempt to cut off the origin of the money that has allowed the organization of acts.
“It’s about following the money and stopping the funding of these illegal blockades,” Minister Freeland said in a statement. “We are warning you: if your truck is being used in these protests, your accounts will be frozen immediately.”
The search for the money trail went further. The government detailed that it has just expanded the rules to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism in the country so that they also cover crowdfunding platforms, from where much of the money used in the current protests was collected. Therefore, all such companies must report large and suspicious transactions to the Financial Transaction Review Center of Canada (Fintrac).
Information from one of the main platforms used in the mobilization, GiveSendGo, was illegally hacked and released to the public late Sunday night (13). The public network CBC, based on the data available, analyzed that more than 55% of the donations made came from the United States. Some of the donors listed have also donated to campaigns for former President Donald Trump.
In addition to the disturbances caused to residents — many of whom organized counter-protests in repudiation of the acts — the anti-vaccination mobilization had economic impacts, presented by the Trudeau government as one of the main justifications for imposing a state of emergency unusual in the country’s history.
Current figures suggest that the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge alone, which connects the country to the United States in the province of Ontario, caused losses of US$ 390 million (R$ 2 billion) in commerce per day – the route, which transports 25% 30% of road trade between the two countries was closed for a week.
Other regions also felt the effect. Coutts, in the province of Alberta, which also borders the US, lost $48 million daily due to the lockdowns. Already Emerson, in Manitoba, stopped pocketing US$ 73 million a day in commercial activities.
The anti-vaccination rallies began with truck drivers opposing the requirement for proof of immunization to cross the US border, but expanded their flags to more broadly criticize restrictions imposed in Canada to contain the coronavirus. With cases and deaths from Covid falling, the country has about 80% of the population with a complete vaccination schedule.
The national emergency decree received support from some provincial prime ministers, such as Doug Ford of Ontario, but was criticized by others, such as Jason Kenney of Alberta, who said that such a measure could only inflame the protesters even more, having an effect. contrary to desired.
There is also no consensus among academic experts in the field. Leah West, an assistant professor of international studies at Carleton University and author of a book on national emergency law, explained to the CBC network that in order for the rule to be invoked, you need to be sure that the protests threaten the security of the country.
For her, that didn’t happen. “I have serious doubts that this definition has been met. Can it really be said that Canada’s security is threatened by largely non-violent protests? Certainly, our sovereignty and territorial integrity are not at risk. I have real concerns about falsifying the legal limits to invoke the most powerful federal law we have.”
Errol Mendes, professor of constitutional and international law at the University of Ottawa, says that the scenes observed in the capital Ottawa, on the Ambassador Bridge and in other places, reveal that a scenario was, in fact, created for the decree of national emergency. “There’s a small group basically asking the government to do whatever it wants. And that is, yes, a national security issue.”
