As Ottawa tries to stop the flow of money to protesters, questions remain on who will be targeted – and whether the tactics will work

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This article was published 16/02/2022 (1044 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ottawa’s new emergency law enlists a huge range of financial players in a bid to cut off funds to protesters tied to the trucker blockades, but questions remain about who will be targeted and whether it will even work.

A new order and regulations under the Emergencies Act, which the federal government invoked on Monday, requires a long list of entities — this includes banks, insurance companies, credit unions, trust and loan companies, payment processors and online fundraising platforms — to continuously determine whether they should freeze accounts and halt services for individuals or companies tied to illegal assemblies and blockades that have gripped the country for weeks.

The order and regulations were published late Tuesday evening and confirmed that the financial institutions will not face legal liability for enforcing the order, which is expected to be in force for 30 days.

They must also report any property they suspect to be tied to the blockades to the RCMP or the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and register with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC).

While banks and other financial players scramble to understand their obligations, it remains unclear how aggressively they will target individuals or smaller-scale donors to the protests. And some experts say the financial measures under the law, which rely on tactics more commonly reserved for terrorists, are a powerful tool now aimed at an array of Canadians.

During a media briefing Wednesday — the second in as many days as the government faced a deluge of questions about the law — senior government officials said financial institutions must conduct their own due diligence regarding who to target but suggested it would make sense to focus first on “key sources of funding.”

Kathy Brock, a professor at the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University, said the government should have relied on existing laws and regulations already at its disposal.

The emergency legislation was designed to help the government deal with the funding of terrorism or organized crime, Brock said, “And is now being used for citizens.”

“It wasn’t necessarily intended to penalize citizens for engaging in actions which in the past have been seen as something we value in a democracy.

“It’s now at the point where people are questioning whether it’s gone beyond a protest to an occupation, but still, does that put them in the realm of organized crime, or terrorist activities? That’s where I think Canadians have to be very cautious and wonder,” Brock said.

“It is like terrorism financing laws in that it deputizes an extremely broad range of financial institutions and protects them from liability,” said Kent Roach, national security expert and professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. He added that while this order is temporary, he wonders if it could lead to an expansion of the terrorism funding laws down the road.

Roach also questioned how effective it would be, noting that “disrupting the money flows is like trying to fish by draining the water in the ocean.”

“It may be that we’ll see a kind of deterrence, and this may basically scare people enough that they will go home,” he said. “(But) I’ve never really had a lot of faith in the efficacy of actually stopping violence by stopping the funding.”

For individuals who do have their accounts frozen and information shared with law enforcement and security authorities, there could also be privacy concerns down the road, Roach said.

Government officials said Wednesday individuals or companies not involved in the illegal assemblies should be able to contact their financial institutions to resolve the issue, but said little else about recourse for those who have their accounts frozen.

While the law enlists a broad range of players, Canada’s banks are still expected to be responsible for the majority of actions taken under the emergency order and government officials said they have been having ongoing conversations with the financial institutions.

The major banks have not commented publicly, but the Canadian Bankers Association said Wednesday that banks will follow “all applicable laws and regulations.”

“All financial service providers, including banks, covered by the federal Emergencies Act will need to diligently implement the required measures, as stipulated by the government in the corresponding Emergency Economic Measures Order,” said CBA spokesperson Mathieu Labrèche.

He added that the measures “are not expected to impact the vast majority of customers.”

Vehicle insurance may also be frozen under the orders. The Insurance Bureau of Canada said Tuesday that the association and its members would work with the federal government to determine how best to implement the orders.

With files from The Canadian Press

Christine Dobby is a Toronto-based business reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @christinedobby