Desjardins Group tattled on customers to police over convoy support

One of Canada's largest credit unions flagged large fuel purchases and reported customers who made convoy supportive signs to the RCMP.

Desjardins Group tattled on customers to police over convoy support
Pascal Huot/stock.adobe.com
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Records obtained by Blacklock's Reporter published today show Desjardins reported one couple who deposited $20,000 after the credit union determined the money was used to pay for supplies to make signs for the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa in February. Other customers were reported for making large purchases of fuel or simply withdrawing cash in the Ottawa area or buying hotel rooms.

“Here is some information Desjardins wants to disclose,” read a February 19 email to the RCMP. Managers listed several customers under an Emergencies Act directive targeting convoy sympathizers.

According to a Blacklock's Reporter, the surveillance of political dissidents was far-reaching:

'Cabinet to date has not disclosed the impact of its use of the Proceeds of Crime and Terrorist Financing Act to freeze accounts of protest sympathizers. Records show a blacklist of 201 trucking companies linked to the protests was distributed by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s office while RCMP emailed their own lists to lobbyists like the Mutual Fund Dealers Association.'

The Convoy for Freedom was a week-long anti-COVID mandate demonstration in Ottawa that lasted the months of January and February, and thousands of people from across the country attended. The federal government invoked a series of anti-terrorism measures, including the use of the Emergencies Act, a re-brand of the war measures act, to end the peaceful demonstrations and seize bank accounts of protesters.

The Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC), the official examination of the use of the EE required by law, wrapped up Friday in Ottawa. The commission will release its findings in February.

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