A billboard in Hamilton, Ont., was recently pulled down after Mayor Andrea Horwath deemed the ad, which was on a privately-run billboard on public land, “transphobic.”

The controversial message that drew the mayor's ire? “Let kids be, stop medical transitions for minors.”

Despite the attempts by Horwath to stifle its message, the Christian group behind the ad, the Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA), has continued to fight on. But ARPA was hit by another attempt to silence the group — being debanked by its financial institution.

Executive director Mike Schouten joined The Ezra Levant Show to discuss the attacks against ARPA and whether rules against debanking like those introduced by the Trump administration in the U.S. would apply in this circumstance. 

Schouten explained that ARPA has been engaged in political activism since 2007 and has had a relationship with banks since that time.

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Since 2008, one of the financial institutions used by ARPA was Canadian Western Bank, “and for the most part, they are the institution whereby we had a relationship with all of our monthly donors,” he said.

“We never had a problem; we had a very good, healthy relationship with that bank,” he continued. “And then, somewhat out of the blue on July 30, we received a letter regarding account closure.”

Despite reaching out to the local branch and complaints department, the only reply ARPA received was a two-week extension on the group's deadline before being debanked.

Following a merger between Canadian Western Bank and the National Bank of Canada, Scouten said he then received a call from a representative who said the institution took “precautionary action” due to “something they had noticed with our account.”

The soft reversal of the bank's targeting of ARPA, Ezra suspected, was linked to potential backlash from the new U.S. legislation.

“If the international community can impact the policy in regard to how we deal with minors experiencing gender dysphoria, we welcome that,” Schouten said.

“We hope that has a very positive impact on policy in here, as you're indicating in the banking situation, could have a positive impact on how Christians and people that the banks might not agree with ideologically are treated by them.”

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