RBC unexpectedly ended its banking relationship Wednesday with lawyer Eva Chipiuk, a Freedom Convoy figure and critic of Canadian institutions, citing “risk-related concerns.”

The bank gave her until August 18, 2025, to find a new financial institution, after a flagged Bitcoin transaction, according to Chipiuk.

RBC attributes the closure to “recent activity … outside of RBC’s client risk appetite.” 

RBC froze Chipiuk's account after she bought Bitcoin, questioning her with “strange and demeaning questions.” They eventually cleared it, warning her to “be careful with crypto.” This occurred just before the bank closed her account.

She told the Western Standard that RBC officials gave no further explanation for closing her account in 30 days, citing only “risk concerns” in accordance with federal regulations.

“As a federally regulated financial institution, RBC is required by law to comply with applicable legislation,” reads the scathing letter. “We are no longer in a position to continue our banking relationship with you.”

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Chipiuk could not confirm or deny a link to the Tamara Lich and Chris Barber trials but conceded that “it is not hard to imagine that certain names might be flagged or monitored more closely, whether justified or not” in today's political climate.

The freedom-oriented lawyer has since opened a new Bow Valley Credit Union account and is exploring legal options.

Between 2018 and 2023, 837 retail bank accounts were closed without explanation, despite Section 627.18.1 of the Bank Act only permitting closures for alleged criminality, fraud, physical harm, harassment, or other abuse.

In 2022, an access-to-information request by Blacklock’s revealed that $7.8 million in assets, held in 267 bank accounts and 170 Bitcoin wallets, were seized from convoy supporters.

In February of that year, the Canadian Bankers Association acknowledged that depositors could be flagged for life, reported Blacklock’s. Counsel Angelina Mason clarified that a frozen account, once unfrozen, would be marked as having been frozen.

The RBC letter follows a comprehensive external review of the RCMP’s “highly politicized” response to the 2022 Freedom Convoy. 

Project NATTERJACK's 92-page National After-Action Review admits public trust was shaken by the Emergencies Act's invocation and subsequent freezing of bank accounts, emphasizing the need for restoration.

The RCMP distanced itself from the freezing of those accounts, stating that financial institutions were responsible for these actions, not the RCMP. Canadian banks and insurers initially resisted politically-motivated actions against clients.

“We primarily relied upon the names provided by the RCMP but there were obligations under the order separate that required banks to make their own determinations,” testified Mason, general counsel for the Bankers Association, at a March 7, 2022, hearing at the Commons finance committee.

That counteracts February 18, 2022, email correspondence between Deputy Finance Minister Michael Sabia and Public Safety Canada.

“The (RCMP) Commissioner said that people with frozen accounts should go to their banks to have them unfrozen,” wrote Sabia. “This is a MISTAKE,” he clarified. “They should go to local law enforcement. This keeps the heat off the bank branches and reduces the risk of violence.”

Internal emails obtained by Blacklock's revealed significant customer blowback after the freezing of bank accounts, including correspondence between Sabia and then deputy prime minister and finance minister Chrystia Freeland on the same day.

Freeland declared account seizures at a February 14, 2022, press conference, the same day the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act to end the weeks-long protests in the nation's capital.

The RCMP report clarified that demonstrations alone do not constitute national security threats warranting RCMP lead, despite officials believing the national police service should resolve the Ottawa blockades.

Freeland later told the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC), the inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act against peaceful demonstrations, that seizing bank accounts was an "incentive" for the protests to end.

A federal judge ruled the nine-day invocation of the Act, revoked February 23, 2022, was “unnecessary” and “unlawful” in January 2024.