The RCMP sent the blacklist to Canadian agents in foreign institutions located in foreign banks, including in China, India, France, the US, Pakistan, Japan, South Korea, and others.
Those who appeared sympathetic towards the Freedom Convoy that took over the streets of Ottawa in 2022 to protest the Trudeau government’s Covid-era restrictions were compiled into a blacklist by authorities, new federal records have revealed. That list was then circulated to thousands of corporations and banking regulators.
Ontario regulators circulated the blacklist to between 1,000 and 2,000 firms and brokerages. No restrictions had been placed on the list’s distribution, the federal records, first obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter, revealed.
Additionally, the RCMP had compiled information such as individuals’ names, birth dates, phone numbers, and other personal information, and had distributed the list as well through unencrypted email.
The blacklist was “shared with up to 50 financial institutions” and lobby groups. These groups included the Canadian Bankers Association and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association. Regulators such as the Canadian Securities Administrators, Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, and Ontario Securities Commission had the list shared with them, who went on to forward that information to thousands of members.
The sharing of the blacklist spanned around the globe, with a 2023 Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the Commons saying that the RCMP sent the blacklist to Canadian agents in foreign institutions located in foreign banks, including in China, India, France, the United States, Pakistan, Japan, South Korea, and others.
Then-finance minister Chrystia Freeland had authorized the blacklisting, however, she denied that the names had not been broadly distributed, per Juno News.
She said at the time, “It’s important for all of us to be very, very careful to get our facts exactly right. The RCMP has given to the financial institutions names of leaders and organizers of the protests and of people whose trucks were part of occupations and blockades. That is the only information, according to the RCMP, that the RCMP has given to financial institutions.”
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