A central Saskatchewan farmer had his bank accounts frozen by Toronto Dominion (TD) Bank after he donated $500 to the Freedom Convoy..The farmer spoke to the Western Standard on the condition of anonymity because he does not want to suffer additional repercussions..After the Freedom Convoy’s original crowd funding site, GoFundMe, was shut down Feb. 4, he donated to GiveSendGo. The second crowdfunding site was hacked and private donors doxxed..Days later, he discovered his personal and business accounts were frozen after he tried to send two wires on the same day, one for equipment and one for property..He said “red flags went up” after TD Bank notified him the transfers were held up and he started investigating what was going on..“All of a sudden everything was frozen. I couldn’t do an e-transfers, I couldn’t pay bills online.”.He then went into his local branch to speak to someone in person. “I said what’s going on? They (wouldn’t) tell (me) anything. It’s all dictated from Toronto.”.The farmer has hired a lawyer to resolve the issue because “I gotta run a business” but to date the bank has given his lawyer the runaround..Out of desperation, the farmer is using other means to pay bills..“I’ve been using (a close relative’s) account and I borrowed some money from a friend (otherwise) we’d be in big trouble.”.He said the whole situation has made him feel powerless..“I don’t actually know where to go (for help). It just is such a helpless feeling to have no access to funding or your money.”.He said he hasn’t told very many people what happened to him because he doesn’t know who his friends are anymore in this “cut and divide world.”.“I can’t believe people are so so naïve and are unable to see the truth…what’s going on with (this) communist agenda.”.He disputed the claim made by The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, that seizing bank accounts under the Emergencies Act complied with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms..The farmer said Canadians should care about what happened to him because “this is just the start of what’s going on. They’re going to monitor everybody’s bank accounts and we have no freedoms anymore.”.The Western Standard asked the farmer if he was financing terrorism in Canada..“Definitely not. The donation was for fuel or hotel rooms or whatever. A peaceful protest was what it was supposed to be, and then they bring in UN cops or wherever they came from. We don’t know.”.“It’s very scary to me. Yeah, it is. scary enough. Thinking about selling and moving away out of Canada.”.In a statement released Monday, RCMP said the Emergencies Act “allowed law enforcement and monitoring agencies to work more closely with Canadian financial institutions.”.“While it remains the responsibility of the financial institutions to make the decision of freezing accounts, the RCMP is diligently working with our law enforcement and federal partners to disclose relevant information of individuals and companies suspected of involvement in illegal acts.”.“The list that was provided to financial institutions included identities of individuals who were influencers in the illegal protest in Ottawa, and owners and/or drivers of vehicles who did not want to leave the area impacted by the protest.”.“So far, this effort has culminated in the freezing of 219 financial products; the disclosure of 57 entities; the addresses of 253 Bitcoin shared with virtual currency exchangers; and, the proactive freezing of the account of a payment processor for a value of $3.8 million by a financial institution.”.The RCMP claimed they did not provide the list of donors to financial institutions..Amber Gosselin is a Western Standard reporter..agosselin@westernstandardonline.com
A central Saskatchewan farmer had his bank accounts frozen by Toronto Dominion (TD) Bank after he donated $500 to the Freedom Convoy..The farmer spoke to the Western Standard on the condition of anonymity because he does not want to suffer additional repercussions..After the Freedom Convoy’s original crowd funding site, GoFundMe, was shut down Feb. 4, he donated to GiveSendGo. The second crowdfunding site was hacked and private donors doxxed..Days later, he discovered his personal and business accounts were frozen after he tried to send two wires on the same day, one for equipment and one for property..He said “red flags went up” after TD Bank notified him the transfers were held up and he started investigating what was going on..“All of a sudden everything was frozen. I couldn’t do an e-transfers, I couldn’t pay bills online.”.He then went into his local branch to speak to someone in person. “I said what’s going on? They (wouldn’t) tell (me) anything. It’s all dictated from Toronto.”.The farmer has hired a lawyer to resolve the issue because “I gotta run a business” but to date the bank has given his lawyer the runaround..Out of desperation, the farmer is using other means to pay bills..“I’ve been using (a close relative’s) account and I borrowed some money from a friend (otherwise) we’d be in big trouble.”.He said the whole situation has made him feel powerless..“I don’t actually know where to go (for help). It just is such a helpless feeling to have no access to funding or your money.”.He said he hasn’t told very many people what happened to him because he doesn’t know who his friends are anymore in this “cut and divide world.”.“I can’t believe people are so so naïve and are unable to see the truth…what’s going on with (this) communist agenda.”.He disputed the claim made by The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, that seizing bank accounts under the Emergencies Act complied with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms..The farmer said Canadians should care about what happened to him because “this is just the start of what’s going on. They’re going to monitor everybody’s bank accounts and we have no freedoms anymore.”.The Western Standard asked the farmer if he was financing terrorism in Canada..“Definitely not. The donation was for fuel or hotel rooms or whatever. A peaceful protest was what it was supposed to be, and then they bring in UN cops or wherever they came from. We don’t know.”.“It’s very scary to me. Yeah, it is. scary enough. Thinking about selling and moving away out of Canada.”.In a statement released Monday, RCMP said the Emergencies Act “allowed law enforcement and monitoring agencies to work more closely with Canadian financial institutions.”.“While it remains the responsibility of the financial institutions to make the decision of freezing accounts, the RCMP is diligently working with our law enforcement and federal partners to disclose relevant information of individuals and companies suspected of involvement in illegal acts.”.“The list that was provided to financial institutions included identities of individuals who were influencers in the illegal protest in Ottawa, and owners and/or drivers of vehicles who did not want to leave the area impacted by the protest.”.“So far, this effort has culminated in the freezing of 219 financial products; the disclosure of 57 entities; the addresses of 253 Bitcoin shared with virtual currency exchangers; and, the proactive freezing of the account of a payment processor for a value of $3.8 million by a financial institution.”.The RCMP claimed they did not provide the list of donors to financial institutions..Amber Gosselin is a Western Standard reporter..agosselin@westernstandardonline.com
