Canada Invokes Emergencies Act Against Freedom Convoy — Bank Accounts Frozen Without Court Order
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act on 14 February 2022 — the first use of the Act since its passage in 1988 — in response to the Freedom Convoy protests against COVID vaccine mandates in Ottawa and at border crossings. The Act granted sweeping executive powers including the authority to freeze the bank accounts of donors and protesters without judicial process. Over 200 accounts were frozen. The RCMP and financial institutions were directed to act on government-provided lists of individuals. The Public Order Emergency Commission (the Rouleau inquiry) subsequently found the invocation was legally justified — but a Federal Court judge ruled in January 2024 that the invocation was unconstitutional as the legal threshold had not been met. Critics described the bank account freezing as the weaponisation of the financial system against political protest — a tactic associated with authoritarian regimes rather than liberal democracies.