By Alicia Maher
Reports coming from the Freedom Convoy Camp show that Canada PM Justin Trudeau has announced revoking the Emergency Act that sought to suspend bank accounts tied to the demonstrators. CBC discloses that Trudeau will unfreeze the 210 accounts of the demonstrators and BTC donors with a reported sum of $8M inside.
On Thursday, the Canada PM announced via a press conference that the government will repeal the powers conferred by the Emergency Act, citing that the situation is not worthy of being called an emergency. He further stated that the existing laws are enough to protect the people.
Restoring Tranquility Was Top Priority
Last week, the Emergency Act was invoked when the protest intensified. The Act gave financial institutions the power to block accounts belonging to the protesters without going to court. The protest was funded by donors who used cryptocurrency as a medium, prompting the government to take swift decisions.
A Tweet shared by Trudeau revealed that the emergency was invoked to maintain tranquility and ensure the measures in place were in line with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Trudeau thinks the Act has served its purpose and would revert local law authorities to protect Canadians.
Ever since the government mandated that every Canadian be vaccinated against Covid in January, many truck drivers have come out in numbers to demonstrate against the forceful restrictions. They blocked the streets leading to Parliament Hill.
After being intercepted from raising funds traditionally through crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe by the government, the angry protesters sought an alternative in BTC donations. In total, they raised about 21 BTC, reportedly worth about $900,000 when the donations were made. The BTCs were shifted to a new wallet with different key holders.
Freezing Bank Accounts Led to Some Outrage
As if deploying law enforcement wasn’t enough, the government forged ahead to freeze the bank accounts of the protesters, a move that attracted criticism from crypto veterans like Jesse Powell of Kraken. The CEO spoke vehemently against the decision to freeze bank accounts but admitted that he had little influence over stopping the process.
Senator Rand Paul raised concerns about the government’s decision to suspend accounts, adding that this encroachment by the government could happen to the United States, which is already towing in that road. Paul said he has been against situations like that from the start, fearing that the U.S. government could invoke their Emergency Act, which empowers the president to close down internet services.
Isabelle Jacques of the Finance Ministry has confirmed to the MPs that most of the accounts have been unfrozen.