Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, freezing the bank accounts of freedom protesters in Canada is hindering due process as the civil liberties protesters are unable to pay their legal bills.
The organizers of the “Freedom Convoy” protest have asked a court to unfreeze $450,000 in donations so that they can pay for legal fees in the upcoming case challenging the legality of the invocation of the Emergencies Act.
To end the protests against COVID-19 measures, Trudeau’s government invoked, for the first time in history, the Emergencies Act. It allowed the government to order the police to use force against protesters. It also gave the government the authority to order financial institutions and crowdfunding sites to freeze the accounts of protesters, without the need for a warrant.
The invocation of the Emergencies Act is being challenged in an upcoming public inquiry. Organizers of the protest, including Tamara Lich, have asked the Ontario Superior Court to unfreeze funds held in escrow on crowdfunding platforms GiveSendGo and GoFundMe so that they can pay for legal fees in the public inquiry.
The motion, filed Friday, also revealed that Lich has two other bank accounts with over $1.3 million received as donations to the protest that were frozen under the Emergencies Act.
