The trucker’s association protest in Canada has attracted the attention of global media outlets. The government can no longer ignore the protestors and has decided to declare a state of emergency law in the region. According to the local media reporters, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has officially declared the Emergency Act effective for the first time since 1988.
The Act allows the government to deal with any urgent issues temporarily, in case of an absence of the clear guideline available in the Canadian constitution. Speaking to the media Trudeau claimed that the step is to protect the interest of the people and secure their jobs. He further exclaimed that the state is also working on restoring the faith of the citizens in the government institutions.
The Emergency Act invoked by the prime minister’s office allows for military intervention. However, the government officials suggested that there are no such plans. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland briefed that the banks have the power to revoke or suspend the account of any individual without civil liability or court order.
She further added that government suspects that these accounts are used by the protest supporters to perform illegal financial activities that are harmful to the economy of Canada. On the other hand, there are reports that the state has also started to monitor and restrict crowdfunding platforms under anti-terror finance laws and anti-money laundering policies.
The Canadian Truckers Freedom Convoy campaign 2022 set up an account at GoFundMe that managed to collect a hefty amount of donations. However, GoFundMe rescinded $9 million donations due to the intervention of government agencies like Reports Analysis Center and Financial Transactions Canada. With this massive setback, the protestors decided to switch to the Bitcoin network.
A new account was set up at the Tellycoin network where the donors were able to submit their support in the form of Bitcoin. Thus far, $1 million or 21 Bitcoin are added to the account. Tellycoin management cannot cut off the donations due to the absence of restrictions on the GoFundMe platform.