Emergencies Act Inquiry: Banks given accounts to be frozen, and ordered to report to RCMP or CSIS

Ewa Krajewska, Counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA),
cross-examines RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and Deputy Commissioner Michael Duheme on Day 23 (Nov 15, 2022) of the Emergencies Act Inquiry.

Quotes:

MS. EWA KRAJEWSKA: The Canadian Banking witness statement provides that it was the RCMP who clarified that the entities contained on the lists were designated persons under the Emergency Measures order. Are you -- do you have any reason to disagree with that?

D/COMM. MICHAEL DUHEME: We have the responsibility to identify the individuals and transfer the information to the financial services. Financial services, it was up to them to decide if they would freeze any assets in their holdings.

MS. EWA KRAJEWSKA: And the financial institutions also had an obligation to report back to the RCMP what financial instruments they froze; correct?

D/COMM. MICHAEL DUHEME: I’m not quite -- they did, but I’m not quite sure if it’s written in the orders.

MS. EWA KRAJEWSKA: Okay. Well you can take it from me. It’s written in the order that they either had to report to the RCMP or CSIS, but it ended up being that they reported to the RCMP.