Western Standard

A prominent Canadian civil rights lawyer has her bank account frozen, and she has been given notice to find a new bank. According to correspondence from the Royal Bank of Canada, the situation was triggered by a Bitcoin transaction, and if transactions appear suspicious, then banks are required by law to take action. On the other hand, lots of people buy and sell Bitcoin, so do they all get investigated? And was it nothing to do with Bitcoin?

00:00:00.000 Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It is Thursday, July the 24th, and welcome to Hannaford.

00:00:22.480 It's a quick one this evening. I'm quite concerned to read that a prominent civil rights lawyer, Ewa Chipiak, has had her bank account frozen.

00:00:35.600 Or, in fact, as we described it in our story this morning, she has been unbanked. She has been given notice to find a new bank.

00:00:44.080 Now, it's not unheard of for banks to fire clients. However, when somebody like high-profile lawyer Ewa Chipiak gets unbanked, it should catch your attention as it caught mine.

00:00:59.000 The details are somewhat opaque and protected by client confidentiality.

00:01:04.380 However, according to the correspondence from the Royal Bank of Canada that Ms. Chipiak released, the situation was triggered by a Bitcoin transaction.

00:01:17.100 And if transactions appear suspicious, yes, banks are actually required by law to take action.

00:01:24.720 On the other hand, lots of people buy and sell Bitcoin, so do they all get investigated?

00:01:30.220 Was that really all it was?

00:01:34.540 And was it nothing to do with Ms. Chipiak's public support for the Freedom Convoy and her well-attested counter-establishment political views?

00:01:47.660 Well, nobody's saying that.

00:01:49.840 So perhaps we shouldn't say it either.

00:01:52.460 The bank just says the transaction was beyond what they call their risk tolerance.

00:02:00.180 And you could argue that that's okay.

00:02:03.740 After all, people are allowed to switch banks and do.

00:02:07.620 Can't banks switch people?

00:02:10.500 Well, yes, and they do.

00:02:13.280 But it's not normal behavior.

00:02:15.980 They like to have clients.

00:02:17.820 Two years ago, on the other side of the Atlantic, though, the private bank, Kutz, an ancient and estimable institution in banking in Great Britain, dumped Nigel Farage, the controversial leader of Great Britain's UK Independence Party.

00:02:35.740 Farage was a prominent, ferocious even, critic of the British government and of the World Economic Forum.

00:02:41.900 Eventually, Kutz found a loophole in their agreement and showed Farage the door.

00:02:49.180 So, yes, it happens.

00:02:52.940 But then when you're talking about a controversial politician getting unbanked and an Edmonton lawyer who takes an interest in people who governments don't like and speaks up for them,

00:03:05.540 when people like that are shown the door by her bank, there is a consistent look and feel.

00:03:10.580 So, are Chipyuck's banking troubles just about Bitcoin?

00:03:14.620 Do all lawyers who buy Bitcoin face scrutiny?

00:03:18.920 Or is a commercial bank in Canada, one that cooperated with the government of Canada in freezing bank accounts of convoy protesters and the people who donated to the convoy cause, wanting to send a message?

00:03:34.560 It seems they are operating within their rights.

00:03:40.040 So, let's leave that as a rhetorical question.

00:03:45.020 But in 2022, they weren't on the side of feisty people picking bones with their government.

00:03:54.820 Chipyuck is feisty, after all.

00:03:57.160 I had a look today at her ex-posting as she reviewed the events of the week.

00:04:02.840 Looking at this Leach-Barber sentencing hearing, she said on her ex-posting that the lengthy sentences demanded by the prosecution, seven years and eight years, were cruel and unusual punishment for a charge of mischief.

00:04:19.420 I agree.

00:04:20.420 I agree.

00:04:21.920 So might you.

00:04:23.420 Leach and Barber were associated with a non-violent protest rooted in charter-protected rights.

00:04:30.100 Neither of them had a criminal record.

00:04:33.700 So, she, if a Chipyuck that is, rightly asks, how did a protest resulting in minor criminal charges turn into the threat of nearly a decade in prison? 1.00

00:04:46.140 A lot of people are asking the same thing.

00:04:50.740 I am wondering.

00:04:51.800 Perhaps you are wondering.

00:04:53.500 Meanwhile, what was the bank asking?

00:04:57.280 In her post on X today, Chipyuck also commented that the Federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has now been exposed for what it really is, a bureaucratic nightmare, and frankly, a fraud on the people it was supposed to help.

00:05:13.600 Years later, she writes, most injured Canadians still haven't seen a cent.

00:05:21.340 And once again, she adds, that the RBC froze her bank accounts, citing vague risk concerns.

00:05:31.260 They did it once before, in 2022, she said.

00:05:36.880 The year of the convoy.

00:05:38.960 Again, no charges, no hearing, no explanation.

00:05:45.980 This is not about whether you supported the protest or not.

00:05:50.200 It is about principle.

00:05:52.260 It is about fairness and process, the rule of law, and the kind of Canada we want to live in.

00:05:59.180 What kind of country is this becoming?

00:06:02.340 And are we okay with it?

00:06:05.300 She asks.

00:06:07.340 Good questions for all of us.

00:06:11.320 But not, perhaps, ones to bring up with your bank manager.

00:06:16.700 Ladies and gentlemen, for the Western Standard, I'm Nigel Hannaford.

00:06:32.340 I'll see you next time.

00:06:33.200 I know.

00:06:33.520 I'm not曲ing around it.

00:06:34.380 Bye.

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HANNAFORD： It's worth looking at who gets unbanked and what they do to not deserve it

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