Meghan Murphy is an out-of-the-box podcaster and blogger from British Columbia with 12,000 Substack subscribers. She fled to Mexico in 2021 when she feared that, if she did not, she might “never be able to leave.” The crackdowns came against the Freedom Convoy in early 2022.
She now has a new claim to fame, describing herself as “probably the first and most cancelled” Canadian woman. Murphy is running as a People’s Party of Canada candidate in the Vancouver East riding (electoral district) for the Canadian Parliament. However, something Orwellian happened on April 8, the very day she received the local confirmation of her candidacy:
I tried to access my bank account and could not. I contacted my bank, Vancity, and was informed the account had been frozen as per direction from the government. I had accessed my account just two days prior, so the timing was clear.
When she followed up with the contact provided by the bank, she found only a voicemail from a government employee on vacation: “this guy froze my bank account and immediately went on vacation.” Further calls led to only more voicemails and unhelpful employees.
Murphy chose the People’s Party because she believes it is “the only party truly committed to fighting for freedom and women’s sex-based rights.” She had tickets booked for a return to campaign. However, she will remain in Mexico: “if my bank account is frozen I can’t operate in the country … I decided it wasn’t worth the risk of persecution or attempted prosecution.”
Murphy pulls no punches and provides a detailed account of her backstory in a Substack post titled, “Just when I thought the Canadian government couldn’t get any worse…”
I predicted I would be targeted by the government … specifically due to my criticisms of [COVID-19] mandates, increasing authoritarianism, and attacks on free speech … I have been the most prominent and vocal critic of gender identity ideology and legislation in Canada for over a decade now.…
My suspicion is that I am being targeted for political reasons … to punish me generally on account of my continued criticisms of the ruling Liberal Party.…
It [is] also worth noting that the freezing of my bank account at this precise moment constitutes election interference.
Marty Moore is litigation director with the Calgary-based Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms. He has given a preliminary response, after reading Murphy’s account: “There certainly is legal recourse here.” He believes there are two angles to go after: (1) the authorization and procedure of the freezing and (2) its potential unconstitutionality within the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms:
The government itself is bound to comply with the Charter. In Canadian constitutional law, governments cannot delegate a violation of the Charter to a private entity like a bank and get away with it. The Justice Center was, of course, involved in challenging the most notorious freezing of bank accounts by Canadian banks against Freedom Convoy supporters, and it successfully challenged and overturned those orders.
However, three years has passed, and Moore is not aware of any compensation payments or settlement offers being made. The Justice Center’s goal was to establish a constitutional precedent. He believes there are civil cases still pending on the matter of restitution.
The Justice Center could well get involved in defending Murphy:
“The government is initiating the seizure, the freezing of a bank account … without apparent explanation. And then this is happening in the context of an electoral campaign. There [are] a lot of constitutional concerns happening here.”
The election is just a fortnight away—minimal time to mount a legal challenge and lift the hold. Moore says “that would require … someone at the government and/or the bank recognizing something is not being done properly, according to the procedure … and then reversing this freezing.”
Bruce Scholl is an Alberta-based journalist and host of the Unscrew the News show. He shared his perspective as a peer who likewise is concerned about retribution against those who challenge the subsidized media narrative from Ottawa:
I wish that I was naive enough to say that ‘this is so shocking,’ but I cannot. After the February 2022 freezing of single mothers’ accounts happened, potentially at the hands of Mark Carney, I frantically scoured the scene for banking alternatives.
I am so concerned for our children and the country that has been frittered away, under the noses of football- and hockey-loving, hard-working Canadians. Our biggest enemy is the dead-stream media and the puppeteer, UBI-flinging politicians who thought they could give our freedoms away while maintaining their status-hungry lifestyles.
If they haven’t woken up at this point, our brainwashed Canadian friends and neighbours are lost causes. We will have to fight them as well, as we gear up to wrestle back our people and our resources.
The Impunity Observer has also requested comments from the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and the Canadian Constitution Foundation. We will update this article if/when their insights are received.
