Hey nostr:nprofile1qyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvqyg8wumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnvv9hxgqpqe7w07gkzhsfz0ershmjkjammf96vs24qcwawyh6z67gd4wgw47hsl9aaj9 Can you explain why the Royal Bank of Canada de banked Eva Chipiuk, BSc, LLB, LLM @echipiuk (on x)? I agree with Tom "How is it possible that in 2025, one of Canada’s five federally chartered banks can unilaterally decide to close your accounts—without warning, without explanation, and without any form of due process?
Banking is not a luxury. It’s not a perk or an optional service. In our modern world, it is a fundamental requirement for survival. You cannot rent an apartment, get paid, pay your bills, or access government services without a functioning bank account. Being shut out of the banking system is a form of economic erasure.
And yet, the very institutions that are licensed, regulated, insured, and backed by the Canadian government can cut you off at their discretion, citing vague internal “risk assessments” or “policy violations,” with no obligation to justify it to you or to anyone else.
These banks enjoy the privileges of public trust and taxpayer-backed protection. They are not operating on a level playing field like other private businesses. They are part of a tightly regulated oligopoly with barriers to entry so high that Canadians effectively have no alternative. The Canadian banking system is not truly free-market; it is a protected class of institutions, and yet, they are not held to the standard of public responsibility that should come with that protection.
We saw this issue explode into public awareness during the Freedom Convoy in 2022, when the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act to freeze personal bank accounts of protesters and supporters, many of whom had committed no crime, been charged with nothing, and were denied any legal recourse. This wasn’t about fraud or terrorism. It was about political punishment. The precedent was set.
Now, Canadians are learning that it doesn’t take a national emergency for your financial access to be stripped. All it takes is for a bank to decide you’re a reputational risk. That could be based on your political views, your social media activity, your associations, or nothing at all. And there is no appeals process.
This is not just a customer service issue. It is a civil rights issue. It is a warning sign that we are dangerously close to a system where access to the economy is conditional where your ability to exist financially depends on your compliance with unspoken ideological boundaries.
It’s time to demand legislative change. Access to basic banking services must be recognized as a protected civil right. No Canadian should be excluded from the financial system without:
•A clear explanation
•A formal notice period
•A right to appeal
•Independent oversight of the decision
You cannot have a free society when banks, operating under government license, can erase your economic life without cause or consequence. If the government regulates them, the government must also protect us from them. The right to participate in the economy must never be left to the whims of corporate policies written in secret.
Because if it can happen to one person without resistance, it can, and eventually will, happen to many."