Evidence of meeting #18 for Declaration of Emergency in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was list.
A video is available from Parliament.
General Counsel and Vice-President, Canadian Bankers Association
Well, that's correct, but I was authorized to share them with the commission and with Finance. It was done on an aggregated basis and white labelled so we can show the individuals, but I don't have permission to share individual financial institution data.
Bloc
The Joint Chair Bloc Rhéal Fortin
The names of the institutions where bank accounts were seized doesn't seem like confidential information to me. Earlier, I asked for the names of the individuals those accounts belonged to, but I realize that you can't give me that information. I'll come back to that.
Nevertheless, I don't think the names of the institutions, themselves, is confidential information.
Would you not agree, Ms. Mason?
Are you still with me, Ms. Mason?
General Counsel and Vice-President, Canadian Bankers Association
I'm still with you. I'm just trying to understand.
Are you asking which of our banks actually froze any accounts?
General Counsel and Vice-President, Canadian Bankers Association
I'm quite clear now. I can say that each of our largest banks, given their volume, ended up having accounts that were on that list.
Bloc
The Joint Chair Bloc Rhéal Fortin
I'd like you to name them, please. I don't want to be wasting my time, here.
Please give us the names of the financial institutions.
General Counsel and Vice-President, Canadian Bankers Association
Our six largest banks had customers that were on that list. It would be RBC, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, CIBC, National Bank and Bank of Montreal.
Bloc
General Counsel and Vice-President, Canadian Bankers Association
I'd have to double-check on some of the other smaller banks that I have. There are about three or four other banks, but I don't know them off by heart. I'd have to check.
Bloc
The Joint Chair Bloc Rhéal Fortin
All right.
You'll be able to get the information to us in the next few days, then.
Can you do that?
Bloc
The Joint Chair Bloc Rhéal Fortin
Thank you.
Ms. Mason, do you know what a conservatorship seizure, or precautionary seizure, is?
Bloc
General Counsel and Vice-President, Canadian Bankers Association
Yes, I do.
General Counsel and Vice-President, Canadian Bankers Association
I'm sorry. I heard a different word.
Yes, I'm familiar with that.
Bloc
General Counsel and Vice-President, Canadian Bankers Association
I'm not understanding the question. What about the monies?
Bloc
The Joint Chair Bloc Rhéal Fortin
The purpose of a precautionary seizure is to freeze the funds in an account. It's used to freeze an asset, whether it be money, chattels or real estate. The idea behind a precautionary seizure is to prevent any transactions involving the asset from being conducted.
Isn't that precisely what you did?
You said that you froze assets but that it wasn't a seizure, and I'm telling you that it was a conservatorship seizure, or precautionary seizure.
Am I right?
General Counsel and Vice-President, Canadian Bankers Association
We froze the accounts so that no further transactions would take place.
Bloc
The Joint Chair Bloc Rhéal Fortin
Yes, I understand, but you told us that it wasn't a seizure.
Isn't the freezing of funds precisely what a precautionary seizure is, as opposed to a seizure in execution, where the assets are sold or transferred to a third party?
General Counsel and Vice-President, Canadian Bankers Association
Again, that's what was required of us. We tried to find reliefs so that there could be certain exceptions to the use of and access to the accounts, but that's what we were told we were required to do.
