Scotiabank froze the accounts of a client who helped to organize the anti-vaccine mandate protests in Ottawa in early 2022. However, the bank unfroze the account, apologized to the organizer, and clarified that the freeze occurred due to the law enforced by the Canadian Government. Scotiabank scored a 95 on the 2023 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a political stakeholder group. By complying with Human Rights Campaign’s controversial demands, Scotiabank increases the risk of dividing employees, alienating customers and harming shareholders. The company covers transgender-related medical costs for its employees and their children and provides specific sexual orientation and gender identity-based benefits. It also uses sex and gender ideology criteria in employee recruitment, vendor selection, marketing, and philanthropic support. Scotiabank forces employees to undergo multiple ideological trainings and uses its reputation, corporate funds, and political influence to support controversial sex and gender ideologies, organizations, and legislation. Scotiabank provides a benefits package for employees which covers travel/lodging costs for an abortion and transgender medical procedures for covered employees and dependents, including children. The company is part of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media. Scotiabank funded an organization that called the vaccine mandate protests in Ottawa "racist" and is a founding member of the Partnership for Global LGBTI Equality (PGLE). For these reasons, Scotiabank receives a High Risk rating.