Scotiabank
Corprate Bias Ratings
Risk Level:
Summary:
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 vets vendors according to LGBTQ policies, is part of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, and does not provide its employees with protections against viewpoint discrimination. The company covers the cost of "medically necessary transition-related care” for its employees and their children. 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 Medium Risk rating.
Has denied service to customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.
Scotiabank, in accordance with Canada law, froze the account of an organizer at the 2022 Ottawa protests against the Trudeau government’s vaccine mandates (1). However, the bank promptly unfroze the account and apologized to the organizer via email, stating that the Canadian government requested the freeze (2). Otherwise, Scotiabank has not publicly fired customers, suppliers, or vendors based on political views or religious beliefs. Scotiabank received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) Corporate Equality Index. Among other commitments, the company has a written policy pledging to vet vendors for LGBTQ policies (3)(4). The company is a member of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, which aims to demonetize advertisements and suppress content that “vilifies” individuals based on sexual orientation and gender identity, discusses “debated social issues in a negative or partisan context” or spreads “hate speech” (5)(6)(7).
Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.
ScotiaRISE’s charitable giving guidelines require that organizations abide by its nondiscrimination policy including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, thereby excluding some religious charities (1). Furthermore, Scotia will only give to religious organizations for non-religious purposes, such as Habitat for Humanity (2).
Employment policies fail to protect against discrimination based on political affiliation/views and/or religion.
Scotiabank does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (1).
Uses corporate reputation to support ideological causes and/or organizations hostile to freedom of expression.
Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.
Scotiabank has a perfect score on the HRC’s 2022 Corporate Equality Index. This score indicates the company covers the cost of “medically necessary transition-related care” for its employees and their children (1)(2). Scotibank is a member of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (3)(4)(5). The company is a founding member of the PGLE (6). The company funds the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, a group that has condemned anti-vaccine mandate protests as “racist” (7)(8).
Uses corporate political contributions for ideological, non-business purposes.
Scotiabank does not operate a PAC at this time (1).
All links were last accessed and all information was updated on:
December 5, 2023
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